It's like you summoned the sword with magic circles. There is a feeling mathematical mysticism to this kind of design approach that appeals deeply to me (or maybe it's just the music). I've created artwork with circles and geometry like this before, but I never applied it to sword designs. When I play around with designing swords on graph paper (I'm draw for fun; I'm not a designer or blacksmith in any respect), I have a feel for angles and scales that I feel might work, but if I tried this, I wonder what else I could come up with.
I've seen variations of this from this account and on your website. This feels like you're fitting whatever shapes in to fit the sword less than a system of geometrical design to inform general principles for structural function.
S S, I understand it can seem like that. May I ask: have you worked with geometric design yourself? Have you built a design structure and developed it to be the framework that defines the shape and proportions of an object? If not, the process can absolutely seem hap hazard, irrational and even meaningless. If we were siting at a table together I could show you in an hour how geometry can be used in a straight forward and powerful way as a design tool, using only a compass and a straight edge. I could not explain this in text even if I were to write a whole chapter in a book.
For more information about this hypothesis on geometry in the design of swords, please visit: www.peterjohnsson.com There is nothing preventing using geometry to define the shape and proportions also of the blade. In this case the form and proportions of the blade are based on a modular system of the golden section (a method of design I used before I stumbled upon the possibilities of geometric definition of proportions).
It seems using geometry in this way was was common in the past. I saw a tv programme (forget name) where they showed the floor of a cathedral roof space where stone masons (using arcs, right angles and straight lines) had marked full scales designs for arches which the stone was cut to. Also when building trebuchets the optimum position of the pivot of the throwing arm was found using arcs and right angles.
+Stephen Ash : Geometry saw use in many fields of art and engineering as a tool for construction. Its application in the architecture of cathedrals is a well known example. Geometric and arithmetic principles for harmony was also adhered to in the art of painting, sculpture, book illumination and music. Geometry and arithmetic has not before been observed in the study of the medieval sword. It is a hypothesis I have been working on these past five years. You may want to visit my home page: www.peterjohnsson.com where you will find some articles on the subject.
There doesn't seem to be a reference point for the vertical line that you draw starting at about 1:11. I'm trying to study these principles on my holiday break from school (in multimedia arts), and without a book to go by, I have to study these videos and anything I can find that is derived from them. You wouldn't happen to be in the process of writing a book, or have one already published that I just can't find for some reason, would you? Either way, thank you for all your work! You have definitely inspired me!
The overall height of the pommel is set by the line drawn between the 2 corners of the octagon. The two smaller circles drawn inside the pommel heigh circle are constructed so that their peripheries cut through each others´ centre. This fixes their proportion to each other and the circle they ar drawn into with uncompromising exactness. The height of the pommel is set by the vesica formed by the two overlapping circles. This construction is then repeated with a circle set to the width of the vesica with another pair of circles drawn inside it, just like before. The "neck" of the pommel is defined by the diameter of the two smallest intersecting circles. Working with two circles cutting each others´centres with their peripheries will give you ratios realting to the root 3.
I am a computer programmer, working in machine learning field and am I used with a lot of dry and abstract calculations. Seeing this completely new way of thinking and making things at size, I am very impressed and fascinated. My wife said that It is similar to how building architects were working before computers.
@@gearstil Thank you for kind words. Yes, using geometry in defining proportions and in extension, dimensions is a principle of design and construction that has very ancient roots. It is an important principle for medieval ecclesiastic architecture, but geometry is important in many cultures tough out history. In our day and age it has lost its central place and it is associated with a lot of New Age pyramidiocy. Geometry is a very powerful tool for creating concepts and correlations in design. Its use goes well beyond being merely an aesthetic tool. It is no magical, but it is easy to see what it was understood as both magical, divine and sacred. In our age it can be used both as a tool for learning and memorisation as well as a mental discipline that empowers the cognitive process of creativity. Geometry is a Cognitive Complementary Artefact: learning to use geometry increases your cognitive capability and broadens your concepts. It would be very interesting to discuss this in more depth in the perspective of machine learning and programming. I would be happy if you contacted me on: q(at)peterjohnsson.com
There are several ways, depending on the tools you use. If you draw the sword on paper in near actual or actual size, it can be helpful to make a template in cardboard that you use for both sides of the blade, or to measure out points that are equal on both sides of the midrib. The actual curvature can be defined with geometrical methods or free hand, depending on what you want to achieve.
I think it's just a hypothesis but it sounds very credible to me because they used geometric shapes for gothic architecture too: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c5/ab/de/c5abde1539514981a7c93225e73e06eb.gif
