wise men fashion themselves

Carpenters bend wood, fletchers bend arrows, wise men fashion themselves.
— Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha

This temari has a pattern two interlocked five-point kiku herringbone flowers, but the kiku points are at the equator and not at the poles, which is the standard. I did this once before (no. 65, an S16) and think this one turned out better as an S10, and I want to try working with this idea further. The petals have the opposite "arc" than when the kiku points are at the poles, and the whole thing reminds me of Islamic designs, and doors on mosques and other Islamic architecture or mosaics.

Thread wrap in purple; S10 division in metallic copper; embroidery in 5 shades of very light lavender-white (not actually white) to dusky lavender to purple. The quote above by the Buddha is in the bell box along with 14 brass rings. Circumference: 10.625 inches / 27 cm; diameter: 3.38 inches / 8.59 cm. Completed 30 January 2012 (no. 093).