Thanks very much for the information.There was also an article in American Woodturner, maybe 9 months ago. I don't recall too much "how to" in the article, as much as "isn't this interesting."
Thank you. I will contact Mr. Henrickson.Bob Hendrickson here on the Forum is an expert. He has a lot of recognition for his mashrabiya. DM him to see if he can help you. @R Henrickson
Yes -- there are LOTS of spindles in such panels -- usually 100-200 separate pieces per square foot! Yet such panels often formed an entire wall of a room -- areas on the order of 10 x 20 feet (so 20,000-40,000 pieces). Many upper middle class and more elite house had many rooms -- not just one -- with such panels. In some cases there were huge expanses. There were thousands of such lattice panel walls in hundreds of houses in Cairo (and many other Islamic world cities) from at least the 15th through 19th centuries. An incredible craft, with numerous patterns, yet the craft tradition had a very simple tool kit (bow lathe[!] and several cutting tools) but marvelous results. The nested interlocking assembly of the lattice panels is ingenious.Yikes! That is a lot of spindles to turn. One would be very adept by the time they are done with the project. Looks like vertical ones first as a long spindle. Next would be the horizontal spacers. Then long diagonal pieces, then 2 short diagonal pieces. Interesting look.... Lots of measuring and lay out work to do....
robo hippy