The journey started back in 2015 where I registered for a gilding (Tezhip) course here in Kuwait with the wonderful Turkish teacher Dilara Yarci. At that time, I didn’t have a full background on Ottoman patterns and didn’t have resources to learn from. But after that intensive course, I decided to pursue learning more about those patterns.
This is her website: Dilara Yarci
So from that moment onwards, I bought as many books as I could to learn about Ottoman patterns. It was complicated at the beginning when you see motifs, painting techniques, and new terminologies I didn’t read about before. But little by little, I got to know more and better understand this beautiful art.
I got to learn with my second Illumination teacher Sifa Toptas. She taught me a lot and helped develop my sketching and designing skills.
This is her Youtube Channel: Sifa Toptas.
List of Books:
- Islamic Art of Illumination: Classical Tazhib From Ottoman to Contemporary Times by Sema Onat
- Yeni Baslayanlar Icin Tezhip 1 by Hacer Sönmez
- Yeni Baslayanlar Icin Tezhip 2 by Hacer Sönmez
- Turk Sanatinda Tezhip by Sule Bilge Özkeçeci Ilhan Özkeçeci
You can purchase Illumination materials from the websites listed below:
- Tiryaki Art (Based in Istanbul, Turkey): Link
- Karin Sanat (Based in Istanbul, Turkey): Link
- Güven Sanat (Based in Istanbul, Turkey): Link
- Üsküdar Sanat (Based in Istanbul, Turkey): Link
- AlSanafer Bookshop (Based in Kuwait): Link
My online courses:
Videos from my Youtube Channel: