I am learning from this and enjoying the discussion. I do agree that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I just doodle with the compass and a chip carving knife sometimes. I'm not much good at it but it is kind of fascinating just playing with the proportions a compass can come up with. I've seen the same type of things on old furniture, trims, etc so I imagine crude embellishment has probably gone on for a very long time. Some of it has come out looking pretty religious and some has looked like I was devil worshipping, but it all just came out of the swinging of arcs. I wonder if the interpretation is learned or built in?