One evening I was thinking about how strange it was that 360 degrees in a circle is similar to 365 days in most years. I was then thinking that if you broke out the days of the calendar year along the clockwise path of a circle that it might be a very interesting way to mark time, especially for a project like mine. You might see, for instance, at a glance, how much of this project has passed so far. So I made it in Inkscape.
I used the amazing and flexible Render Polar Grid extension as a base. I gave it 365 angle divisions and 2 major circular divisions, and tweaked the other settings with preview enabled until I had what I wanted. After that I began counting angle divisions from the top center, which I labeled January 1, to the division line that was 31 gaps away, which I labeled February 1 and so on. I extended the lines of the polar grid where these first days appeared. This counting, for me, was easily the hardest part of the project. I had to count lines 2 and 3 times, and remember that the first day of the next month was 29 and not 30 days away or what have you. Finally, I added an ellipse with the division feature enabled to show part of the ellipse as filled. Look for the little circle handle on the ellipse you made and move it with the node tool to play with this feature.
So, Inkscape is also a fantastic tool for conceptual design and ideological illustration, but you knew that. 😉
