On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:51:15 -0700, Jim wrote:

My SO desires a couple 'perfect' oval tabletops she can mosaic
One about 2 feet wide the other about 20 inches.
Is there a desired width to depth shape that is more eye appealing than others.
I'm not really sure how to draw a perfect oval?
Or any oval for that matter.

You're probably wanting to draw an Ellipse, which is a mathematic
description of an oval.

Is there an easy way to do this. Knowing my SO this won't stop at two.
Thanks.

There sure is. Get a piece of plywood for practice, and two wood
screws. Put 'em, let's say, 12 inches apart. Now, get a piece of
string, in this case 12+4+4 inches long... trust me, that'll make sense
in a second. Tie a loop in each end, so the useful length is that 20
inches. Loop each end over one of the screws.

Now, you just put your pencil/marker/pen/whatever on the inside of that
string loop, and use that distance to trace your oval. It'll go 4
inches beyond your focal points (that's the +4+4 above) on either end of
the oval, giving you the 20" overall length that you specified. You can
change the shape of this ellipse by moving the focal points (screws), or
by changing the length of the string. Once you have a nice oval that
you like, make a cardboard template so you can do it again without
playing with string if you don't want to.

If you google for "ellipse string" you'd probably find pictures of
someone doing just this.

Dave Hinz