![]() If you need to, you can add in extra squares to the grid to help you keep the shapes aligned. Be sure to make sure the shapes fit together perfectly, with no gaps or overlaps. Now you can start to fill in the squares on the grid with the shape you chose. The grid should be made up of squares or rectangles that are the same size as the shape you chose. Next, you need to draw a grid on the plane where you want the tessellation to appear. You can use any shape you like, but it is easiest to start with a simple shape like a square or a rectangle. An area of rock in Tasmania called the Tessellated Pavement is made up of rectangular blocks created from sedimentary rock.The first step in creating a tessellation pattern is to choose a shape. Rock created from ancient flows of lava (molten rock) can crack into hexagonal columns, such as the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. Islamic art does not allow the use of images of living things, but many Islamic buildings (for example the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain) use complex patterns of tessellated tiles as decoration. Mosaics are complex forms of tessellation. Tessellation is used in decoration, and patchwork quilts and tiled floors and walls are examples of tessellation. While it’s not a tessellation, because its not a repeating pattern, a tangram is a fun way to look at shapes, and how they fit together. Tangrams can be mixed up to make many different shapes, or reassembled into a square. TangramsĪ tangram is a Chinese puzzle made up of a square sliced into a seven shapes (or tans) that fit together – a smaller square, five triangles and a rhombus. Try creating a repeating tessellation using an irregular shape. M C Escher, an artist, made tessellations using identical irregular shapes, often of living things – there are pictures using fish, dogs, frogs, flying horses and many others. Were there any shapes that would not fit at all? Work out what kind of extra shapes would be needed to make these tessellate – are these regular shapes? They can also be made using other shapes, including trapeziums and rhombuses. Tessellations don’t always have to use regular shapes. These can use equilateral triangles, squares, hexagons, octagons and dodecahedrons. Patterns that repeat but use more than one kind of regular shape are called semi-regular tessellations. These can only be made using three shapes – equilateral triangles, squares, or hexagons. Patterns using only one regular shape are called regular tessellations. Are there any that won’t create patterns of one kind of shape? Are there any that won’t create patterns of two or three kinds of shape? Try fitting these together, first using only one kind of shape, and then using repeating patterns of two or three different shapes. rhombuses (a diamond or a four-sided shape with four equal sides).trapeziums (four sided shapes with one pair of parallel sides).dodecahedrons (12 sides the same length).equilateral triangles (three sides the same length).Polygon, Interior Angle SumThe Magical 900: Making TessellationsĬarefully and accurately, cut out some regular shapes (shapes where all the sides are the same length) from paper or cardboard (it might make it clearer if different shapes are in different colours):
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