Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tessellation

A while ago I developed this tessellating pattern based on this basic unit. (See my 28 April 2010 post).

 What if I color the basic unit differently?


What if I create a pinwheel using 4 of the new units and place the split red/white corners in the center?

This is a pinwheel made of lightening bolts.


When I repeat the pinwheel 4 times, I get a fifth pinwheel in the center with the colors reversed.

All the lightning bolts, both red and white, are the same shape; so this is a tessellation.


What if I create another pinwheel using the new basic unit; but this time placing the red corners in the center?

This looks very different.


When I repeat this second pinwheel, once again it appears in reverse in the center. This too is a tessellation.

It's hard to believe that both these patterns are created using the same basic unit.


For more tessellation ideas go to My Posts by Subject in the sidebar on the right and click on Tessellation.

2 comments:

  1. Wayne,

    I much prefer the last variation ..... the pinwheels are more cohesive, which makes them clearer and more striking.

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  2. Judy

    You are right about the second one being the better of the two.

    The first one could be considerably improved with a judicious use of color. I can imagine it being turned into a kind of checkerboard. Or it could be turned into a multitude of interlocking pinwheels, each a different color.

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