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How to Create a Tessellation With Paper and Pencil

Tessellations utilize simple repeating shapes to form a pattern, often with visually stunning results. Artists like M.C. Escher have created dazzling images of repeating shapes, often of animals or people using tesselations. The word "tessellation" comes from the Latin "tessera," which means "small stone cube," referring to the tessellations used in Classical mosaics. These mosaics, like the paintings of Escher, utilized simple geometric shapes to create a larger pattern. You can create your own tessellation using household materials.

Construction paper
Scissors
Tape
Drawing paper

Instructions

- 1
  Cut a square from a piece of construction paper with scissors, approximately 3 inches square.
- 2
  Cut a piece of your choosing out of one side of the square with scissors.
- 3
  Tape the cut piece onto the outer edge of the opposite side of the square. Repeat this process with another of the two remaining edges to create a new shape.
- 4
  Place the new shape onto the upper-left corner of a piece of drawing paper.
- 5
  Trace the outline of the shape onto the drawing paper with a pencil.
- 6
  Line up the left side of the shape with the right side of the traced outline and trace the outline of the shape with a pencil. Repeat this process until you have filled the top of the paper with a row of outlines.
- 7
  Line the top of the shape up with the bottom edge of the leftmost outline and trace the shape's outline. Repeat this process of tracing a row, then starting a new one just beneath it until your tessellation has covered the entire paper.

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