EZ way to make tessellations

For the picture to tile properly, whatever sticks out from one side of the square has to match up with the other side. But in fact that's all we have to worry about, and so we have an easy way to create interesting tilings:

Start with a square, cut out a couple of pieces from one edge, and reattach them on the opposite edge. The resulting shape can still be used as a tile.

By cutting out and reattaching more shapes, it is then easy to make complicated and striking tiles. Below, we have illustrated the steps involved in the making our own animal tile: the fabled coneheaded camel from the outback. Not a bad creation, from just a few cuts and pastes.

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• Geometric Pattern Tiles by Kutahya (chictip.com)
• An Architect's Tile Pick (housearchitect.wordpress.com)
• Math Monday: Wood Polygons (makezine.com)
• Tessellations : The History and Making of Symmetrical Designs (Amazon)
• Blog - Beyond Escher: The Art Of Tesselation Revealed (technologyreview.com)
• What is that math game where you build things with different shapes (wiki.answers.com)