A WAY TO BEGIN

This "unplanned" pattern begins with 7 lines and 1 shape. Drawing only half of a desired shape is a great way to pre-plan a solid area when the pattern piece is folded over. The process is simply one of matching the diagonals together to create the resultant "shapes" forming the pattern components.

Triangle is placed in the upper left corner.

By following the "flip" direction, the simple triangle of loose lines becomes connected to its mirror image and a whole shape is formed. Continous repetition puts it all together.

The completed repetition was made one triangle overlap at a time, which was a good experience for non-art students. However, once a whole square is completed, a new copy of those 8 triangles on 1 sheet can make the redrawing more quickly accomplished--as some discovered.

What is fun and exciting about this method is the surprise element of not seeing the whole pattern until the half-way mark with the middle area still a bit "different"! Here is a delightful pattern in progress. At one point, we discovered a "frog" shape which became an included element. See it?

Two special notes: First, do make up your own "rules" for the initial triangle. You could consider whole shapes, line textures, geometics, nature, car shapes, etc.

When the entire composition is finally created, it will be necessary to re-adjust some or many of the matched areas where alignment may not have been really accurate. That's O.K! Tracing may have been faulty, the measurements of the blocks slightly off, and anyway, we're not machines and errors are permissible. Just fix 'em up and complete the pattern in beautiful color, texture, collages, as you desire. Let's see some next!