Construct, tessellate, admire!

January 15, 2020 2:11 PM

Mosaic Tilemaker … “introduces students to fundamental concepts of Islamic art and architecture through the exploration and creation of mosaic tile art ”. Includes learning materials and a gallery

(from Qatar Foundation International, via 🐘)

posted by scruss (16 comments total)

Thank you so, so, so much for posting this. What an amazing tool and resource!
posted by Annabelle74 at 3:40 PM on January 15, 2020

Wow, scruss, what amazing resources!

Remind me a bit of the Building the Morroccan Court video. I got obsessed with Zellij tiles at that point - incredible constructed tile panels, where each piece undergoes a lengthy production process, with one of the final steps seeing them individually hammered out from tile squares - one slip and it's wrecked. The end results are utterly splendid.

Youtube led me to quite a few tutorials on Islamic patterns - I think I did this one, which was arduous but oddly peaceful and ultimately rewarding (I was surprised that it ultimately worked out). Can't wait to try out the links! Tanks so much!
posted by doggod at 3:46 PM on January 15, 2020 [3 favorites]

I remember some of this tile work at the Cloisters? I think?
posted by markbrendanawitzmissesus at 3:59 PM on January 15, 2020

love this
posted by nikoniko at 4:40 PM on January 15, 2020

fabulous!
posted by bluesky43 at 5:19 PM on January 15, 2020

oooh
posted by cortex at 5:19 PM on January 15, 2020

if you like this you might also enjoy taprats (gallery), an older java applet which incorporates the ribbon-weaving aspect of traditional designs. described in the paper "computer generated islamic star patterns"
posted by pmdboi at 5:56 PM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh very nice. If you want a good shortcut, consider using Girih tiles (proto-Penrose tiles) instead with this online generator.
posted by Paragon at 6:37 PM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

I suspect that the mischievous hand of autocorrect can be seen in the title given to the pair of minbar doors on this page.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:49 PM on January 15, 2020

this is fun and relaxing thank you
posted by capnsue at 7:41 PM on January 15, 2020

Yes, minbar → minibar happens, alas.

It's about now I should mention tilingsearch and pretty much anything by Eric Broug. This whole subject's a rabbit hole, except the rabbit's galaxy-sized.
posted by scruss at 7:48 PM on January 15, 2020 [3 favorites]

This is an incredible resource; thank you.
posted by Tuba Toothpaste at 7:52 PM on January 15, 2020

also this: The Topkapi Scroll (Getty Publications)
posted by scruss at 8:16 PM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh that was fun.

See also Engare, a Windows and Mac game of sorts based on symmetries in Islamic art. The puzzle game is pretty simple but then you also get open-ended drawing tools. One of them is similar to the one in this post, but there's others too.
posted by Nelson at 8:29 AM on January 16, 2020

This is beautiful. Such a cool project. Let's tessellate!
posted by Fizz at 10:39 AM on January 16, 2020

Oh wow, this is fun! And perfect for the 20+ hours of sitting on aeroplanes I'm about to embark on.
posted by lollusc at 12:48 PM on January 16, 2020