Rotational symmetry- Circles

 

I haven't done a lot of rotational symmetry recently in drawing. It was time. 

I decided to work just with circles because drawing and placing circles for something like this is really relaxing for me. I hope you all find the same peace coloring it!!

Click the images below for larger versions. Print and color!

Small JPG circles coloring page: 

Large transparent PNG circles coloring page: 

Soft triangle baskets- sewing project

This is going to be a tutorial with a LOT of photos for a very simple project because the start of learning how to do this is learning how to fold and cut an equilateral triangle for a pattern out of any size rectangle of paper. In the near future there should also be a video made by my daughter.

The angles of any triangle add up to 180°. For an equilateral triangle, that means each angle is 60°. Folding 90 and 45 degree angles is easy, here you will learn how to fold a 60 degree angle. 

The table I'm working on is a small poly table that was originally bought as a side table for sitting outside to put my iced coffee on. It became the surface my daughter used to spray paint all sorts of things for her costumes and projects.

The sheet of paper is a piece of junk mail from an insurance agent. We get so many of them that they get used for shopping lists, paper patterns and all sorts of other scratch paper purposes. Reduce, reuse, recycle!!

This project can be done with felted sweaters, craft felt, even fun foam. Anything that won't ravel and has a bit of body. It makes a fantastic sewing project for kids.

You will need:

• paper
• scissors
• pen
• felt
• straight pins
• size 20 tapestry needles
• embroidery floss 

To make the pattern:

Start by folding your sheet of paper in half lengthwise- or like a hot dog if you learned it that way! And unfold. 

Now you're going to take one corner, and fold it into the center, the top edge of the paper from the corner you're folding should be a line down to the other corner. 

Now fold the other side over the open edge of the angle you just folded. 

When you unfold it, you'll have two lines to cut to make the triangle. 

I used this 60° angle to show the angle you got with your folds. 

Now trace your shape on your fabric, and cut it out. 

Now it gets really easy. You're going to cut into the corners bisecting them to make the sides. 

To figure out the depth of your finished box, you'll measure from the center to the edge perpendicular to the center line.

Measure in from each corner and mark them all the same length. 

Cut a straight line down each one. 

Now you'll pin each corner, make sure the outside flaps are all facing in the same direction, and pin the cut edges so they match up with the top of the basket on the facing edge. 

Now you can choose how you'll stitch it. For the gray basket, I only stitched the top edge. 6 strands of embroidery floss will fit in a size 20 tapestry needle. 

Blanket stitch or whip stitching work for the edge. 

Here's the finished gray basket. 

For the cream basket, I stitched the outer corners on the side that showed on the outside, then stitched the top. 

Facets Mandala to color

I got a really bad cold this month. So the first part of the month was gardening and having fun with my family, then the second part was curling up with books and a box of tissue. Sorry! There wasn't much drawing this month.

I hope you enjoy this facets mandala. Click the images below for larger versions to print and color.

Small jpg version:

Large transparent png version:

A different kind of coloring page

So today's coloring page is something different than usual. Instead of being a picture to color in, it's a geometric tiled pattern you can fill in with your own design. You can do something like my example above, or follow your own muse. There is empty block at the bottom, so you can sign it yourself when it's done.

I'd love to see examples if people do like it, you can post them on my Facebook page here.

Click the images below for a larger version to print and color.
Small JPG:

Larger transparent PNG:

Inspired by a Western Shirt Mandala

This geometric mandala to color was inspired by a shirt I picked up recently at a thrift store. Click on the image above for the small JPG version.

Click image for large transparent PNG:

I also recently posted some new I voted patterns on BellaOnline.

This year will be the first time my son votes in a presidential election!

Illusion crochet afghan idea

When I was working on the tumbling blocks boxes the other day, I built the blocks from triangles. Geometrically, the shape is hexagonal, and hexagons are built from triangles. So last night, I went to bed completely exhausted, and apparently mumbling "It should work. Crochet equilateral triangles are easy and cubes are made from hexagons." Then went on to explain to my husband who hadn't asked that I mean 2 dimensional representations of cubes so it would make sense. Apparently I failed, but he was very patient about it.

So an example of a 2 d cubic representation is the tumbling blocks design which works out on triangle graph paper like this.

(I like modular granny square (or triangle!) crochet, it's very mindless for when I'm watching television and just want something in my hands)

So that's been done before. What I wanted was more of an illusion. If you look at the image at the top of the page, it can either look like a cube with a corner cut out of it, or a corner with a cube in it. So how would that look graphed for modular crochet?

The illusion relies on the varying tones, it's most effective in a monochromatic color scheme which probably will mean different yarn brands that are the same weight. Now I need to swatch for gauge and find the right colors! As a hexagon shape, it will be good as a throw I think.

Here's some graph paper if you want to play with your own ideas. I'd love to see them!

Geometric Mandala

This mandala was something I laid out in my head a few nights ago while trying to get to sleep. I hope you like it!
Click on the images for printable versions.
Small JPG:

Large Transparent PNG :

Ready Player Everyone 2x2 printable boxes

I hope you enjoy this tessellated design, it's inspired by my entry for limited palette Spoonflower geometry contest. The rules were to use the purple and green, and use only geometric shapes. I knew that I wanted the cross shaped tessellation with it's irregular offset and circles and triangles. While I was setting it up, I noticed it looks sort of like a game controller, so added the squares in circles.
ETA: You can vote for your favorite and see all the great entries here.
Here are 3 different colorways, including the original palette. Click on the images to download/print larger resolution versions. Print on card stock. Cut, score, fold, glue!

2 very simple doughnut drawings to color

Have you ever had one of those days when it seems very hard to be creative? That's what today has been like for me, and my daughter suggested "Draw something easy. Like doughnuts. Everybody likes doughnuts!"
So.. here are some very simple doughnut drawings to color.
Click on the images for larger versions.
100 DPI jpg crullers

large transparent PNG

100 DPI simple iced doughnut JPG

large transparent PNG

Happily making myself dizzy!

Remember my drawing geometric whirls tutorial? The whirls will work with any polygon shape, but because squares and triangles tessellate so neatly, I made a triangle and a square whirl.

Then I created tessellations out them, reversing the colors for a checkerboard type effect. The resulting patterns were just so neat! Even though they are made out of straight lines, the curving effect of the whirls became a lot more interesting in the tessellations.

See? It makes me dizzy to look at them. But they turned out so nifty that I wanted to show them, I think I'll get fabric from Spoonflower in one of the prints that can be colored in using permanent markers for fun, then make a purse which I can carry markers in for when I get bored waiting somewhere.

Fractals to color

These aren't true fractals, but approximations because there are limits to what can be drawn and still colored. The top one is a Apollonian Gasket. Since it starts on a triad, a color wheel seemed obvious. The bottom one is the very well known Sierpinski Sieve. Since it's a triangle, it tessellates naturally, so that's what I did with my colored version. Here are blanks to color. I'm considering putting the Apollonian Gasket color wheel on a shirt at Cafe Press or Zazzle.
Click on the images for larger versions.

I made all my Amazon Kindle e-booklets available for borrowing if you're a Prime member. Just go to Amazon and search for Shala Kerrigan. There is one on yeast bread making, one on how to make brick stitch earrings, one of knitting or beading alphabet patterns and one that's just a few of The Amazing Turnip Girl's favorite recipes with her tips.