How to Create Islamic Tile Designs With Geometry

Creating a Template

• 1

  Mark a point in the center of your paper.

• 2

  Place the edge of your protractor on the center point. Draw a 3-inch horizontal line from the center out. (If you are using a computer, draw the same line in that program.)

• 3

  Place your protractor on the center point and align one edge with the line. Mark an angle measuring 60 degrees. (If you have a computer program, you will select the line you drew and then copy and rotate it 60 degrees.)

• 4

  Draw a line from the center point to the 60-degree mark. Make this line 3 inches long.

• 5

  Draw a line connecting the two points. This will create a triangle.

• 6

  Cut the triangle out of the paper. (On the computer, you will copy the whole triangle five times, rotating it 60 degrees each time.)

• 7

  Use the cut-out triangle as a template. Continue to rotate this template around the center, tracing the triangle each time. You will be able to fit exactly six triangles, making a hexagon shape.

Creating an Islamic Pattern

• 8

  Draw a circle using the compass. Make the center of the circle at the center point of your hexagon. Set the compass to 1 inch. This will be the radius, and will create a circle that is 2 inches across.

• 9

  Draw another circle the same size. The center of this second circle will be where two of your hexagons meet and at the edge of your first circle.

• 10

  Draw five more circles. Each circle will rotate around the first. The centers will touch the line created by two of your hexagons and the edge of your first circle.

• 11

  The six circles will overlap. Color in these overlapping shapes as petals of a flower.

• 12

  Continue this pattern outward. Draw six more circles around each of the other circles. These will each create another rosette pattern.