---
title: Tiles
emoji: 🔲
summary: Shapes that fit together to create an infinite pattern.
---

## Aperiodic monotiles

{{< figure src="../spectre.webp" caption="The spectre aperiodic monotile, with \"odd\" tiles shaded." >}}

2023 was a good year for tiling! The Einstein hat and Sprectre aperiodic monotiles were discovered and [documented](https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/spectre/). These are special because they've been proven to _never repeat_. There's something really quite wonderful about that!

I've designed 3D-printed cookie cutters that could make ceramic tiles with these, but I've not reached out to my local potters to ask for some time to make them — and I haven't figured out the 'rules' for placing a tile next to others, some placings definitely end up making tilings that can't be completed.

## Mosaics

I've been toying with the idea of creating ceramic tiles with glazes specially chosen/mixed to have levels of reflectivity to sodium light at λ = ~589 nm that are different to their white/solar light grayscale mapping.

This would allow me to make a day/night split mosaic; in the day the full-colour mosaic would be of one picture, but by night the street lights' singular frequency lamps (if I can find anywhere that still uses sodium lamps!) would create a different grayscale image that would jump out!