My Tile Obsession Will Taper Off Eventually

I can already feel it slowing down, which means I’ll have to find something useful to do soon. Meanwhile I wanted to see the morphing tiles as a 2-color map. Easier said than done: Flash crashes every time I try to convert the various symbols making up the outline into “shapes,” so I had to export a PNG and use the clunky old paint bucket in Photoshop. There’s an ugly thick outline I added to close gaps, in order to make said paint bucket work. But at least my 2-color curiosity is now satisfied.

It reminds me of the far-more-awesome M.C. Escher Metamorphosis poster I had in college. And although the thick outline and various other flaws make not-print-worthy, yesterday I made a color version that is:

I ordered a few yards of it from Spoonflower. I can’t wait – once I start quilting this stuff I might get re-obsessed for days!

Share

Author: Nina Paley

Animator. Director. Artist. Scapegoat.

3 thoughts on “My Tile Obsession Will Taper Off Eventually”

  1. Very beautiful! The colored version reminds me of tiles covering inner walls and ceilings of mosques in Isfahan and Tabriz; (other old Iranian cities I just haven’t had a chance to visit yet.)

    Tile colors the architects used were lighter, presumably since they had limited indoor lighting at the time (17th century). Also none of these super cool deformations, which I imagine would’ve been (next to) impossible without computers and modern cutting tools, especially for curved surfaces.

    Anyway, keep up the excellent work Nina! I hope you’d make them available for purchase soon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *