Truchet Cubes
![](../blocks.jpg)
In May 2022, I gave a talk Play Truchet: fun with tiling patterns and generalizations
at the Museum of Math (MoMath) as a part of their Math Encounters series.
In that talk I presented a fun way of making small cubes decorated with Truchet patterns.
I designed a page (now updated) that allowed participants to cut out six strips
that could be folded and assembled into a cube (based on a design by Paul Jackson).
I also met of C.S. Smith's gradson, who introduced me at the event, and learned more
about the amazing work of C.S. Smith.
Here are pages you can print to create your own Truchet blocks. Click the image for a link to a pdf file. Each page has 12 strips, enough for 2 cubes. The resulting cubes are about 1.75 inches (4.5 cm) per side. I encourage you to explore the patterns you can create!
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT0.png)
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT2L.png)
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT2S.png)
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT1L.png)
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT1S.png)
![Truchet blocks](CubeStripsT3L.png)
Assembly
![](Origami_Jackson_Cube_2.png)
Download a printable page, cut into strips, then assemble following the
directions described in the video How to make paper cube easy way
.
Also see this wikibook article.
Activities
The blocks made from the Smith's filled variant pattern
and the
Filled line segments
can be assembled in multiple ways, assuming
unlimited strips of different types.
Colin Beveridge wrote an article
Too good to be Truchet
for Chalkdust Magazine
and shows there are 10 ways of assembling these cubes. Can you make all of them?
Related information
See page on Truchet tiles for related information.