Tessellated Mosaic Making

Also known as Opus tessellatum

Tessellated mosaic is the craft of setting thousands of small cut cubes of stone, clay or glass into a bed of mortar so that they form a repeating geometric floor or wall. Makers follow the flow of the rows, called andamento, so that every tile sits tight and the pattern stays clean.

Play the preview About this tradition

Tessellated Mosaic Making: photograph by FuriousYogi — Photo: FuriousYogi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons

Tessellated Mosaic Making: the game in attract mode

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How to play

Pick a tile shape and a colour from the strip under the panel.
Tap a square to set it: the same tile appears on the matching squares all round the panel, as a mosaic maker mirrors a design.
Copy the small pattern above the panel, then press Check.

Rules at a glance

The panel is mirrored and turned in four directions, like a square floor medallion.
A square counts only when its tile shape and its colour both match the pattern.
Setting the same tile and colour again takes it out; three stars need a nearly perfect copy.

About the tradition

Floors laid from small cut tiles were made across the Mediterranean world, from Italy to the Levant and North Africa, and mosaic workshops in these regions still work with stone and glass today.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Mediterranean.

Credits

Pattern design: World Heritage Games (original)
Photo: FuriousYogi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.

Sources

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_mosaic_floor_in_Volubilis,_Moroc

Get the app

Tessellated Mosaic Making is one of 8 craft designs in the Craft Designs of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 8 craft designs in the app

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