A few dozen spectre tiles, in 6 colours corresponding to the metatiles. There are a few places where I made a mistake and had to rub out a bit.
Well, I've laid out 6 metatiles, and they fitted together OK. This is encouraging, but Im sure it's going to be even more complicated to do the next iteration.
#BeachSpectres
A portion of the Spectre tiling with quadrilaterals drawn on top. The quadrilaterals follow a pattern, but it's very hard to see because they don't line up neatly.
hmmm...
If you're in the UK on June 7th, please help @christianp.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy with his #illustratingMath project #BeachSpectres.
Poster: Beach Spectres, we want to make the largest aperiodic tiling ever! What's an aperiodic tiling? It's when you cover a flat surface with copies of a shape like the one above, without any repeating patterns. The Spectre monotile was only discovered in 2023, and mathematicians are really excited about it! What are you doing? We're going to use large “cookie cutter” tools in the shape of the Spectre to cover the beach with the aperiodic tiling. You can help: come to the beach and we'll show you what to do. Where and when? Whitley Bay beach, 7th June 2026. Come and join in, just watch, or talk to some very enthusiastic mathematicians! beachspectres.com
I'm enormously happy to finally be able to announce the date of the #BeachSpectres project: 7th June, 2026. #WhitleyBay beach, UK.
If you can make it to the beach and join in with the tiling effort, I'll be very happy to see you and glad of the help!
Lots […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Two adjacent spectre monotiles. They each have a small hole at each corner and a chevron-shaped gap so they can be split into pieces.
Close up of two touching edges, labelled 9 and 13. You can see the holes at each corner and the gaps for the joins.
Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!
#BeachSpectres
The spectre monotile, oriented to look like a person walking, with wobbly lines added for a neckline, arms, waist and shoes. It has a smiley face and is saying "howay man let's get tiling"
Logo?
A rectangle filled with packed portions of the Spectre monotile, in different colours. Each piece has a number on it, and little holes at the corners. A text label at the bottom says "6 layers, each split into 7 pieces at alternating corners, with dowel holes".
Maybe this?
It's only 6 layers, not the 7 I got the previous way, but thanks to advice from @nervous_jesse I'm much more confident it'll hold together.
Each layer is 7 pieces, but adjacent layers are cut at alternating corners so there are overlaps. There are […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Lots of irregular but similar wiggly curve shapes packed together inside a rectangle, with not much wasted space.
Yes! Yes!! Ha ha ha!!!
Another #BeachSpectres update: I've had another go at using the laser cutter to make a layered Spectre. I've also realised something interesting about the construction of the shape.
https://beachspectres.com/news/2026-02-04-update-4/
I've made a website for the #BeachSpectres project: https://beachspectres.com/
I'll post updates there as well as here and on @aperiodical
I'm making some progress with the #BeachSpectres project.
I've 3D printed a whole Spectre at the size I want for the final cutter, and this week for #MathsWeekEngland I'm going into three primary schools and asking kids to stamp out some tessellations 😬 […]
3D rendering of a part of a wall, made from two curvy edges and a 90 degree corner, joined with dovetail joints.
Maybe this could work???
#BeachSpectres
At the TMiP conference in August, we announced the winner of this year's MEGA Grant - Christian Lawson-Perfect will be creating beautiful aperiodic tilings in the sand, as part of the #BeachSpectres project. Christian's write-up is here: aperiodical.com/2025... More info at http://tmip.uk/mega-
A spectre monotile drawn so it looks like a 99 ice cream, with a waffle for the bottom half, white ice cream on top, and a chocolate flake for the sticky-out bit.
#BeachSpectre ice cream?
Six different shaped pieces: an S-shaped curve, one straight piece, and five different corners. There should be 14 curve, four convex right angles, five convex 120 degree corners, two concave 120 degree corners, two concave right angles, and one straight.
These are the pieces I need to make one spectre monotile. The good thing about them is that I can stack them together quite tightly when cutting out on a laser cutter, or each piece will fit on the bed of a 3D printer.
I still haven't decided whether laser […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
#BeachSpectres update 2: it's all joining together!
I've spent some time in Inkscape and worked out that I can cut up the monotile into just a few, repeating pieces. I hope I can get the joins to be strong enough.
https://media.aperiodical.com/beach-spectres-update-2
Segments of two curvy paths that join. Touching corners of the two paths are drawn in different colours, and have little smiley faces on because they're hugging.
#BeachSpectres update: I'm taking it very seriously.
It's #TilingTuesday so I thought I'd do a quick update on how the planning for the #BeachSpectres #MEGAGrant project is going:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPNAvWYWOUw
