Learn How to Make Your
Own Tangrams
You can use any material you want
to make your tangram set, the only requirement being that you
can cut or form it into shape. I've seen them made of paper, cardboard,wood,
ceramics, glass and metal. Some beautiful examples from China
were made of ivory with inlaid and carved ornamentation on the
pieces and box. Whatever you choose to use, you will need a four
inch (aprox. twelve cm.) square of it, usually about one eighth
of an inch (two mm.) thick for a puzzle this size. You can scale
this up or down, the four squares by four squares part is the
important thing here.
Draw a one inch (three cm.) grid
on the material for a puzzle the size I like to play with. You
then mark off the blue lines as shown below. Cut your material
carefully along these blue lines. This will produce the seven
tan pieces; five triangles, one square and one rhomboid.
Something like the above picture
will be just fine. Next color you pieces with different colors.
This will help you to keep things separated. Now you are ready
to try to solve some of these puzzels.