1. Cut your A3 paper into 4 strips.
2. Take two strips and glue them perpendicularly to make a cross.
3. Make a Möbius strip with each of the perpendicular strips.
4. Cut along the centre line of one Möbius strip until you get to where you started. Then cut along the other.
5. Be surprised.
1. Cut out a card circle whose diameter is the length of an unstretched rubber
band. Use pins to attach everything together, as shown above.
2. Drag the lower rubber band around to investigate catastrophe theory.
1. Cut out a hexagon and a triangle from the triangle paper.
2. Cut along one of the lines from a corner of the hexagon to the centre.
3. Tape the triangle between the two edges of the cut you just made. There is now more than 360° around the point, so the surface will not be flat.
4. Continue to tape more triangles to the surface, making sure there are always seven triangles at each point.
5. Congratulations! You have made a hyperbolic surface.
1. Cut out the two scales.
I was recently given a copy of Crafting Conundrums: Puzzles and Patterns for the Bead Crochet Artist by Ellie Baker and Susan Goldstine. This was pretty exciting for me, as although I knew nothing about bead crochet (I’d never heard of it), I’m a mathematician who enjoys exploring mathematical ideas through craft. So naturally I rushed out and bought lots of beads and thread, and a very tiny crochet hook (1.5mm, if you’re really interested). Continue reading
