@mrdk thank you. I hope making art with algorithms brings you some of the same joy it’s brought me.

@mrdk yes! Making errors with cellular automata can take an algorithm that makes relatively uninteresting designs to one that makes really compelling ones. Many of the designs in my book have errors, whether intentional or not, and some have complete “reboots” to reset the pattern entirely. When you’re building a pattern once cell at a time, sometimes it makes a lot of sense to add errors to add interest. Sometimes I highlight the errrors in a contrasting color.

@mrdk I think that project is quite similar to mine as they’re both fiber art and cellular automata. The biggest difference is the grid. I’m using a staggered grid rather than the traditional square grid, and it turns out that makes a big difference in the visual impact of the designs. Thank you for your interest in my book.

@FlarZuumi thank you Flar. I hope you enjoy using the algorithms to make some art.

@provuejim awe thanks Jim. I promise it will be worth at least half of what you paid for it or half your money back.

@tinfoiling thank you! Working on this book became a side hobby. After year 3, it gave me and my friends who worked on it a reason to meet regularly and chat about our progress and other cool math and art stuff.

Unless we sell 100,000 copies, it’s never going to pay for all the time we put in it, and that’s okay. It was fun, beautiful, and content worth sharing with the world. But maybe, just maybe, we’ll sell 100,000 copies. That’s only 1 in every 83,000 people.

@grease thank you very much. I hope you enjoy making art with these algorithms as much as I have. As a family, you can all choose the same algorithm, but each use different colors and a different initial condition, and you’ll all get a different piece of art.

@cthon1c awe, that is such a sweet comment. ️ I’ve tried reading that book a few times and never got to the end. I assure you that the picture to text ratio is much larger in our book. We also have countless tables. So many tables.

@loopspace yes. Roger Antonsen was a math professor at University of Oslo, Norway. Sadly, he passed away, it will be two years this April. He and I worked on this project for about seven years together.

@RosyMaths @GinevraCat the book actually has a fair amount of math in it. However the math is more observational, rather than proof-based, because I didn’t want to scare away the artists. Since most of our math observations come without proof, I think there is a lot there for mathematically interested folks to consider and explore, too. I’m hoping the book will spawn a few senior math theses, in particular. Some of our observations might even be harder than that. I don’t know because I didn’t try to write the proofs. Instead I wanted to make a recipe book of algorithms for artists. Since you enjoy hand crafts, you can also apply our algorithms to coloring or embroidery. Thank you for your interest and support.

@RosyMaths @GinevraCat thank you so much Rosy. I hope you find a similar joy to what I have from beading with algorithms. It’s very meditative.

@sewblue yes, weaving and computing are longtime friends. It’s arguable that the first computing machines are looms. Cellular automata are special types of algorithms though because depending upon how you start, you can get many different patterns out of one algorithm. In contrast, with a punchcard loom, you’re always going to get more or less the same pattern, although you can still change the colors and dimensions.

@UweHalfHand thank you. It’s a pretty book full of pretty pictures. Maybe that’s enough. One of my goals was to make it pass “the flip test,” meaning when you quickly flip through the pages, there’s an explosion of colorful images. When I’m in bookstores, I always use the flip test when deciding which books to buy for myself because I like pictures more than text.

There’s a complete chapter on bead weaving, but if you don’t want to learn beading, you could color the coloring pages. It’s very meditative. Or maybe you know how to lay tile, and you could use the algorithms to tile the bathroom or kitchen. The algorithms all work with grids using squares, rectangles, or regular hexagons.

@MyYeeHaa thank you so much. I hope it brings you some of the enjoyment that it’s brought me. I find the process of beading with algorithms (or even coloring with them) is very meditative. It’s good to calm an anxious mind.

@MisterMadge @standupmaths perhaps the largest patch of 1D cellular automata that doesn’t repeat. I’d love to see it!

@MyYeeHaa thank you. Sure, you could take up beading; there’s a whole chapter on weaving beads. If that’s not your style, you could retile the bathroom or kitchen. The algorithms would work perfectly with ceramic tiles: squares, rectangles, or regular hexagons.

@littlescraps thank you. I hope beading with algorithms brings you some of the joy it’s given me.

We found so much to include that the book ended up a full third longer than I had originally planned. It took years longer than I originally expected. But it was a labor of love, a passion project, something we made because we wanted to make something beautiful and inspiring. I can hardly believe it’s finally finished. I hope you will love it too.

Link to order the book: https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/14357#t=aboutBook

There’s a 30% off code
RECMATH30

It’s preorder. The release date is the end of February. 2/2

#MathArt #beading #Genuary #math #beadweaving

Twelve years. I started this project twelve years ago, and today I hold the result in my hand. It’s a book that combines bead weaving with math called, “Beading with Algorithms: Cellular Automata in Peyote Stitch.” With help from mathematician and artist Roger Antonsen, graphic designer Zelda Lin, a handful of talented proof readers, and the good people from World Scientific Publishing Company, my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality.

This book is the first of its kind, a recipe book of algorithms that can be used and combined to generate colorful patterns in peyote stitch beadwork in any size and shape you desire. These algorithms could also be applied to other pixelated art forms like tile laying, embroidery, crochet, and quilts. We included projects like bracelets, pill pouches, pendants, beaded beads, and key chains. We also included a bunch of different grids that you can photocopy and color with markers.

Of course I’m biased, but I think it’s a really beautiful book. We included multiple colorful images on almost every page, 172 pages in all. It was a huge layout challenge, but Zelda nailed it. My original goal was to write 128 pages on how to use algorithms to make beaded jewelry, but the more we explored the space, the more we found. Not just millions of algorithms, the space of possibilities is infinite. So of course, we couldn’t include them all. But we used math and Roger’s custom software that he wrote for this project to help us find dozens of the easiest algorithms and more than a hundred more in increasing levels of complexity. We included all of our favorites. 1/2

#MathArt #beading #Genuary #math #beadweaving