Super Spirograph: Rectangles and Squares
The Super Spirograph rectangle may seem boring compared to, say, the cloverleaf layout, but it can actually be useful.
I needed to make a certificate recently, so used Super Spirograph to make a fancy border, then sized it up a bit in Photoshop, and produced a credible, official-looking document!
What else could you do with rectangular shapes? How about a picture frame, or a matte to fit between the picture and the frame? Use colors that complement the subject of the picture.
Scrapbooking idea alert! (That’s baby me on the left.) I’ve written another post about using Spirograph designs for frames, whether physical or digital.
Rectangle setup with a long straight unit F on each short side, and F plus E on each long side. Use curve C for right-angle corners.
With the two lengths of straight super parts available, you can make several sizes of squares and rectangles. Use the four C curves for the corners, as they form a 90-degree angle.
You could make different sizes of rectangle by changing out the straight pieces. A shorter rectangle could allow you to make a design around the outside (an epitrochoid) as well as on the inside (a hypotrochoid) on standard letter-size paper, as in some of my designs below.
How i do the rainbow rectangle?
I don’t know exactly what wheel I was using, but the techniques can be used for any combination of wheels. The outside pattern is an example of a pattern with many points – one for each tooth, in fact. Rather than make the result boring, I cycled through the colors of the rainbow, red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet-pink, changing pens before the pattern came close to itself. The inside pattern had fewer points. I used holes 1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15, lining the hole up with the same spot on the ring and changing pens for each hole, with the same series of colors. Hmmm… I think I should make a video about this.