Tangram Christmas Art: How It's Made

(Jump to the Nativity Display by clicking here, or to the 12 Days Display by clicking here.)

Below are images of a rough layout of two Christmas-themed art displays. The one includes images from the Nativity. The other includes images for each of the 12 Days of Christmas, or in this case, the 12 Tangrams of Christmas.

Museum Art

Here are some shots of the Christmas art on display at the museum. Notice that the 3 Wise Men are wearing purple, the color of royalty. You can see the curly, glass trophy I was awarded as the “Director’s Award” next to me in the photo of the 12 Days display. The center piece that is surrounded by the 12 Days of Christmas tangrams is a sampling of the 7 tans. The sign with it explains that all of the tangrams are made using all of the 7 tans and using each only once.

How They Were Made

This page includes photos and videos of how the Christmas tangram art was made. At the bottom, there’s a video on how to cut out your own tangrams from foam.

Cutting Out the Plaques

The plaques on which the tangrams were mounted were cut out of walnut in my father-in-law, Bill’s, most excellent woodshop in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They were then transported by car to Utah where the tangram puzzle-art was applied.

Miscellaneous Tools

Laid out for Sanding

Prepping the Lengths

Closeup on Rough Layout

Marking Measurements

Tagged for Cutting

Cutting the Lengths

Cut Plaque Lengths

Trimming the Widths

Routing the Edges

A Routed Plaque

Cutting Keyholes

A Cut Keyhole for Hanging

Labeling the Backs

Laid Out for Varnishing

Varnished

Applying the Tangrams

The rubber cement that was used to glue the tangram pieces to the plaques was tricky. Wait too long, and it would dry and not stick. Use too much glue and it would ooze out from under the pieces, and would later need to be carefully trimmed off after drying. Each time one of the 7 pieces that made up each image was glued down, it would need to have pressure applied to it, or it would start to curl while working on the next of the 7 pieces.

See a video on how to make tangram art: How to Make Tangram Art. The following photos are screenshots from the video.

Laying out the Plaque

Selecting a Tangram Piece

Applying Glue

Spreading Glue

Placing the Tangram Piece

Pushing Down the Edges

Pressing Down to Avoid Curling

Leveling Out the Pressure

Revealing the Tangram

The Finished Artwork (Baby Jesus in the Manger)

Fixing Tangram Plaques

Even in the best of circumstances, the pieces could slide under the pressure that was applied to keep the 7 pieces flat and the tangram would become distorted, or have unsightly gaps between the pieces. As a result, several of completed images would need to be dismantled and redone. Removing the glued pieces from the plaques, without damaging the plaques, was tricky business. Even when great care was taken, some plaques had to be sanded down and revarnished due to scratches that occurred while scraping off the glued tangram foam pieces. Some of the tangram images were made and remade 3 or 4 times before they were acceptable. The following is a step-by-step on removing tangram pieces that needed to be redone.

See a video on how to dismantle tangram art: How to Dismantle Tangram Art. The following photos are screenshots from the video.

Cutting a Corner with Flat Razor

Peeling Up the Piece

A Pulled Up Piece

Cutting Up the Next Piece

Scraping Up Residue

Peeling Up Residue

Working on the Next Piece

Peeling Up Manually

Cutting Out Tangrams From Foam

The foam used in the tangram art described on this page, and in the Tangram Fury games, is 1/4″ thick foam. Similar foam is sold in craft stores and used for door-hanger projects. As long as the foam is 5 inches by 5 inches in size, it can be used to cut out foam tangrams as shown in the video below. If it isn’t this wide, each tangram piece can be cut out separately in a much more complicated way, that is not shown in this video because it is a random process dependent on the size of the foam being used.

See a video on how to cut out a foam tangram: How to Cut Out a Foam Tangram.

Screenshots from that video, and scant instructions are below. The video gives much more detail for the process. Good luck, and have fun tangramming!