Die Cut TESSELLATION Tiles

I stamped out "hat" EXQUISITE TESSELLATION tiles with a Die that I ordered on Ebay from the Ukraine.  On August 15, 2026 at Quelab I punched out a stack of tessellation tiles from a 4'x8' sheet of Expanded PVC Foam with a Leather Press:

Stack of Expanded PVC Foam TESSELLATION tiles

punched out with a die

using the Leather Press

Tim at Quelab ordered the die for me in 2025. Adric bought a leather press for Quelab in February 2026:

PRINTMAKING -- UNM/UTEP Print Exchange,

 plus Die Cutting Tessellations

Adric bought the Leather Press

for the EXQUISITE TESSELATION die cutter

I needed to put a backing board behind the Expanded PVC Foam to cushion the Die Cutting.  Thanks to Bradford for cutting a board down for me:

Alternating the orientation

allowed me to get more tessellation pieces

There is a little play between the tessellation pieces

when put together

The final stack

from a 4'x8' sheet of Expanded PVC Foam

We had to cut down the PVC foam board into 6 inch x 24 inch strips that would fit in the Leather Press:

6 inches high

24 inches long

24 inches

NOTE

We can NOT cut the Expanded PVC Foam on the laser cutter because the heat will create Chlorine gas, which is poisonous and hurts the laser cutter.  That is why I punched out the tessellation shapes by hand.

However we CAN cut out the tessellation shapes from the Expanded PVC Foam on the CNC at Quelab:

Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles

Cutting down the Expanded PVC Foam sheet

on the CNC into Tessellation shapes

---

WORKSHOP

The advantage of Expanded PVC tiles is that artists can just gouge designs into the foam with ball point pens -- rather than cut into it with knives.  This way a group of artists can design tiles QUICKLY, and pull a collaborative in the same session.  We did this at the Quelab Open House during the Atomic 66 Week in 2025:

ATOMIC 66 -- Printmaking at QUELAB

Gouging into the PVC Foam tile

with a ball point pen

ATOMIC 66 -- Printmaking at QUELAB

The tile 

(the black parts are indented on the tile)

ATOMIC 66 -- Printmaking at QUELAB

A bunch of PVC tiles with designs

to be inked, put together

and printed

ATOMIC 66 -- Printmaking at QUELAB

One of the hand pressed prints