Triangular Grid Paper

Every edge drawn, not just the corners

Three families of parallel lines cross to make a complete mesh of equilateral triangles: one horizontal, one at 60 degrees, one at 120. Set the side length anywhere from 5 to 20 mm.

This is the difference from isometric dot paper, where only the vertices are marked and every line is imagined. Here the lines are printed, so you draw along them rather than between dots.

Which of the two you want

Printed edges suit anything where the triangle itself is the unit: tessellation work, triangular tiling patterns, quilting layouts, and geometry where you need to see the shape rather than construct it.

Dots suit isometric drawing, where the grid is scaffolding for something else and printed lines get in the way of the object. If you are drawing a cube, the last thing you want is a mesh through it.

So: triangles for pattern work, dots for drawing. They look similar and are not interchangeable.

The 60-degree property that makes it useful

Every angle in the grid is a multiple of 30 degrees, and every line runs in one of three directions. That means an equilateral triangle, a rhombus, a hexagon and a trapezium can all be drawn accurately without a protractor — you follow the lines.

It is also why hexagons appear for free. Six triangles round a point make one. Children discover that on this paper rather than being told it, and afterwards the honeycomb, the snowflake and the hexagonal floor tile have stopped being three separate facts.

Choosing a size

Ten millimetres is the default and covers most classroom work. Five gives fine detail on a busy page. Useful for a tessellation design, hard on the eye for anything longer.

Twenty is generous, and it is the one to use with younger children or for a diagram that will be photographed or shown on a screen.

Line weight

Light keeps the grid quiet underneath a drawing. Medium makes it part of the finished page.

Pick light if the grid is a tool and medium if it is the point. For anything being scanned or photocopied, light can disappear entirely, so test one page before printing thirty.

Where it gets used

Maths: tessellation, angle work, area by counting triangles, hexagonal number patterns.

Outside maths: quilting and patchwork layouts, charts for knitting or beadwork on a triangular grid, pattern design generally. Also board-game maps — a hex map is drawn on exactly this paper.

Print at 100% on A4, US Letter or US Legal. At 100% the triangle side really is the millimetres you asked for, which matters the moment you are measuring anything on it.