"Oh, my goodness. Whip out your bookmarks right now, PatternHogs, because I have a doozy for you. Ian Alexander's Natural Patterns, Wallpapers & Backgrounds Library is a huge treasure box of a site. You could lose yourself for days in here, browsing among patterns drawn from almost every aspect of the physical world and ranging from fantastically complex to divinely, elegantly simple. (In case you get lost, and want to find a particular image, here's another way to navigate the library.)
The collection is great eye candy for anyone interested in nature, math or patterns, and if you are looking for repeating tiles you'll find many that are ready to use and many that will do as wonderful starting points for making your own. (Here's one set I made from this amazing cabbage spiral pattern)." - Tile-a-day
"Ian Alexander's wonderful collection - an inspiration for artwork" - Borders Primary Teachers Website
"a wonderful website making designs from everything natural" - The Textile Programme at University of East London
"Features a wide collection of free background for your webpages. Rattan, wicker, woven, batik and other exotic patterns, pictures and painting. A great find. Owned and managed by Mr. Ian Alexander of UK." - Zambales Forum
"This is a fabulous and inspiring website to explore, Im a textile designer and illustration artist, everytime i need some inspiration for another idea i look on your website, it amazes me how beautiful a pattern can be formed just from an everyday object. thank you for making my imagination drift into an exciting world of patterns, without it my work would be lifeless." - karen-ann
"i think this is a brilliant and generous site......
the pics are excellent, different and interesting......
dealing with stuff you can go out and see for yourself, it
displays the extraordinary beauty of nature.
i'm impressed." - Caroline
"It was nice and useful. Thank you." - Oruganti O.
"Your pattern library is delicious, and you are wonderful for making it! Thank you very, very much! I've referred to it on my site" - T. Zelkas
"I'm soooooo glad that someone finally made an AWESOME website about cheetahs cuz they're soooo kool, so i just wanted to say THANX to everyone that made this website! Peace out! " - Kool Can
"Thank you for your help, this site has been brilliant over the last couple of months. I am taking GCSE ART and our topic for the exam was set as 'SURFACES' hard to find out, i narrowed it down to look at patterns and found your site. It inspired me and gave me ideas, thank you" - Claire
"Well I am going to keep this short and simple. First of all Thank You as your web-site was the only one with good definitions of Natural Patterns etc. and it's for my art Project and I like to get high scores and marks so thank you! ^_^
I have been using your site for some time now and it was of great assistance so thank you!" - Toxication
"Excellent site - we are investigating patterns at school, and have found your site invaluable - thankyou very much for compiling the site." - Vicki
"What wonderful images! Isn't it amazing that there is so much beauty right under our noses and most of us never notice it? I have seen hundreds of websites, but never been inclined to sign a guestbook before. Since the beginning of this year, however, I have signed two! Yours was one. (The other was Peapod Design [it offers fractal tilings - Ian].) I consider myself very fortunate to have found and experienced your site, even without a high-speed connection. I plan to come back and see some more of your creative and insightful work." - Nancy
"This is a gorgeous site, and I could spend hours looking at it. I am writing to request permission to use the antique flysheet paper as a background." - Beverly
"Wow, what a website. I am a teacher of Art and Design/Textiles just about to start my 15/16 year olds on their final examination - ie 6 weeks preparation studies doing research and design development and the 2 days [10 hours] to make something they have designed. I was looking for resources/websites to get them started with ideas. I came across yours - its got so many wonderful images including historical aspects of Art [Islamic pattern]- I have taken some off for use only in the classroom, and the students have to acknowledge the artist if they work from your photos. I do hope you do not mind. We are always so desperately short of funds for resources and art books are so expensive. Please tell me something about yourself and your work, ao that I can best explain the difference between using other peoples' work and making their own. Thank you so much for a wonderful website." - Lesley
"'Natural Patterns', in italiano motivi (decorativi) naturali: migliaia di immagini rubate alla natura e alle opere dell'uomo, tessuti, o microstrutture viste sotto la lente d'ingrandimento, grafismi, decorazioni, dettagli. Pronti da stampare e riprodurre in serie su carte da parati, tessuti, piastrelle e ogni sorta di superficie. A proporli è Ian Alexander un ingegnere inglese che sul proprio sito http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~iany/patterns/natural.htm ha allestito un archivio-galleria di immagini e motivi grafici. Una 'collezione' cominciata oltre dieci anni fa che Alexander definisce 'il mio lato emozionale, a fianco di quello scientifico'." - Ilaria Solari (Gioia Casa magazine, 12/2002 - 1/2003), Micaela Zucconi (Vicedirettore)
"Your site is awesome! lost myself exploring for almost 2 hours. But, Please tell me where you found the coffee bean batik fabric. I have been looking everywhere for something just like this!" - Karen [The fabric is from Jogyakarta, Java.]
"I have to (guiltily) admit that I spent a wonderful hour looking at your website. Fascinating!" - Susan
"Thank you so much for this wonderful resource which I shall delight in being able to share with my students. I am currently acting mathematics coordinator in a 600 pupil middle school (ages 9-13) in England. We are making a conscious effort this year to incorporate more multicultural material in our mathematics lessons and your website is an ideal reference point for the pupils. It is inspirational ! I too collect artefacts from my travels but I have never seen so many patterns gathered together in such an accessible format. Many thanks." - Kathryn
"As-Salaamu Alaikum,
I am an American Muslim convert of 19 years. I really love the site. I was looking for inspiration for a faux tile border design to paint on the walls of a local Islamic center. Some of the photos under Kyrgystan were very helpful. The site itself is an ayah of Qu'ran, "See the signs on the horizon, and in yourself." The oneness of the pattern of creation, reflects His Oneness, Allah, the Awesome. Thank you, this is a gift. May Allah bless you and your family" - Zahra
"I'm absolutely fascinated with your backgrounds! - the source material is fantastic, but what I'm really interested to learn more about is the means by which you make your images tile so well. I'm familiar with the basic principles, although haven't tried it myself yet.
Presumably you use a graphics programme, but is the tiling achieved with a filter or do you manually divide up the images and re-assemble them yourself? If it's a filter, I'd be interested to know which you've found works best -- chances are I already have it stored as there are several that do this, but until experimenting I wouldn't know what advantages one might have over another... it would be great to shortcircuit that process a little, if you didn't mind :) If you do it 'manually' then I guess I'll need to practice some.
I'm a keen (very amateur) photographer myself, and also an avid scanner of what most folk would consider some rather odd original material (anything for a good texture or pattern), and over the past year or two have amassed 1000s of potential source images, all with the deliberate intention of putting together a collection of backgrounds and tiles... a very similar idea to yours in fact, but I haven't got round to embarking on the project or conversion process yet. Maybe in the next few months. There's a great deal of advice online about how to achieve perfectly tiled backgrounds and borders, but yours have come out so exceptionally well that I had to write, not only to congratulate and thank you for offering these resources, but also to see if you could help along the methodology decision with a little advice - do hope you don't mind me picking your brains?" - Amanda
I have tried a few gadgets but never found one that was satisfactory (even considered making one). So, no, I just make them by hand using a few simple rules (which I've never tried to codify!).
This leads me to say that I clearly have a meta-rule, which must be
I have to say that I've made fewer and fewer tilings in recent years; the regularities in Nature are often gradients, or fractals, or spirals, or other wonderful patterns that do not, cannot tile a plane. But in those cases we shade into something much bigger than can be done in the original scheme of the website. - Ian A.
"Terrific and neverending inspiration" - Micaela
"I am an illustrator, researching patterns for ethnic clothing in an upcoming piece. I have always loved patterns found in nature, for as long as I can remember, and I try to incorporate them in my work whenever possible. (My favorite illustrators are Leo and Diane Dillon.) What a precious wealth of information you have here! You've got my bookmark! Great job!!" - Michele
"Amazing! A really wonderful collection of patterns- I am a quilter and embroiderer and found so much to inspire me on these pages. " - Fiona
"If you're looking for patterns of any description a great web site is that of Ian Alexander who collects patterns of all kinds from a huge range of sources.
Ian Alexander collects pictures from around the world which you can use as backgrounds, wallpaper or just generally as inspiration.
The site is very easy to browse and has some lovely images." - Tricia Revest, writing in Patchwork and Quilting magazine in an article entitled Wandering the Web with Patchwork and Quilting, summer 2002.
"i am fascinated by natural shapes and study GCSE art. The photographs you have taken are amongst the best ive seen in natural shapes and animals!! especially the spirals" - James
"Very useful site for geometry and its role in art and aesthetics. We hope to use your images in our CENTRE FOR MATHEMATICS EXPLORATIONS." - Prof SP Mashike
"Very nice selection.....and so refreshing to see such a variety of different things. I enjoyed my visit very much !!!!!" - Vicki
"Wow i love this stuff...I have been trying to decide what to have as abackground for my indonesian page...and stumbled upon this site...It has given me some ideas...I was trying to remember what i saw when i was in Bali and now you have jogged my memory...Thank you" - Jasmina
"Your website is wonderful! There ought to be an award for the most wonderful website. If there were, you'd get my vote!
P.S. If there were such a ceremony, it ought to be on TV where everyone, especially children, could see it, and be naturally inspired by people like you. I'm serious!" - Jane
"I have a project to complete in school and this web site was a big help thnks." - LaTasha
"Simply nice one, keep this way. Cheers mate" - Francisco
"One word to say it all. 'Thankyou'." - Dianne
"Candy for the eyes, indeed. I have just discovered this, from the referral of another quiltmaker in Australia - what an exciting site - it's bookmarked and I will come back to it again and again. Not to 'copy' anything - just to browse sometimes when I'm procrastinating or looking for some kind of diversion or inspiration! I am a designer and maker of non-traditional quilted textiles, mostly wallhangings, and love natural and manmade repeat patterns especially." - Alison
"very very nice, i love especially those native textile textures" - Jose
"Great photos!! Again, these are simply awesome..." - Josie
"Your photographs are amazing." - Gen
"I really love your website. I've been looking for one like it for a very long time. Thank you. Keep up the great work!" - Alana
"I was looking for some natural pattern backgrounds for my personal webpage--and came upon your beautiful website. It's all stunning and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring it. Your work reflects an ability to find beauty in the patterns of ordinary life." - Katherine
"Many thanks for sharing your marvelous insight and photography !! It would be truly difficult to have to choose my very favorite. Keep up the great work !" - Cathy
"beauty beauty beauty
excellent work my fellow jack
marvellous, brilliant, stupendous, outstanding ........" - Logesh
"I love looking at all the beautiful patterns!" - Umamaiya
"I've just spent well over an hour scouring every one of your delightful pages. I never dreamed that simple magnification, repetition and such could take some seemingly common objects and make them something I wouldn't mind framing and hanging on a wall. I very much enjoyed your site and the macrophotography." - Gabe
"Wow! Stunning pictures and patterns. I was directed here following by a search engine, and although it's not what I was looking for initially, I'm really glad I saw your site. I'll be coming back... And updating my wallpaper in the meanwhile.
The pics I've downloaded to use as a wallpaper were those of the cycad fern, the fan palm, the timothy grass, the 'sparkle' water photo and the desert_sands one. I was tempted by many more but I'm leaving myself things to come back for.
Anyway, thanks once more for putting such pretty photos online and allowing people to use them for their personal use (I know, even if you didn't allow it, people would probably still download and use your pics, but I prefer to do things with authorisation). There's now a personal computer desktop belonging to an Englishman living in France that is going to feature some of your photos.
" - Tim
"I most certainly can use some of your patterns and borders - found your site very interesting and useful. I make cards for all occasions and I am searching for borders that I can use on these cards." - Maryna
"this is an awesome website for people who like art or enjoy patterns and tessellations." - Sajel
"you've done such beautiful work! i'm sincerely impressed .... i truly love what i see!" - Rachael
"having unfortunately to do my GCSEs in the next year, ure site has been REALLY helpful for my art patterns Coursework!! thank you!!! " - Jenny
"This is a wonderful site which I found by chance. I don't have a website yet but hope to by the end of the year. I am a sometime basketmaker who uses the techniques to make 3-D sculptures. I mostly use paper yarn which makes the objects feel warm/alive. I am putting together a leaflet and hopefully can utilise some of your patterns for the background. Thankyou for the wonderful choice." - Ann
"Absolutely the best background collection. " - Ru
"I very much like your Wicker tiles" - Stephanie
"What a site! I found it just searching around on Google, (probably looking for nature shots). Much of your time must be devoted to maintaining your site [This is happily untrue - Ian]. God bless the Internet, eh? " - Bill
"I love all the patterns and backgrounds on your site! They are truly unique and just astoundingly beautiful." - Mara
"What a magnificent website you have. I have never seen such a tasteful and varied collection of natural and cultural patterns. The description provided for each pattern is most educational. I Thoroughly enjoyed my visit, thank you for such an outstanding site" - Val
"Great patterns. I am not a good web searcher I am glad to come across your site." - Donna
"Wow! This has been brilliant! I stumbled upon your website while looking for Escher. Have been fascinated, and soothed, by the beautiful, gentle photos. I don't make a habit of emailing total strangers, or sending fan mail, but couldn't resist commenting. I am going to add a link from our family web site." - Clare
"I browsed the web and found your site, with this incredible plentitude of high-quality, natural images." - Mihaylo
"I have a web page for mine and my families arts and crafts. I am seeking your permission to use your Pine Needle background for the web page. I make pine needle baskets and this will be just great." - BasketMoon
"I found your site in a search for Cappadocia and am loving the fabulous photos you have not just of Turkey but of some beautiful places. Super!" - Val
"GOOD SITE, GOOD TASTE, GOOD PICS, ITS JUST DAMN GREAT.
LATER ALIGATOR (¯`·._thomas_.·´¯)"
"well say no more about your page its wicked i found it very useful keep the good work up :)" - Shaun
"Such a beautiful pattern!! I would like very much to use this as a background pattern as "wallpaper" for my basketry site: Appalachian Mountain Basketry. " - Sherry
"im jus sayin thanks fo helpin me on my art homework. u da man!" - Dave
"Enjoyed visiting your site. I am teaching traditional watercolour painting" - Eddy
"Greetings from Scotland. Thank you for creating such a wonderful website." - Bob
"This site just plain rules. I LOVE the natural world and I LOVE even more that you have made them into classy and beautiful graphics. Your site is definitely bookmarked." - Eryn
"Wonderful site! We are researching a trip from Cappadoccia to Kashgar (via Central Asia) on a tandem bicycle. Your site has given us plenty of ideas for the web site we are constructing. We have cycled in Kyrgyzstan and are proud owners of a Shyrdak." - Cass and Rosal
"thank you there is lots to inspire embroidery" - Lynne
"I am an art student and my current interest is on natural patterns especially those that are caused by nature. I have found your web pages very interesting and useful for ideas. I am particularly interested in the patterns made by the single cells of plants and animals" - Fern
"Fantastic collection of patterns. Thanks so much!" - Mark
"thanks for having such a MAD set of backgrounds, great stuff, an amazing
resource. i've been coming back over the past few days after i found it.
i've built a website toy that likes your files, its a user-editable site,
anyone in the surfing audience can add text, links, images at any time...
www.sketchzilla.com
your backgrounds are featured there at this instant.
cheers from the west coast of america.,,,," - Ted
The link on Ted's site back to here reads: "way too many way too good background tiles, very natural, middle age english geezer's site" --- !
"I wish to use the Birchbark 2 wallpaper graphic in a web site for a class project. The web site will be a digital library to connect users to native american tribe and nations web sites." - Cassandra
"I really enjoyed your site, it is very beautyfull. I am a chemistry teacher in Mexico. My principal interest is in symmetry and the homemade models for teaching. It is a pleasure to write you. Sincerely." - Aaron
"I loved your textures, and wanted to use them for a flyer design of a
group of houses as a background. The textures I selected for this matter are the following:
blue_bookbinding.jpg, backing_card.jpg, milled_cardboard.jpg" - David
[Permission was given; the images in question are all papers]
"Excellent site and a great resource for artists. I am experimenting with decals on my ceramic pieces. The close-up photos of textures and patterns are beautiful and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for making them available to us free of charge." - Amanda
"brilliant site keep up the good work - would like to know more about indian weaves" - Tom
"beautiful patterns. Very good imagination and a lot of hard work involved." - Kev
"This is the best web site I have been on. I am just starting a textiles degree and so found your information fascinating. Thank you." - Becky
"What a wonderful site. Can't wait to spend more time browsing the whole lot. I am a patchworker so these pattern are of great interest to me. Also plan to do some mosaics. " - Ann
"It is a wonderful and amazing site - and so exactly what I was looking for. I am a quilter, but contemporary, and originally worked on electron microscopes. I am always looking for interesting regular patterns." - Jenny
"i am doing a art scrapbook project and i am looking for loads of pictures of patterns in nature, wallpaper,etc This website is ab fab this is soooo much better than the millions of pages on the internet ive been searching through." - Kaz Daz
"Ian, wanted to say Hi! and let you know how much I've enjoyed this cool and lovely site. GREAT WORK!
There's so much to see here, and so little time to surf! Thanks for making my day a brighter one."
- Jang Hee Yun
"What a great lot of work is represented here! Really amazing, gorgeous eyefuls. Thank you so much for the tour." - S.T.W.
"Over the past weeks I have spent countless hours viewing backgrounds and yours are the most beautiful by far...Your love of "things natural" appears to be very similar to my own. I think your Birch Bark 2 would be a perfect background for my website. Congratulations on some wonderful work." - Sandy
"great stuff!" - Jere
"Crazy, great site!" - Blair
"Thank you so much!! These are the most beautiful backgrounds I have ever seen, just what I have been looking for!" - Karena
"Ian, I really admire your site. I found it a few months ago ... [I share] very much the same line of thought (or to put it better, esthetic appreciation or sensibility) as your site -- in fact I was astonished to find your site." - Soren
"Thank you for sharing your images. Quite unique and beautiful!" - Christin
"Wonderful site, some superb pictures" - Graham
"amazing site... thank you. Am building my own webpage, would like to use some of your stuff as backgrounds, will provide links to your site. Again, GREAT stuff." - Teresa
"Really enjoyed visiting you and plan to return. I'm looking for pictures actually. Would like to try making some tapestries. The vivid colors you have here will give me ideas!" - Jan
"Hey Ian! A great Idea, loved it..." - Roy
"The very best site about textures, wonderful, thanks!" - Langner
"cool page" - Gon
"Absolutely Fantastic! What wonderful images to capture the heart and soul of us all. Thank you for sharing." - Yana
"Thanks for creating a site that is filled with beautiful backgrounds." - Queen K
"Thank you so much for your incredibly wonderful website! It is really beautiful. Thank you!" - Catie
"Very cool. Thanks for your beautiful creations." - Bonnie
"Wonderful...Real refreshing to see new stuff" - Caryl
"I was very proud and surprised at the same time when I saw the patterns of my country.....Indonesia. Your backgrounds ...they're fantastic." - Chandra
"You are the man, very nice textures here. Thanks for providing this resource to the online communities." - Chikatilo
"Wonderful collection of patterns. I will have my students look at your pages before they take cameras out to photograph patterns in our environment" - DBK
"I simply must congratulate you on compiling one of the most beautiful sites of images that I have ever seen on the Net. What a welcome relief to get away from the overhyped animated that fill most sites. Soothing, beautiful and actually very informative. Looking through the whole site, at every image, has been a rewarding experience. I wish you all the best in maintaining it, and will watch it with anticipation" - Evan
"This has been a wonderful visit! I love your images, many of them remind me of places I've traveled too." - Lauren
"Real Neat Site ever!!
I really love seeing these stuff on the internet!!
Keep up the great work guys! :))) " - Sobiya
"Hi! I found your wonderful collection of natural backgrounds through the Basketry Mining Co. Site.Thank you" - Pamela
"Your patterns are marvelous" - Mark
"Your backgrounds are really unique" - Maggie
"Your "natural" backgrounds are really nice!" - Heikki
"I love some of those patterns -- they're beautiful!" - Harold
"I liked your textiles!" - Sarah
"Interested in natural patterns for use in architectural design primarily as form giver." - Treehouse
"Fascinating patterns" - Azman
"Interesting selection" - Revela
"You have a great site here with very original backgrounds!" - Gloria
"Really enjoyed your web site. I have a tremendous love for all natural materials." - Cory
"I'd had the idea of using real textile images on a Web site, so I really appreciate that you've made some of those images available." - Ellen
"What a great find you page is!!I am saving it, and will be back to upload some of your designs." - Babs
"Nice site ... thanks for being here!"
"Could spend all day here." - Jumbles
"Absolutly the BEST site I've seen for add-ons yet! Thanks...keep them coming. :)" - Cyra
"Hey nice site!!! Well done!!!" - Mike
"i love your site it is really neatoo its like groovey i like it alot " - Jacob
"Your comments beside the imagery turn this site into a tour rather than an archive. Thanks, it is great!" - Christer
"Your site is amazing" - Anthi
"I love your site. It is the most beautiful thing I have seen all day. You have put so much work into this site! I could look at it al day even if I wasn't looking for backgrounds!" - Sarah
"You have a very nice website! Your patterns are unusual and very beautiful, plus your site is very nicely organized. I think you added a really nice touch by putting in the information about your patterns, where they came from, what their meaning is" - Jan
"Thank you for your lovely site ! I've never seen anything quite like it. I always enjoy textures, but yours is the most novel collection I've encountered. I liked the bits of info you share as well as the graphics. I can't wait to come back" - Nancy
"I really like your page. You have some very beautiful and unique graphics. Thank you for sharing them" - Miki
"I visited your site today while looking for backgrounds to use on my marine biology course web page (being developed). I was particularly interested in the beach, oyster, urchin and sand dollar backgrounds" - John
"What a wonderful site! It's great to see the Web being used with such a high degree of purpose, integrity and thoughtfulness. Keep up the good work and thank you for the beautiful images" - Terry