Möbius Paper Chain photo by SpaceLlamaMK1 on Imgur

If you’re trying to think of ways to decorate your home, office or classroom, look no further than mathematically non-trivial paper chains, made from Möbius bands.

All you need is some double-sided coloured paper (ideally the same colour on both sides, but if you want to show off the twist, you can go two-tone) cut into long strips, and tape to loop them together.

If you consistently use the same handedness of Möbius loop (twisting the same way each time) your chains will hang nicely, and they’ll all sit in the same orientation – unlike those messy normal paper chains, where every second loop is at right angles.

Share your photos of finished Möbius paper chains on Twitter, mentioning @Aperiodical, and we’ll retweet the best.

This post is part of the Aperiodical’s 2018 Aperiodvent Calendar.