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Combining yarns was perhaps one of our most influential discoveries, on the technical side. One yarn could have different colours blended in to create a new range of shades. It was a solution to finding the right yarns to make something like Cubism. It isn’t always possible to buy three tones of the same colour to give the desired optical effect. One main yarn with three finer yarns was easy.

Tower Blocks was made as a companion piece to Cubism. When the two hang together, it can be seen that the large cube of Cubism is the same size as the arrangement of smaller cubes in Tower Blocks. The idea followed on from Bunch of Fives in the way grey yarn was used with other colours to give the effect of light and shade.

There are only four different colours - pink, blue, green and yellow - used with three shadow effects - white, light grey and dark grey. Every shape on the front faces has one shadow colour mixed in, everything on the top faces has a second, and everything on the side faces has a third. Whichever has the lightest or brightest shadow colour will look as though the light is shining on it. Whichever has the darkest will look as though it is in full shadow.

Tower Blocks was named by the pupils we were teaching at the time. They said it was like looking down on skyscrapers. When asked to define what they saw, in a mathematical way, very many pupils talked about the blocks of eight small cubes. Each large block really did look like a block of eight small cubes, even though only parts of seven are apparent. It is so convincing pupils would argue vehemently that there was another cube at the back that couldn’t be seen. I have even seen children look round the back to be sure there was nothing there.

This was another that seemed to change as you looked at it and it provided much discussion of shapes. Personally, I still see it most often as blocks arranged to form steps.