Home updating – Once your final base coat has dried, you have the option of using masking tape or painter’s tape to lay out different designs to make the floor more appealing. For example, you can create a diamond pattern, circles, or other geometric shapes with tape, and then use a contrasting paint color in the taped-off sections. Be creative and play off other design elements in the room to come up with interesting patterns for your painted linoleum floor. Or you can add an antique look to the floor by rubbing the floor with a mixture of half stain and half glaze, applied with an old rag.

Diamond patterns from the Past – In all the Mayan regions, there are stellae and stone reliefs on important ceremonial centers of priests holding a ceremonial rod in both hands that has, in the center, the row of vertical squares of the “Ajau Can” or the rattlesnake’s diamond pattern. Often these rods have a snake head, similar to the medical caduceus derived from ancient western sources. These were the mathematical insignias of the Maya wise priests that ordered the construction of the Mayan temples from which we get visions such as the descending and ascending serpent on the Kukulcán pyramid at Chitzen Itza.

Diamond patterns in the sky – The Diamond Cross is an asterism in the southern constellation Carina. The Diamond Cross is composed of four bright stars: Beta, Theta, Upsilon and Omega Carinae. These four bright stars create an almost perfect diamond shape, hence the name “Diamond Cross”. The entire asterism is visible to all observers south of 20°N latitude. It bears a striking resemblance to Crux (The Southern Cross) and the False Cross, and, like them, it lacks a central star in its cross pattern, creating a diamond-shaped or kite-like appearance. Both the Diamond Cross and the False Cross are sometimes mistaken for the true cross Crux, although the False Cross has always been a worse deceiver than the Diamond Cross, because most of its stars have approximately the same declinations as the stars of Crux.