Friday, September 28, 2012

tanglepatterns strings 3 & 12

Zentangle's strings are a bit of a challenge for some. "What do I draw?!?" So Linda at tanglepatterns.com has started a bank of string ideas you can use if you're stuck. I've never had difficulty coming up with a string but I thought it would be fun to try some of the suggestions people have sent in.

String #12
Tangles: Go 4th and Multiply, Künstler, Pop-Cloud, Tripoli, Wildwood

String #3
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Cadox, Combs, Cruffle, Go 4th and Multiply, Paradox variation, Tipple, Tripoli

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

IX

IX is a new tangle from Zentangle, presented at the ninth training seminar. You can see the drawing instructions and read the story about it here. It's also this week's challenge from the Diva.

I admit that when I first saw this tangle I was not smitten. It looked a bit boring. Thank goodness for the Diva's challenges is all I can say! I've become somewhat of a fan of IX! I like it, not all alone, but with some other IXes. Tipple seems to be a lovely roundy counterpoint to IX's long straight lines.
Tangles: IX, Tipple, Zedbra and Rounding
Tangles: Deelish, Florez, IX, Parabola and a Black Pearl
Tangles: Barnacle, Crescent Moon, IX, Tipple, Tripoli

I think that what I particularly like about IX is that it's necessarily large. It fills a space with simple lines. I love intricate detail so much that I often got caught up in it. Can't do that with IX.

Then I tried it on one of the 'tree' tiles I'm working on for a larger project!
Tangles: Barnacle, Beadlines, Knase, IX, Rain, Tripoli, stripes with highlights

Sunday, September 23, 2012

How to draw triquetras

I've had a few inquiries about drawing the Celtic knot triquetras I've been doing lately, so here are a few things that may help if you'd like to try these yourself.

First,
THE TREFOIL
The word trefoil comes from the French "trois feuilles" or "three leaves". It sort of resembles clover.
You can make it interweave by following steps 4 and 5 for the simple triquetra, next.
I find it just as easy to draw the trefoil all in one swoop without the dots and lines. Some people find it easier to begin with a curved-edge triangle. See what works for you.
Step 4 is nice to use as a string just as is, with or without a square border. 
You can see a two-pencil string trefoil here. It's the last picture.

SIMPLE TRIQUETRA
These directions are drawn in pen so you can see them better, but REMEMBER: steps 1-4 are done in pencil. These lines act as your string, although you don't draw on them or up to them.  Read on, you'll see.
Don't be wimpy with the arcs. They need to really swoop towards the third dot. This will give you a nice little triangle in the center.
Step 5 is when you start using ink. The short ink lines are to indicate to yourself what goes over and what goes under. I've drawn them bolder. The lines you draw later to connect everything are in dotted red.
Step 6 shows the triquetra with the pencil string in the middle of the lines. Now you can start embellishing!
You can see my simple triquetra posts here and here.

SINGLE LOOP TRIQUETRA
Again, these directions are in pen so you can see them better, but REMEMBER: steps 1-5 are done in pencil. These lines act as your string.
Step 4 shows the looped line in red, just so it's clear.
Step 5 shows the entire pencil string.
Step 6 is when you start using ink. The short ink lines  indicate what goes over and under. I've drawn them bolder. The connecting lines that you draw later are dotted.
You can see a single loop triquetra in my post here, as well as two more simple ones.
(I think step 2 looks like an unhappy cyclops.)

LOOPED TRIQUETRA
Here's a nice picture of a looped triquetra.

This one takes quite some concentration, but it's essentially the same curvy line drawn three times. The first picture below is the basic line. It's actually rather simple; it's when they all start overlapping that it becomes confusing! In the next picture you can see the three lines, meeting at the corner dots. I've done them in solid black, dotted red, and dotted dark blue so you can see how they intertwine.
Once you have those three lines drawn in pencil you can do the short ink lines to guide you in the over and under business. Then complete the ink lines to show the interlacing.

CLOVERLEAF TRIQUETRA
This one is easier than the looped triquetra, and it's the most recent one I've tried. I think it's my favorite. Here's a picture of a lovely, carved wood, cloverleaf triquetra I found on Etsy here. You can see my cloverleaf triquetra zentangle tiles here.

As with the looped version, this, too, is the same line drawn three times.

Don't be discouraged. Smile. Breathe. Relax. Have fun!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Cloverleaf triquetras

Here is a fairly simple triquetra and perhaps my favorite. It's easy to construct (well, more or less!) and looks impressive. Stay tuned, on Monday I'll post some drawing instructions for anyone who would like to try doing some of these triangular Celtic knots.

I began my first cloverleaf triquetra and it went so haywire I abandonned it and moved on to number two! There are still a few glitches here, but I think I disguised them fairly well.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Tortuca, stripes and Rounding

Third try went a lot better. I actually got all the overing and undering where it was supposed to go!
Tangles: Chebucto, Knightsbridge, Pearlz

But I kept thinking about that first attempt, and that there are no mistakes that you can't do something with. So I got that botched tile out again and went to play. Have you seen those photos of webs made by spiders on drugs?
I think this looks like a cloverleaf triquetra on... something!
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Florez, Tripoli, stripes, dots and zigzags

So, you're wondering where those glitches are? I'll show you.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pinwheel zendala tiles

Pinwheels for Peace - that's this week's challenge from the Diva. You can read about the theme on her blog.

I thought immediately of the round zendala tiles from Zentangle and measured out a pinwheel to tangle. Part way into it I really did not like how it was going, but I thought, "Shading can hide a lot" and kept going. Seriously, I think anyone out there who doesn't like shading needs 'a knock upside de haid'. This turned out not badly at all! I like the plain white sections with just a bit of shading in the curves.
Tangles: Cruffle, Gneiss, Unyun
 But I wanted to try another. I had more ideas.
Tangles: Florz, N'zeppel, Sanibelle, Shing
I still have ideas, but I don't think I have time!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Paint in Alberta 2012

Some months ago I was contacted by the organizers of the annual Paint in Alberta convention in Calgary who asked if I'd do some Zentangle classes there. I hadn't heard of the PIA event before, but... of course, I'd love to come! I offered a 2-hour Introduction class and a 4-hour Zentangle-inspired Mandalas class. I had a lovely time, drove home on Sunday, and am financially slightly ahead. Good all 'round. :)

Here's my nametag. No surface is safe.



Here are a few class photos.
Two students working on tiles.
Everyone's first tiles (they are actually black ink)
Second tiles
The beginnings of a mandala

Monday, September 17, 2012

Not representational but...

I've been doing a lot of tiles recently where the string is basically lines back and forth, and drawn either with my eyes closed, with my left hand, or both. Makes for some interesting, wobbly shapes to use. Here are two.
Tangles: Beadlines, Camelia, Crescent Moon, Dansk, Finery,
Flez, Pearlz, Perfs, Tipple, Wud
Tangles: Flux, Knase, Prestwood, Tipple, Zedbra, Zewm
(and one that shall remain secret for a wee while!)

Of course, they could go horizontally, but I find that when I orient them vertically and leave white spaces they often remind me of close-ups of tree trunks and branches. Thinking that way, I did more.
Tangles: Crescent Moon, Flux, Jalousie, Knase, Pearlz,
Striping, Tipple, Wud and elements of Tortuca
Tangles: Beadlines, Beeline, Crescent Moon, Finery, Flukes,
Knightsbridge, Perfs, Snookums, Striping, Verve
Tangles: Bilt, Black Pearlz, Fohbraid, Knase, Parabola,
Unyun, Wud, Zewm
I think it will be interesting, once I have a whole stack of these, to arrange them so that the 'trunks' and 'branches' seem to connect, at least sometimes. It would be like a tangled forest!

Friday, September 14, 2012

WILDWOOD - a new tangle

This pattern was inspired by a carpet design at the Wildwood Golf and Country Club in Saskatoon. No, I just happened to be out there for an event last spring. :)
country club carpet

I can't claim credit for this brilliant method for obtaining a series of equilateral triangles. That goes to CZT Sandy Hunter and her drawing instructions for Wunderwall (a beautiful tangle pattern). Note that the first set of dots indicate rectangles, not squares.

Here's the how-to for Wildwood:
Then embellish.

To be honest, having drawn these instructions, I actually find it easier to do each triangle individually, as in the lower right corners. I found that if  the dots get lost among the lines, the wavy lines can become confusing.

Here are a couple of tiles using Wildwood.
Tangles: Camelia, Cruffle, Paradox, Tripoli, Wildwood
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Coaster, D'Uni, Wildwood (3 varieties)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Breaking free

The Diva's 86th (!!!) weekly challenge is to break out of the border normally used to begin a Zentangle tile. I have some big things on this week but I couldn't resist an invitation to go outside the lines!
Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Copada, Shing, Tipple, Zedbra

It was also a good excuse to do some other things too:
  1. Use Copada, which I missed last week. Wow! There were some terrific variations, ideas and artwork submitted!
  2. Try one of the strings on tanglepatterns.com. This is string #9. There are some good ideas there. I'd like to try most of them sooner or later.
  3. Ignore the big projects, briefly.
  4. Tangle some more. Woohoo!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Auraknot & Celtic-style Auraknot

I did this Zendala tile using the new tangle Auraknot in the centre.
Tangles: Auraknot, Black Pearlz, Jonqal, Paradox, Sanibelle,
and a hybrid of Fleuri/Florez/N'zeppel
Then, since I've been somewhat into Celtic knot work lately, I used the same template of pre-strung tile and some of the method of Auraknot, but tried to make it more Celtic-knot-work-y. I quite like the result!
Tangles: Auraknot, Black Pearlz, Not-a-knot, Perfs
and elements of Copada/Msst/Tortuca

Friday, September 7, 2012

Trickier triquetra

This, apparently, is known as a looped triquetra. Each arm has a loop, different from the single loop version at the end of this post.
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Dansk, Printemps, Striping, Verve, Zedbra

I've always loved the intricate precision of Celtic knot work, but I find I'm quite enjoying the unevenness of doing these freehand. Certainly no perfect triangles happening here.

What I think of as 'Celtic colors' - red, blue, maybe green, and the brown metals (gold, copper, bronze, brass) - kept coming to mind so I decided I'd better try one in color. I used a lot of different pens in this ZIA, including Sakura's Glaze pens. Originally I didn't like them much, but I've been won over. In this case, the dark brown glaze helps mask a colossal booboo I made near the beginning. If you look closely you'll probably see it, in the upper left, where I went over instead of under, or maybe the other way. Ultimately, I don't really like this one much. The Glaze ink seems to overpower the regular brown ink and the colored circles are too random.
Tangles: "Black" Pearlz, Tipple, Zewm

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Künstler - a new tangle

Cruising the Internet recently I found an interesting design by Julianna Künstler. She teaches an optical design class and shows this pattern in colored pencil. See instructions on her website here.

In ink, and in black and white, it makes a really interesting tangle. Something needs to be done in the 'pointy oval' sections that pass through the entire pattern; I chose circles with Black Pearlz. Maybe I was channeling Inapod. :) You could try something else.

I don't think it's stealing, rather adapting. 'Künstler' in German means 'artist' in English. How 'bout that? I'd like to name this design Künstler.
Tangles: Beadlines, Künstler, Posh, Providence
The piece above was done on a pre-strung Zendala tile from Zentangle. Posh didn't look as good with Künstler as I had hoped; I wanted a wobbly 'ribbon' to pass through all around. I remembered the Red Thread Challenge from a while ago, and thought perhaps I could do red 'beads'. It's not too bad.

And here's a bookmark with Künstler in one section.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Just add shading and... voilá!

BEFORE:
Tangles: Barnacle, Cruffle, Pearlz, Striping

AFTER:

I used a mandala template from Erin Olsen's Bright Owl blog, Zendala dare #11.