Tangle Patterns string 003

The Tangle Patterns website has a good - and growing - resource of string ideas. Take a look if that's something you find challenging, or even if you just want a new idea. This week's challenge from Diva Laura is to use string number 3. I drew the string on three tiles and went at it.

It looked like an excellent string for my new tangle Yoga. It's almost a monotangle.

Tangles: Beadlines, Pearlz, Yoga

I've been attempting the use of white ink on black tiles, usually not very pleased with the results. This string reminded me of  a tangle I saw recently called Star Map, from Suzanne McNeill and I thought it would be more interesting in white on black. I think I'm improving!

Tangles: Daggerly, Gneiss, Hurakán, Munchin, Star Map

 
When I looked at the next stringed tile, it made me think of all the zigzag tangles that I like so much.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Chartz, Hibred with Rounding,
Knase, Tipple, Triral, Zedbra, Zewm

You can see another tile I did using string #3 here.

YOGA - a new tangle

Tangles: Fleurette, Mooka, Phuds, Spinning (with Black Pearlz), Yoga

There is the rare, random occasion when I attend a yoga class. Usually on a day when the yoga class happens immediately before a lane swim and I can get two activities for one entry ticket. :P
Attendees sometimes bring their own yoga mats rather than use what's there. Once, someone's mat had a pattern like this, thus the name 'Yoga'. Here it is.

It gets a bit dicey as you move into the tiny points. You'll probably end up doing itty-bitty dots. This pattern is pretty much 50/50 black-and-white and is quite bold, but has a nice nature-y look because of the leaf shapes.

Tangles: Künstler, Palrevo, Paradox, Posh, Yoga

BTW: It's getting harder and harder to keep track of tangles and names. If this pattern has been presented elsewhere, or if the name has been used earlier, please let me know!

Diva Dance: The Twist

Just for fun one day...

(If you missed the new Diva Dance tangle, check here.)

I used an eraser

*GASP!*

Not to worry. I wasn't trying to Correct or Fix. This is yet another idea I had while falling asleep one night. What if I drew a pencil string, then erased a swash through it all, then tangled like usual but let the tangles "drip" through the erased strings??? I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget.

For my first try I went to some tried and true, safe and simple, comfortable tangles.

Tangles: Crescent Moon, Florz, Hollibaugh, Knightsbridge, Tipple

Interesting. I think the top left is more successful, artistically, than the bottom right.

 Then I tried it using some current favorite tangles.

Tangle: Camelia, Dansk, Paizel, Tipple, Tripoli

It's a fun change, and mixes up the edges a bit.

Aurabunzknoto

This week the DivaCZT has presented another duo-tangle challenge: an unlikely pairing of Auraknot and Bunzo. I really like both those tangles. When I first read the challenge I thought of a circle so I did it on a Zendala tile. I used one of Geneviève Crabe's dot stencils to get the spacing.

Tangles: you know.

While doing this black-and-white piece I had a vision in my head of a rainbow of bunzos spilling out of... something. Why not Auraknot? I did a regular size tile to explore that possibility. A rainbow bunzo explosion! I like it a lot.

All of the color pens are Sakura's except the pale blue and the dark yellow. I used Prismacolor Verithin pencils for the color shading. Take care on the lovely, soft Zentangle tile paper; the verithins are a hard lead.

Valentine's Day cards

I recently had a small class to make Zentangle-inspired Valentine's Day cards. Two of the participants knew virtually nothing about Zentangle so before the official start time we did a super-quickie introduction.

For the first two hours everyone made two tiles (with me demo'ing) using black and red or pink ink, with heart themes and some valentine-related tangles: Hugs 'n' Kisses, Rosé, Ionic, and Puffle. For the next two hours they chose papers, folded, cut, positioned, glued and constructed their cards. Here are the cards people took home, one tile yet to be mounted.

Here are my two demo pages.

Tangles: Gingham, Hugs 'n' Kisses, Ionic, Knightsbridge,
Tipple, Umble and extra hearts!

Tangles: Gingham, Not-a-Knot variation, Lacing, Puffle, Rosé, Tipple
and stripes with highlights

Munchin - alternate steps

Munchin, and then some.

Munchin is one of Zentangle's official tangles, designed by Molly Hollibaugh, Maria's daughter. Munchin is based on triangles and has a nice, slightly mottled look when finished. You can see Molly's instructions, which begins with some random dots, in the Zentangle newsletter here.

I had forgotten that method until I taught Munchin to a class that included two CZTs, who reminded me about it! Because any tangle is usually drawn in an odd-shaped space provided by the string, I had come up with another way to draw Munchin, which I have been teaching. I'll share it today and perhaps some may find it helpful.

Ultimately, in order to draw Munchin, you need your space sub-divided into triangles. This is what I do first, then I fill in the triangles with the lines.

Here are some odd shapes you might have, courtesy of your string: three, four, and five sides.

 

• If the shape is triangular you're good to go. Simply draw a line from one corner to the opposite side, and keep sub-dividing.
• If the shape is four-sided, no problem. Simply draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner. Now you have two triangles. Keep sub-dividing.
• If the shape is five-sided, draw a line from one corner to the opposite side and back to another corner. Now you have triangles you can sub-divide. 
• If a four- or five-sided shape is very long and thin you can do a zigzag down the length of it to start.

Here's one possible configuration of triangles for each of these shapes:

And here are those same shapes complete with Munchin. Of course, they would have a slightly different look depending on which corner of each triangle the lines meet in, and they need shading.

But what if some of the lines are curved? You can still use this sub-dividing method and you may want to curve some of the inner lines in some of the triangles.

Here's a tile with 'All Munchin, All the Time'. I've done the string in red so you can see what I started with and how I sub-divided the sections.

And here's that same tile in black and white, with shading.

(with apologies for the fuzziness)

Another thermos

But this one isn't mine! Ginny Stiles in Florida was inspired by my post about tangling tea and coffee thermoses and had to try it herself. Here's what she did using different pens than I used.

You can see two other views of this thermos on Ginny's blog. She offered me some good suggestions about shading and preserving the drawing which I will try out soon. If you're thinking of trying this yourself, Ginny and I agree that on this type of object the curvier, more organic tangles work better than the ones with grids or straight lines.

Phicops

Brad Harms' tangle Phicops is this week's challenge from the DivaCZT, Laura Harms. Yes, they're related, and there are two small boys to prove it. :)

Phicops is one of those tangles that, for me, requires more concentration. I can't seem to get that 'curved-over-the-top' part at the ends to go right. In fact, in many cases it's missing entirely. Anyway...

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Lotus Pods, Magma,
Phicops, Shattuck fans

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Knase, Paradox variation,
Pearlz, Phicops, Tipple, Zedbra

Yes, that is actually Phicops at the lower right. You'd hardly guess! I tried adding a lot of fancy stuff and it really didn't work well. Keep it simple.

ZIGGY - a new tangle

I don't remember where I saw this picture, but I just love it! In part it's the bright colors, but it's also a really interesting pattern.

It's the inspiration for my new tangle Ziggy.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Knase, Tripoli, Ziggy

This is how to draw Ziggy. It's a tangle that requires more concentration than some, especially starting at step #5. If your zigzags start going a bit haywire in step #6 don't worry, mine always do.

(Apologies for the shadowing. I had to scan it in two parts
and my computer likes to let everyone know where the division is!)

Here are a few ways to vary this tangle. I rather like it with the shading done only in pencil and without the thin ink lines.

Tangles: Dansk, N'zeppel, Tortuca, Verve, Ziggy

BTW: It's getting harder and harder to keep track of tangles and names. If this pattern has been presented elsewhere, or if the name has been used earlier, please let me know!

PIA - a new tangle

Late this past summer I taught some Zentangle classes at the 2012 Paint in Alberta convention. This interesting and simple pattern was the wallpaper in one of the rooms.

 Here's how to draw Pia.

You can vary Pia by changing where (and if) you fill with black or with thin stripes. Here are some possible variations and a tile (using a two-pencil string) with some of them.

Tangles: Beadlines, Knase, Pia

BTW: It's getting harder and harder to keep track of tangles and names. If this pattern has been presented elsewhere, or if the name has been used earlier, please let me know!

Diva Dance dress

Down in the laundry area I spotted a new dress that my daughter bought recently. It's Diva Dance in fabric!