Tangling letters and words

It's fun to use tangles to fill letters. I often do this as a gift for someone but I also have had monograms for sale at art shows (shown below). During my recent Huge Art Sale I gave some away - along with bookmarks - to people who came.

You can use letter templates or do something freehand.
Here are two varieties of templates. One is die-cut cardboard letters. The other is plastic sheets with the letters cut through. In either case I trace the letter in pencil.

I've used them in advanced Zentangle classes when we tangle a short word or initials. You can see the work of three students here. One is not quite finished.

I did intricate letters for my daughters' weddings.
You can see C and R here.
See V and S here.
L and G are still waiting!

I've done a few new-baby names for friends and relatives. You can see Clara and Sophie on my blog, and here are Asha (lettered freehand) and Hayden (using the letter templates above).

Casa South was commissioned as a gift to a Montessori school upon a student's graduation. They had done some tangling in her classes.

Judy West, on her blog Creative Doodling, shows an interesting way to fancy-up and fill in plain outlines. Read about it here. Many of the patterns she uses are Zentangle tangles.

Joanne Fink does some delightful freehand lettering with zentangle-like patterns. You can watch a video of her demonstrating patterned monograms here.

Give it a try and have some...