Square grid reticulae, and then some

There are so, so, many, many tangles based on a simple square grid. This is a wonderful way to begin because it gives a basic structure to work within, even beyond the string lines. To change it a bit, there are interesting things you can do to a square grid that give it a different character, and make it less recognizable as a grid.

Idea #1 - CURVY
One possibility is to leave the straight lines behind and do the grid with curvy lines. Here are some examples.

Tangles: Cubine, Eye-Wa, Florz, Juke

Tangles: Beadlines, Jemz, Knightsbridge, Pearlz
Fragments: A3, and the 'Lisbon fragment'

Idea #2 - SHAVED
Shave off alternating sides of the squares, like this:

Here's a tile with four examples. Sometimes it looks like tightly woven bands - like W2 without the black square 'holes'.

I like to fill in the strips so the intersections of the original grid are not obvious. That means black, or something with a black background. Here's an example of a grid with curvy lines, and solid black with Pearlz filling the shaved areas.

You can add detail to the shaved-off slices (as above), or the remains of the square, or even both.

IDEA #3 - IRREGULAR
Another way to add variety and interest to a square grid is to vary the width of the stripes. Alternate a wide stripe with a narrow stripe, gradually change the widths, or be random.

Irregular Beelight, Florz, and something I made up, I think.

Irregular Flukes, Zonked in the corners.

IDEA #4 - OFFSET
There is a grid with offset large and small squares. It definitely takes some concentration to set up, but it's not too difficult and it's fun to work with. I used it in the tail of the peacock here.
Check out BrixBox from Anneke van Dam. Anneke's steps for setting up this grid pattern are well done and rather than reinventing the wheel I'll let you go to her blog to see it, as well as some lovely examples of ways to fill this grid pattern.

Tangles: Cubine, Knightsbridge, Zewm

Have fun!

The Lisbon fragment

I love the sound of that! It calls to mind a piece of an ancient manuscript or pottery. But no, it's a zentangle fragment, and it's part of Henrike Bratz' guest Diva challenge this week. There is a wonderful explanation with lots of pictures on Henrike's blog here.

For the challenge we are to use both the Lisbon fragment and the tangle Diva Dance. I have only barely worked with the fragments and reticulae concept, so this challenge is a good opportunity to delve a little deeper. Here's my first go. The fragment is in a curved grid so it's a little awkward.

It occurred to me that if I did the fragment quite large, I could fill the triangular spaces with something interesting, like... daisies! That's on the right of course (two fragments). On the left, at the top, I tried reversing the light/gray/dark order and did the top bands dark and the background light. That was all so interesting that I completely forgot to include Diva Dance!

 Third go, I remembered Diva Dance. But I got so caught up in the Tripoli-like triangular fills on the left that I forgot to add the 'behind' parts of the X of the Tripoli fragment. Sheesh.

Finally, again I got so involved in the fragment I forgot about Diva Dance. this photo is at a slight angle so you can see the gold ink on the tan paper. I love that effect!

This fragment has a few possibilities, depending on how you orient the initial crossbars. I'm going to enjoy playing with it. Thanks Henrike for introducing me to it!

Reticula/Fragment - DivaCZT challenge Part 2

I missed part one of this challenge, but I've been wanting to further investigate the idea of reticulae and fragments, so here goes!

I found this tile in a stack that I wanted to sort and file.

I thought that fragment would be interesting to use, partly because Aquafleur never happens the same way twice and that worked well with the Diva's request to "choose a design that is asymmetrical".

I tried rotating and mirroring that fragment, and ended up with this. I think it's rather cool.

And unfortunately that's all I had time for this week!