IZE - a new tangle! (sort of)

Some time ago I was in need of a tangle that called to mind a peacock's tail. You can see that project here. There were a couple of tangles I knew about*, but neither was quite what I wanted, so I designed this one. The version in the tile below is very slightly different from what I finally decided upon and, of course, there are always variations.

Tangles: Ize, Lotus Pods, Seljuk, Spinners, Zewm

Ize (pronounced like 'eyes') is certainly a 'high-concentration tangle' and has more than six steps - sort of an ideal maximum for a tangle. In fact, there are really two sets of steps. 

First is the offset grid, composed of large and small squares, which is an interesting beginning pattern in itself that could be filled in many other ways. It's what I call a vessel tangle. It was first shown in BrixBox from Anneke van Dam, and recently in Reticulous from Heidi Kay. I'll let you check those posts for the slightly different grid step-outs.

Here are two tiles I did recently using this offset grid for a Square One focus on Facebook.

Tangles: BrixBox or Reticulous, Black Pearlz, Dex, Doodah, Tipple, Zonked

The second step is filling the small and large squares. 

The smaller squares are simple. These steps are even a little different from what I used in the colored artwork, but I prefer it.

The larger squares are also fairly simple, but there are a few more steps.

You might find it easier, or prefer the look, to draw a central spine before drawing the second circle, oval, and 'bean'. You can also draw the large circle so the edges touch the square. And you can nestle the bottom of the 'bean' against the previous shape.

Here's Ize larger, and on a bit of a curve.

Tangles: Ize, Munchin, Paradox, Pearlz, Tipple

I've been staining tiles with hibiscus teabags, and this is one of those. The first image is basic Ize with no shading; the second image is with embellishments and shading. I used a Gelly Roll pen for the purple fills; I find it a nicer purple than the micron, which is almost black.

* The other tangles that call to mind peacock tails? One is Pavonia (from Angie Shade). Another is Peafea (from Amélie Liao).

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 already, please let me know!

VEEZE - a new tangle

Tangles: Drupe, Veeze, and Drupe-y stripes

Veeze is a very simple pattern, related to Static, Jonqal, and all the tangles that begin with a series of zigzags. It's a nice background tangle to go with something more intricate or bold. It was inspired by this upholstery.

You can probably figure it out yourself, but here are the steps for Veeze:

It's easy to add variations.

Tangles: My-Swing, Pearlz, Prestwood variation, Tipple, Veeze

I have some water-soluable color pencils and there are two blacks which are very different - ink black and ivory black - but I can never remember which is warm and which is cool. So I lightly wrote the two words, with the appropriate pencil, on a tile and washed them out. Then I tangled so the words were still legible. Now I have a sample; ink black is warm and ivory black is cool. And I did Veeze in the background.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Gneiss,
Pearlz, Printemps, Tripoli, Veeze, and Auras

SKYE - a new tangle!

Wow. I am really thrilled with this one! Yes, there are step-outs!

(Oh, alright! Skip to the step-outs! But come back up to see/read all the rest, okay?)

I noticed this interlacing on the box of the game Isle of Skye. It's a classic Celtic interlacing pattern, which, if you follow a strand, you'll notice is composed of two strands, not one. (I enjoyed the game, by the way.)

This is the pattern stripe from the game's box.

Deconstructing this pattern encountered a lot of false starts.

Once I had figured out how to draw it, I drew it a few times on a tile. I wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing before I pretended to explain it to others.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Pearlz, Skye, Tipple

Blue Skye! Honestly, I wasn't thinking that when I did this. I just had a tile with a blue wash sitting waiting.

Tangles: Bunzo, Crescent Moon, Pearlz, Phuds, Skye

The step-outs!

(Updated step-outs posted 2016 September 2)
Don't forget to shade it, although it looks quite alright without. Have fun!

Tangles: Cruze, Elven, single Pearlz, Skye, Zonked

Tangles: Skye, Tipple, and wavy lines

UPDATE: 2016 May 19

Well, my goodness! People are having lots of fun with this tangle, to the extent that some are posting alternate step-outs and video demos. Here are three videos offering basics and further explorations such as ending a row of Skye, and doing Skye in a circle.

The first is from Bunte Gallerie on YouTube:


The next is one is from Kathrin Bendel, also on YouTube. Kathrin is a CZT in Germany and made this (her first!) video as an additional instruction to some who were having challenges drawing Skye.


And one from Ellen Wolters, who has done video demos of a great many tangle patterns.

PIXIOZE - a new tangle!

Tangles: Knase, Paradox, PinBawl, Pixioze

Pixioze is quite simple, and develops in an organic way rather than more rigidly. As you can see, it uses a lot of Auras. Something about the tiny pattern and the sparkly look of all the tiny circles struck me as pixie-like, and there are a lot of larger circles, thus the name... pixie O's.

It was inspired by a delightful design on a hotel carpet.

Here are the step-outs:

I suggest placing the initial tiny circles very randomly, some close together, some far apart. Then three rings around each one. Add more tiny circles and Auras, and the occasional leaf shape with inner Auras. Keep adding circles and leaves until you've used all the space. Don't forget to shade at the end!

Tangles: Flux, Leaflet, Meringue, Pixioze, Yuma

Some of the background circles can spread quite wide. Some of the additional tiny circles can touch another shape, giving you more like half a 'target'. Some of the tiny circles could be dots instead (see the carpet photo), but I prefer them empty. More sparkly.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Jalousie, Paisley Boa, Pixioze , Prestwood variation

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 already, please let me know!

After this tangle went public, Debra Castaldi, a CZT in Boston USA, tried some variations which are delightful. Here's her Tangle-a-Day calendar with Pixioze in the center, with broken line highlights on the left, and some blackened sections on the right. Have fun with those too!

ROZO - a new tangle! ...not.

Well... in fact,  not a new tangle.

Tangles: Auras, Beadlines, Black Pearlz , Sird

Update on February 18, 2015:
As it turns out, this pattern was already deconstructed and named by Dilip Patel, a CZT in India! You can see his blog post about it here. So this tangle is actually called Sird. I've deleted my step-outs, but I'll leave the rest of my post here. There are some photos of our lovely vacation, and the tiles with this pattern may be of interest and inspiration. But Sird it is, from now on! Thank you Dilip!


(Back to the original blog post...)

I was very fortunate to spend two weeks recently with my husband on the lovely - and almost unknown - Caribbean island of Dominica. No, not the Dominican Republic. :)

Nine years ago, Bruce spent three months there working on translation projects with a friend. He's always wanted to return, and take me with him. Here are a few photos of places we went.

Left: Front Street in Roseau. Top right: interesting houses. Lower right: a cool doorway.

Left: entrance to the Fort Young Hotel, a restored and refurbished old British fort in Roseau.
Middle: View of a small, valley city from the mountain rainforest.
Right: Jules Joseph, a talented woodcarver whose shop we visited.

Upper left: our breakfast table at Castle Comfort Lodge.
Upper right: Emerald Pool and waterfall (very cold water!), up in the rainforest.
Lower left: ancestral heads, carved in stone, in the Kalinago (Carib) Territory.
Lower right: Cabrits hills from Picard.

Dominica's capital city is Roseau and I saw this pattern on some sidewalk tiles there. The island went back and forth between the British and the French for some time, eventually ending up British but with a lot of French remnants, especially in place names and Créole words.

Tangles: Auras, Black Pearlz, Ragz, Sird, Tipple

Tangles: Arukas, Auras, Sird, Shattuck, Tipple

Tangles: Auras, Black Pearlz, Printemps, Sird, and stripes

CHARLOTTE - a new tangle

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Charlotte, Emingle, Florz,
Knightsbridge, Tipple, Tortuca

Back in April I had a flight layover in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I noticed this simple pattern on a wall beside a highway near the airport. I have since noticed it here in Saskatoon. Funny how we seem to be more aware or open in an unusual environment. You can see two variations of Charlotte in the top and bottom right corners below.

Tangles: Charlotte, Plum Leaf, Sqaro and elements of Tripoli

Here's how to draw Charlotte:

As with many tangles, especially those with lots of white space, this lends itself to many embellishments and variations. Here are two more variations of Charlotte with a little more detail. In the top left I used elements of Cubine and small black squares. In the bottom right I added stripes.

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Charlotte, Seljuk, Tipple

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 already, please let me know!

SQARO - a new tangle!

Some of my students become tangle addicts. Helen regularly comes to our monthly get-togethers, and this spring she shared some of her own tangle patterns with the group. So... (drummm rollll) ... presentiiiiing... Helen Adams' tangle SQARO!

Tangles: Crescent Moon, Morse, Sqaro

It rhymes with sparrow. Here are Helen's drawing instructions.

You can do the dots in the squares all going in the same direction which will give you a series of diamond shapes (above, and lower left below). Or you can alternate direction from square to square which will give you starburst patterns (on the right, below).

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Earth Rising, Opus, Sqaro

This tangle bears some resemblance to Facets (but without the line through the middle of the 'diamonds') and to Munchin in the method of gathering lines into the point of a triangle.

We hope you have fun drawing Sqaro!

Curv-ING

As you may have guessed, I've been enjoying playing with the new tangle Ing. With very straight lines it's quite angular and somewhat bold, but the lines don't need to be ramrod straight; they can curve a little. Here's a tile by Laura Sanders, a CZT in South Carolina USA, where she curves the lines slightly. Even those very slight curves make it more flowing.

What would happen if one used really curvy lines rather than straight ones? I thought it might look like waves. I tried it in five diagonal bands, leaving a space between the rows. Some leaf shapes appeared, and I filled in the two corners. The 'Pearlz on black' sections are often between two rows of curvy Ing. So, not waves so much, more like ribbons, but it certainly has quite a different look from the original Ing!

Tangles: curvy Ing, Black Pearlz, Pearlz

Essentially, all it involves is beginning with a rolling zigzag rather than a pointy one, and curving the two lines you add in each 'V' of the zigzag. You can sort of follow the curve of the original line. Like this:

I thought that - just like angular Ing - it would probably work nicely as a border and had a Renaissance tile with a pencil border at hand. (I admit to using a circle template for the two largest circles in the middle! Don't tell anyone.) I really like this tile!

Tangles: curvy Ing, Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Pearlz,
Providence, Tipple, and elements of Crescent Moon

Finally, here's a tile with angular Ing at the top, angular Ing with Rounding at the sides, and curvy Ing at the bottom.

Tangles: Crescent Moon, Ing, Paradox, Rounding, Tipple, Zewm

If you missed them, you can read my first post about Ing here, and about using Ing to make stars here.

Prestwood variation

Some time ago I deconstructed the pattern on the back of one of my mother's antique chairs. You can see the story and the tangle Prestwood here.

Recently, out of necessity, I happened upon a lovely variation of this tangle. I had made the rolling zigzag too wide and the filler loop didn't fill, so I added another. You can see it in both the tiles I did for Zentangle's Zenth (10th!) anniversary here. I really liked the effect and wanted to explore it more. Black Pearlz seemed to work nicely in some of the larger areas.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Knase, Paradox, Prestwood variation

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Prestwood variation

It's quite simple. Here's how to do this variation:

Generally I find I have space to add two inner 'rolls', but if your rolling zigzag is very wide you might need three.

The string on both these tiles is something called a "blind string" or "shut-eye string" - simply do the string with your eyes closed! It often yields some nice wobbly lines and really interesting shapes. Try it sometime!