Tuesday Tangles

You may be wondering why I only draw a single tangle pattern on most of my tiles. That's because I'm gradually working my way through the huge stack of patterns that I've accumulated from the internet and trying them one by one. I tend to spend more time on composition and coloring with tangles that appeal to me the most. I don't even bother to scan the ones that I didn't end up liking very much or that were too difficult and complicated to qualify as tangles. I don't know if I'll ever actually get through all of the patterns because I keep finding more that I want to try. Plus, after watching Dawn's and Melinda's videos every week, I often end up downloading patterns that I didn't think I would like. When I see the twist that they put on them, I'm inspired to give them a try.

"5C Drop" is by Ina Sonnenmoser. Her pattern can be found HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. 

UPDATE: The Pattern-Collections website has shut down. Click HERE to view this pattern.

The other day I bought a small bottle of Gamsol odorless paint thinner at Michaels with a 60% off coupon. I tried it out for the first time on this tile. I had been using some "low odor" mineral spirits that my husband had on hand but the smell bothered me too much and it stunk up my other art supplies. Gamsol is outrageously expensive ($10.99 for tiny 4-ounce bottle) but it wasn't too bad after the 60% discount and the bottle should last me a long time. I had wanted to buy some of the Speedball Mona Lisa odorless paint thinner that Melinda Barlow recommended, which costs a fraction of the price of Gamsol, but Michaels was out of the 8-ounce size. I could have gotten 32 ounces of that brand for only a couple dollars more than the tiny bottle of Gamsol but it would have been difficult to fill my tiny jar from such a huge bottle.

I tried something different on this tile. After shading around the outside of the design, I add a pencil aura that spans the width of the shading. I love how that turned out. It's a very subtle, but pretty effect.

I found the pattern for "Curved Hollibaugh" HERE on Pinterest. This variation of the official tangle called "Hollibaugh" is from Jane Monk but I haven't been able to find where she originally posted her step-out. This tile also has a filler tangle on it called "Tipple" because I didn't want to leave the holes empty.

The pattern for Sarah Fowler's "Izit" is HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. There are also a couple of video links there. The tiny speckles are glitter from glitter Gelly Roll pens. 

UPDATE: The Pattern-Collections website has shut down. Click HERE to view this pattern.

This fun tangle by Dorothy Allison is called "Jester". The step-out is HERE at Pattern-Collections.com.

UPDATE: The Pattern-Collections website has shut down. Click HERE to view this pattern.

"Ryse", by Sharon Paz, is found HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. I drew mine with a Staedtler Triplus Carmine fine liner pen and shaded it with a colored pencil in a similar color.

UPDATE: The Pattern-Collections website has shut down. Click HERE to view this pattern.

Until now, I had never been successful at drawing the official Zentangle pattern called "Tripoli". It's usually drawn in a free form manner and mine would always come out a horrible mess. When I saw Debbie New's "DreamDex" pattern online the other day, it immediately reminded me of "Tripoli". Her pattern is drawn on a grid and it hit me that I could use the same kind of grid to draw "Tripoli". Sure enough, it worked like a charm. The key was to draw the "Tripoli" triangles so that they didn't quite touch the grid lines in each cell. That left a little bit of space around them once the grid was erased. A diagonal triangle grid is tricky to draw so I started with a square grid and then divided the squares into triangles.

Debbie New's "DreamDex" pattern is posted HERE on Flickr. The step-out for the official tangle "Tripoli" is in THIS Zentangle newsletter.