Saturday Tangles

I don't know of a step-out for this pattern called "Crease". I came across it in some videos and it's posted on Zentangle Eccentric's Facebook page HERE. Melinda Barlow has a video HERE. Melinda says that the pattern is by Sam Taylor and Sam has a video HERE on the Sakura of America YouTube channel. Bunte Galerie also has a video HERE.

"Fassett" is by Lynn Mead and the pattern is HERE at TanglePatterns.com. Melinda Barlow has a video HERE and Bunte Galerie has a video HERE.

There are actually two tangle patterns called "Jester". One is by Dorothy Allison and is found HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Today's example is by Cyndi Knapp and her step-out can be found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. Melinda Barlow has a video about this version of "Jester" HERE.

I chose today's tangles at random so it was just a fluke that I chose two patterns with Jester in the name. This quirky tangle called "Jesterstick" is by Bunny Wright CZT and her pattern is HERE at TanglePatterns.com.

Friday Tangles

This cute tangle called "Hearts-a-Flutter" is by Lesley Goldberg CZT and her pattern is HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I added auras around mine with a metallic silver gel pen. I also drew the tile below with "Hearts-a-Flutter" as a ribbon.

"Keenees" is by Donna Hornsby CZT. You'll find her step-out HERE on her blog. I had fun drawing this tile. I filled the spaces with black ink and added some dots of white Gelly Roll pen here and there for contrast.

This crazy-looking tangle is called "Lollywimple" and is by Sandy Hunter CZT. The pattern is a little vague as to when and where to draw the auras in each step but I think I did mine correctly. On the other hand, perhaps the order isn't really all that important. You'll find the pattern HERE on Sandy's blog.

Thursday Tangles

"Courant" is an official Zentangle pattern but I haven't found an officially published step-out for it. In fact, I've seen conflicting step-outs on Pinterest that were made by other people. In any case, it was enjoyable to draw and super easy. You simply draw some random loopy lines all over the inside of your border and fill each section with either concentric lines or one continuous spiral.

I drew tiles in each of the two methods as you can see below. After trying the spiral method, I've decided that I prefer drawing the concentric version and I also think it looks a little neater than the spiral one.

Spiral Courant (official version)

Concentric Courant

Zen Panda has a YouTube video HERE. She draws it using the spiral method which some CZTs have confirmed is the correct way to draw "Courant".

"Love Line" is by Judy Murphy and her step-out can be found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I pretty much followed the pattern but I gave the part between the hearts a more rounded shape. I also kept it simple as far as any added details. On the example below, I added an aura.

Linda Dawson's "Miasma" is also at TanglePatterns.com HERE. This is one of those grid tangles where you can create different designs by simply changing the direction of each square in the grid. Naturally, I chose one of the more complicated designs so I had to pay very close attention to which way each square faced.

I noticed when I was finished drawing my tile that the way I embellished some of the shapes made them look a lot like the Cali beads that I make bracelets with. If you're a beader, you might know what I'm talking about. Cali beads have three holes in them as you can see in the photo below:

If you want to take a peek at some of the bracelets that I have made with Cali beads, check out THIS post on my Linda's Crafty Inspirations blog. You can also download my free "Claudia Cali Bead Chain" bracelet pattern from that post. Here is one of my favorite Claudia colorways:

My Tangling Supplies

I thought I'd show you some photos of my tangling supplies. I live in a very small house so I have limited space to store my drawing stuff. Except for my colored pencil cases, and a box for my completed tiles, I keep pretty much everything else that I use in a pretty storage box next to my computer. In the photo below, you can see that box, my colored pencil cases and a few other things on the bottom shelf of my printer cart:

The two pink boxes on the right in my printer cart hold my finished tiles as well as some spare pens and pencils. I also have some spare multi-packs of Micron pens in the other room.

Here's a look inside the larger of the two pink boxes:

Most of the tiles in this box are examples of individual tangle patterns. I keep them sorted alphabetically as you can see. It looks like I will need to get another box pretty soon, doesn't it? There are about 500 tiles in there at the moment.

Now for a peek inside the huge storage box:

Inside are three smaller storage boxes and a pencil bag (the turquoise thing on the left). Under two of the boxes are several folders filled with tangle patterns that I have printed out.

The white plastic box in the back holds my blank tiles, most of which I have cut myself from card stock. There are some black tiles on the left that I bought on Amazon. There is a link to them on Amazon over on the right side of my blog.

The middle box holds my drawing pens, pencils, white gel pens, kneaded eraser and a bag of assorted tortillons and shading stumps. The tin with the doors on it holds my colored Micron pens, some metallic gel pens, a little jar of odorless mineral spirits, a pencil sharpener and a small dish that I use to catch my pencil shavings. I keep some color charts and a few other flat things inside the zipper bag.

Above you can see my two colored pencil storage cases. I LOVE the large one very much. I bought it for myself with a Christmas gift card on Amazon and it's perfect for my needs. There is a link to this case on Amazon over on the right side of this blog.

When I do my drawing, I sit on the couch with my drawing supplies next to me. My big colored pencil case is huge and would take up too much room next to me but the "pages" can be removed from the binder and they don't take up too much space that way. Here are some views of the inside of that case as well as the pages when they've been removed:

There are pencils on both sides of all four pages and it holds 216 pencils. I only have two empty slots left. I keep my pencils sorted by color and I have several different brands. The majority are Prismacolor but I also have quite a few Faber-Castel Polychromos, Blick brand, Derwent Coloursoft, Derwent ProColour, Derwent Studio and very nice selection of Irojiten pencils.

Irojiten is a Japanese brand made by Tombow. They're very expensive but they come in some wonderfully unusual colors that I haven't seen in the more popular brands. They color very nicely too. They're not as soft as Prismacolors or Faber-Castel but they're not as hard as the Derwent ProColor or Studio pencils. The color goes on very smoothly. I don't know why but they also don't seem to cover up my pencil lines as much as other colored pencils tend to do.

For my birthday I got the smaller black pencil case from Dick Blick to hold all of my metallic colored pencils as well as a very old set of Berol Eagle Fantasy 2-sided pencils that I bought on a trip to Mexico when I was in college. They're over 40 years old but the colors are gorgeous and the quality is superb so I didn't want to part with them. You can see them on the left in the photo below:

On the right are some of my metallic colored pencils. This case has two zippered sections and can hold 80 pencils and/or pens. They claim that you can fit 120 pencils in it with three in each slot but they would be much too tight and difficult to remove so I only put two in each.

Below you can see the other section of this case where I have the rest of the metallic pencils and also a few colored pens. I could store the pens somewhere else, which would free up that space for colored pencils if I decide to buy a few more down the road. One of my sets of metallic colored pencils are by Faber-Castell and there is a link to them on Amazon over on the right side of my blog. They're nice pencils and the colors are very pretty. They're better quality than the set I found at Hobby Lobby and about the same quality as the third set that I found at a store called Five Below for only $2.00. 

I also keep a few individual Blick, Faber-Castell and Prismacolor metallic colored pencils in this case. My favorite gold and silver pencils are the Blick ones. The leads on the Prismacolor and Faber-Castell pencils (with the exception of the 12 Faber-Castell metallic pencil set which have softer leads) are a little too hard and don't look very metallic when I draw with them.

I also have a couple of other neat items that aren't actually drawing supplies. They're for displaying my finished tiles. I found this mini easel at Hobby Lobby and I keep it on one of the shelves of my computer desk. Every now and then I display a different tile on it. Below is a close-up:

This other item is similar but it's not really meant to display artwork. It's a business card holder but it's the perfect size to hold several tiles. I usually keep a stack of finished tiles in there that are waiting to be scanned. Because it also sits on my computer desk I tend to keep one of my favorites in the front of the stack so that I can see it while I work.

Below you can see my drawing "studio" all set up and ready for tangling:

My seat on the couch is a recliner so I'm quite comfy when I do my tangling. You can't see it in the photo, but there is a floor lamp behind the couch that shines down on my work.

In the close-up above, and in the photo below, you can see the color charts that I mentioned. Each line on the chart corresponds with one "page" of colored pencils. I always keep my pencils in the same slots so that I can find them using the charts. That way I can see how each color actually looks on paper because you can't always tell by looking at the pencil leads.

2018 Tangle*a*Day Calendar

Selfeat
Apacore
Bloomin' Vace

I had intended to post this yesterday but the internet went out while I was attempting to do so. 

My beading friend, Carole Ohl, is also a Zentangle CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher). Every year she publishes a calendar/book called "tangle*a*day". For every day of the year there is a space to do some tangling.

I'm now hopelessly behind in drawing something every day in my book but I thought you might like to see what I have done so far. Because I'm so far behind, I've decided that I will instead use the book to record some of my favorite tangles as I have the time to draw them. It makes a cute coffee table book and I enjoy flipping through it now and then. I will show you new pages over time as I fill them up.

For information about where to buy a copy of Carole's fun calendar book, visit her blog HERE. I have a Pinterest board HERE where I am posting my pages as I complete them.

Gardenia
Gotcha
1/2 orbs

Huggins
Jash
Lacee

Lido
Miss 1969
geo#09

shingle #02
Telis
Winflo

Relly-Telly-One
Clem
Buckled-Up!

8's
Roscoe
Oslo

Scarrow
LitBee
Sliders

Nymph
Well
UU006

Bayken (pattern is no longer available online)
Twenty-one
Betwix'd

Bugler

Huggins

Laflor
Balo
Ennies

Grafistka 01 (unknown source)
Centraal
Crusade

Curved Pickpocket
Abundies
AAC

Tripoli
Elven
Mooka "Window Grilles"