Official Zentangle® Patterns - Knightsbridge, Vitruvius, Wadical & Xircus

Although I couldn't find an official step-out for "Vitruvius", it is featured in THIS video by PhoenixJess and also in THIS video. I also found several examples of this tangle on Pinterest as well as HERE on the crafthatchery blog.

I wasn't able to find much online about "Wadical" but Ellen Wolters has a video HERE. I also found some examples of this tangle on Pinterest HERE and HERE.

I also couldn't find much online about "Xircus" but Melinda Barlow CZT has a YouTube video HERE and I also found a video by Ellen Wolters HERE. I drew mine more like Melinda's examples.

The step-out for "Knightsbridge" is posted HERE on the Zentangle blog. I found a video about this tangle HERE.

Official Zentangle® Patterns - Fengle, Rain, Static & Twing

You can find a step-out for "Rain" HERE on Linda Farmer's website TanglePatterns.com. Adele Bruno has some tips for tangling "Rain" HERE on her blog. I found videos HERE, HERE and Melinda Barlow CZT has one HERE.

There is no published step-out for this tangle called "Static". The crafthatchery blog features tiles with this tangle HERE, HERE and HERE. The author of the blog is a CZT which gives validity to the way that I think this pattern should look. I found a video tutorial HERE that shows how to shade this tangle.

There is no published step-out for "Twing" so I had to rely on some unofficial examples that I found on Pinterest HERE and HERE. Melinda Barlow CZT has a video about this tangle HERE. I goofed up when I drew mine. I forgot that the areas with lines and dots should be reversed on every other triangle.

You'll find the step-out for "Fengle" HERE in a Zentangle newsletter. I found two videos about this tangle. There is one HERE at Bunte Galerie, Melinda Barlow CZT has one HERE and Ellen Wolters has a video HERE.

Official Zentangle® Patterns - Keeko, Quabog, Quipple & Raddox

I found examples of "Quipple" on Pinterest by doing a search but no step-out. Naomi - 75 Art Street has a video HERE and Alexandria Diaz has one HERE.

"Quabog" is another mysterious tangle. It's used on the tile posted HERE on the tandika.com CZT blog. If you do a search on Pinterest for "quabog zentangle pattern", you'll see several examples of tiles featuring this pattern. I found an un-official step-out HERE on Pinterest that inspired my example.

The step-out for "Keeko" is posted HERE on Sandy Steen Bartholomew's blog. I found videos about this tangle HERE and HERE.

Lastly, I had to search Pinterest for clues about "Raddox". Every example that I found looked pretty much like the way that I drew mine. I found one video that features this pattern HERE.

Official Zentangle® Patterns - Flukes, Onamato, Orlique & Patena

You'll find the step-out for "Onamato" HERE on Sandy Steen Bartholomew's blog. I found a video about this pattern HERE.

I haven't seen an official step-out for "Orlique" but I got two clues as to how it should look HERE and HERE on Pinterest. There is also an example of this tangle drawn by Grace Mendez CZT HERE on her blog and I assume that she drew it the official way.

"Patena" is also somewhat mysterious and has no official published step-out. Grace Mendez CZT featured a tile with this tangle on it HERE on her blog. PhoenixJess includes this pattern in THIS video.

I haven't found an official step-out for "Flukes", but I found THIS on Adele Bruno's blog and one HERE on Flickr. There is also a step-out posted HERE at TanglePatterns.com.

Official Zentangle® Patterns - Eke, Eye-Wa, Finery & Kathy's Dilemma

Today, and for the next four days, I will be featuring about twenty more official Zentangle tangle patterns that I haven't blogged about yet. Here is the first installment...

This one is called "Eke" and it was kind of fun to draw. You'll find a step-out HERE on Sandy Steen Bartholomew's blog. It's really a simple design to draw but I found three YouTube videos HERE, HERE and HERE.

"Eye-Wa" is the name of this tangle and the step-out is found HERE in a Zentangle newsletter. This tangle is featured in two videos by PhoenixJess HERE and HERE.

UPDATE: In case you're wondering what we are talking about in the comments regarding Silky beads. Here is a photo of some and you can see that they look just like "Eye-Wa".
 

Silky Beads

For some reason "Kathy's Dilemma" is included on Linda Farmer's list of official Zentangle patterns even though the creator is Kathy in Atlanta. Linda has no information posted on her site about this pattern but I found a step-out for it HERE on Pinterest. I can't say for sure that this is how it's supposed to look or if it is more like THIS example on Pinterest.

I also found THIS blog post where the author, DrEMiller CZT, is following a book called "One Zentangle a Day". Apparently Day 23 is "Kathy's Dilemma" and the example that is posted looks a lot like the way that I drew mine. I suspect that the step-out on Pinterest is a scan from that book.

Ellen Wolter's has a video about this pattern HERE.

The step-out for "Finery" is posted HERE on Sandy Steen Bartholomew's blog.

Tuesday's Tangle - Spiral Aura

This one is called "Spiral Aura" and is by Ina Sonnenmoser. You'll find the pattern HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. I love how it turned out using a metallic gold Gelly Roll pen on a black tile. The pattern shows to draw all of the spirals going in the same direction but I drew some of mine going the other way whenever it seemed to suit the design better.

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

Monday's Tangle - Shooting Star

This pattern by Maia Tonkin is called "Shooting Star" and I found it HERE on her blog.

Sunday's Tangle - That C Thing

"That C Thing" is by texasdoxiemama (Linda Rea). I remember trying this pattern back when I was still new to tangling and I recall that I didn't have much luck with it. No matter what I tried, it just didn't have the same cute look to it as Linda's. Now that I've been drawing for awhile, I thought I'd give the pattern another go and I'm very pleased with the results this time. You'll find the pattern HERE on Flickr.

Saturday's Tangle - S-And

"S-And" is by Lindy Clarkson and it's posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. I wasn't feeling very inspired the night that I drew these so I just drew two of them to try out the pattern.

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

Friday's Tangle - Zentangle® Project Pack #03 Part-6A

"Project Pack #03 Part-6A" was demonstrated by Maria Thomas in THIS video of the Zentangle Project Pack #03 series. She shows how to draw two tangles and this one comes first in the video. As far as I know, there is no actual name or step-out for this tangle. I colored mine with regular colored pencils and blended the colors with odorless mineral spirits for a watercolor look similar to what Maria did with hers.

Thursday's Tangle - Kuke

"Kuke" is by Katy Abbott CZT and her pattern is found HERE on her blog. The step-out shows to draw the "Y" first and then to draw a circle around it. I found it much easier to draw the circle (orb) first and draw the "Y" inside of it.

I thought they looked a lot like beads so, beader that I am, I strung them together. I added strands of "Beadlines" which are not a part of this pattern. When I added the shading to the "Beadlines", I penciled in and blended the shadow for the strings first. Then, I used my tortillon to smudge in the individual bead shadows along the strings with the graphite already on the tortillon.

Wednesday's Tangle - Jaysix

I had a blast drawing this one, which is called "Jaysix". I almost had to force myself stop drawing more and more of them on my tile. Doing the shading was a bit like playing "Where's Waldo" because I kept finding spots that I'd missed.

This tangle is by Eni Oken and you'll find the step-out HERE on her website. Bunte Galerie has a video HERE.

Tuesday's Tangles - White Watercolor Paper for Tangling

I finally found some heavy white paper that is pleasant to draw on, shading looks nice on it and it costs a fraction of the price of real Zentangle tiles. Mind you, this paper is very different than the kind they use to make Zentangle tiles but it works for me and for my budget. The brand is Canson and I found it at Michaels craft store. I bought the Canson Watercolor pad that is 11 x 15" and 140lb. There are 30 sheets per pad. This paper comes in several sheet sizes but the 11 x 15" works out to be the most economical per 3.5 x 3.5" tile and also has the least waste when cutting it into tiles. The regular price for the paper is $14.99 but I used a 50% off coupon so it only cost me $8.11 with tax. I will get 360 tiles out of the pad and the price per tile is only 2-cents because of the discounted price.

The paper has a slight texture but it didn't take me long to get used to drawing on it. The back side is slightly smoother than the front so I have the option of using that side when I need a smoother surface. Although this paper is considered "white", it's really a sort of off-white. In the two example tiles below, I used my graphics editor to simulate the actual paper color on the tile on the right compared to a pure white tile like the one on the left. My scanner sees the paper as white so it was necessary to add the ivory tint digitally. I left my tile images white because it's too much work to adjust them all digitally.

As soon as I got the paper home, I tried quite a few different things with it to see how well it would work for my tangling. Here are some of my observations:

1. Unlike card stock, cheap fineliners don't bleed on it. I have some Le Pen and Stabilo fineliners that bleed horribly on card stock unless I use a very light touch. They draw very nicely on this paper.

2. Some metallic Gelly Roll colors seem to soak into this paper and loose their metallic shine.

3. Glitter Gelly Roll pens look very intense on this paper.

4. Colored pencils seem to color more nicely on the smoother back side than on the more textured front side.

5. Some ballpoint and gel pens tend to skip because of the texture and hard surface of this paper. Fineliner type pens draw beautifully on this paper and the texture almost makes me use a lighter touch which produces a less bold, more hand-drawn look to my lines that I really like.

6. Blending color pencil with odorless mineral spirits seems to look better on the back side of the paper. When I tried this on the front it looked kind of splotchy.

7. This paper is much thicker than card stock and at least twice as thick as Zentangle tiles. So, they are very sturdy but they also take up more storage space.

8. I get better results with blending stumps on this paper than I do on card stock. I think that's because of the texture versus the smooth finish of card stock. Tortillons work well on this paper and on card stock as long as it doesn't have too smooth of a surface. Unfortunately, most white card stock that's for sale has a very smooth, slick surface that isn't shading-friendly.

9. I find that I get the best-looking shading with lighter colored graphite pencils versus really soft dark ones. The dark graphite looks rather harsh on this paper.

10. Shading with graphite seems to look a little nicer on the front of the paper than on the back.

Despite a few drawbacks, I really like drawing on this paper, especially when I want to use just black ink for tangling and graphite for shading. The problem that I was having with white card stock is that the surface is so smooth that my shading would come out all smudgy.

The tangle at the top of my post is called "Apcorg" and is by Cyndee Pelley and her step-out is posted HERE on her blog. Cyndee has a video tutorial HERE and Mimi Xy has a video HERE.

Below are a few more examples that I drew on tiles cut from this watercolor paper:

 
"Zinger Hats" is by Shazia and the pattern is HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Dawn Collins has a video HERE.

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

This funny tangle called "Mr. E" is by Shawn Hayden CZT. His step-out is posted HERE at TangelPatterns.com.

"Kisses" is by Adele Bruno CZT and the pattern is HERE on her blog.

"Starfish-Flowerbarrel" is by Nicole Dreyer and her step-out is found HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Melinda Barlow CZT has a video HERE.

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

"Middleton" is by YuRu Chen and her pattern is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com and also HERE on her blog. Dawn Collins has a video for this pattern HERE.

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

Monday's Tangle - Clockwise-S

This quirky pattern is called "Clockwise-S". You'll find out why it's called that when you try out the pattern. It's by HElena and you can find the pattern HERE on Flickr and HERE on her blog.

Sunday's Tangle - Arukas

"Arukas" is one of the official Zentangle patterns and the step-out is posted HERE in one of their newsletters. I found three videos that show how to draw this tangle HERE, HERE and HERE.


UPDATE 9/28/18: I found a video where Molly Hollibaugh draws this tangle HERE.

Saturday's Tangle - Undu

"Undu" is a fun tangle to draw. It's by Daniel Lamothe and he shows how to draw it HERE on his blog. I enjoyed drawing this so much that I made two tiles. I started to add some shading but decided that I really like it better without it.

Friday's Tangle - Remo

"Remo" is by Anne Marks and her step-out is found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I found two YouTube videos for this pattern. Watch Mimi Xy's video HERE and watch Melinda Barlow CZT's video HERE.

Thursday's Tangle - Project Pack #03 Part 6B

This tangle doesn't actually have a name. Maria Thomas drew this design in the second part of the Zentangle Project Pack #03 (Part 6) video which you can watch HERE. I colored my example like she did in the Project Pack #03 - (Part 9) video which you can watch HERE. Maria used watercolor pencils in the video and they come in Project Pack #03, if you buy it. I used regular colored pencils and blended the colors with odorless mineral spirits for a similar watercolor effect.
 
METALLIC GEL PENS

A week or so ago, I ordered several metallic gel pens from JetPens. Besides some brands that I had never used before, I found some Gelly Roll metallic colors that aren't available in local stores. They're all very nice pens with the exception of the Pentel Slicci set that came with three metallic colors. I'm very disappointed in those even though I had read very good reviews of them online. The pens feel very cheap and they skip horribly when I draw or write with them. The Silver Slicci pen is the worst of the three. It barely writes at all. If I get the ink flowing on scrap paper, I'm lucky if I can write three or four words before the ink disappears. The Bronze and Gold work somewhat better than the Silver but the colors are a bit odd. The Bronze is a very red color that's even redder than copper and the Gold is a little too greenish. I paid $8.00 for the set of three which works out to $2.66 each so they're rather expensive considering the poor quality of them.

For not that much more than the Slicci pens at $2.80, the Uni-ball Signo Noble Metal Metallic Bronze pen is a nice shade of bronze and it writes very smoothly. The Yasutomo Y&C Gel Xtreme Gel Pen Metallic Bronze was only $1.20 and it writes very nicely too. It has a finer tip than the Uni-ball, Slicci and Gelly Roll pens.

The new Gelly Roll colors that I got are Metallic Sepia, Metallic Burgundy and Metallic Hunter Green. I already had some in Metallic Silver, Metallic Gold, Metallic Copper and Metallic Blue Black (a metallic hematite color). I got the copper pens from Blick a while back and I can get silver, gold and blue black at Michaels. The one called "Burgundy" is really a sort of mauve color and is quite pretty. The Hunter Green is a sage green that's also very nice.

Below are samples of all of the metallic gel pen colors that I have on white paper and black paper.

Wednesday's Tangle - Peaooo

"Peaooo" is by Mei Hua CZT (Damy) and her pattern is found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. Melinda Barlow CZT has a video about this tangle HERE. I went a little crazy coloring my tile and tried to make the squares look like little ceramic tiles.

Tuesday's Tangle - Meschugge

"Meschugge" is by Dörte Seupel-Kör and you'll find the pattern HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. MimiXY has a video HERE.

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

Monday's Tangle - Drifts

"Drifts" is by Chris Gerstner CZT and the step-out is posted HERE on her blog. Melinda Barlow CZT has a video about this tangle HERE.

Sunday's Tangle - Center Patterns #0212

I found "Center Patterns #0212" HERE on Julianna Kunstler's website. I used my Helix circle maker for this tile but I only used it to draw the circles because it was easy enough to draw the straight grid lines once I had marked the center of the tile. I decided not to draw as many layers of petals as are shown on the pattern but I added some embellishments around the outside edge.

Saturday's Tangle - Bumpkenz

"Bumpkenz" is by Beth Snoderly and her pattern is posted HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I also found a YouTube tutorial HERE. I like the adaptation shown in the video, especially how she extends the points of the "leaves" beyond the grid. To use that effect, you'll need to draw an odd number of squares in your grid. I drew mine more like the pattern shows and went with a pumpkin shade of orange. I used a copper metallic Gelly Roll pen for the center dots.

Friday's Tangle - Boo-Kee

"Boo-Kee" is by Laura Harms CZT and the pattern is posted HERE on her blog. I drew mine as directed by the step-out but embellished the circles like she did in one of her variations. They look kind of like sequins sewn onto rick-rack.

UPDATE 5/25/23: I've removed the link to Laura Harms' website because it is infected with a virus.