Classic Zentangle® - Crescent Moon, Meer, Onamato, Paradox, Tripoli & XYP

I drew this tile for a prompt in the Today's Tangles: Keeping it Classic Facebook group. The prompt was to draw a string that divides the tile into six diagonal sections.

These are the tangles that I used:

Crescent Moon - I blogged about "Crescent Moon" HERE.

Meer - I blogged about "Meer" HERE.

Onamato - I blogged about "Onamato" HERE.

Paradox - I blogged about "Paradox" HERE.

Tripoli - I blogged about "Tripoli" HERE.

XYP - I blogged about "XYP" HERE.

Today's Tangle - Shauna

"Shauna" is by Kathy Barringer and her step-out is posted HERE on her blog. I added some extra dots in the centers of the black sections.

Official Zentangle® Pattern - Scarabou

I hadn't drawn or blogged about "Scarabou" before now because I had no idea how to draw it correctly. I saw an unofficial step-out on Pinterest but it is too vague and doesn't produce the right results. I have also seen a few examples of "Scarabou" that were drawn by CZTs and I suspect that they are probably closer to the way that the Zentangle folks intend for it to look. However, I couldn't even guess how or where to start drawing the pattern by looking at those examples.

Click HERE to see the unofficial step-out that I mentioned. I really don't see any logical way to draw "Scarabou" by following this step-out or THIS YouTube video tutorial by Ellen Wolters. Those hook shapes just don't make any sense to me.

So, I was very excited when I saw THIS recent video by The Tireless Tangler (Cyndee Pelley CZT). I thought that surely she would know how to properly draw this tangle because as a CZT she has access to the unpublished Zentangle step-outs and I was right. She breaks it down into simple steps that make it quite easy to draw what looks like a very complex design. There are really only three steps involved plus a fourth step where you add an aura around the whole thing. And, as with most tangle patterns, you can tweak and embellish it in many ways. I chose to draw mine very simply but used some color and added an extra metallic copper aura and dots for embellishment.

Classic Zentangle® - Ambler, Diva Dance Rock'n Roll, Flux, Hibred, Shattuck, Snail & Tipple

I drew this tile for a prompt in the Today's Tangles: Keeping it Classic Facebook group. The prompt was to draw a string that divides the tile into six diagonal sections.

These are the tangles that I used:

Ambler - I blogged about "Ambler" HERE.

Diva Dance Rock'n Roll - I blogged about "Diva Dance Rock'n Roll" HERE.

Flux - I blogged about "Flux" HERE.

Hibred - I blogged about "Hibred" HERE.

Shattuck - I blogged about "Shattuck" HERE.

Snail - I blogged about "Snail" HERE.

Tipple - I blogged about "Tipple" HERE.

Today's Tangles - Elegan & Kimmie

After my success with "Elegan", I really wanted to use it in a composition. I looked through my pile of tangle patterns for a suitable background design and settled on my "Kimmie" pattern. You'll find the step-out for "Kimmie" HERE.

"Elegan" is by Tangle Dream. There is no step-out for this tangle but there is a YouTube video HERE that shows how to draw it.

Today's Tangle - Elegan

"Elegan" is by Tangle Dream. There is no step-out for this tangle but she has a YouTube video HERE that shows how to draw it. She makes it look very easy but I struggled with it. In fact, I had tried to draw it a couple of times before but I gave up in frustration and put the pattern on the bottom of the pile for a while. Free form designs don't come easily to me even though I love the beauty of them and hope to improve my skills with practice.

I love the William Morris look of "Elegan" so much that I decided to give it another go recently and it finally clicked. I started by lightly drawing two boundary guide lines in pencil which helped keep the sizes and positioning consistent. I was so excited and pleased with my first tile below that I forgot one step where you add leafy shapes in the black areas between the Mooka-like shapes. I remembered to add them in the example above.

I was so happy to have successfully drawn this twice that I decided not to add any color or other embellishments that might mess up my hard work. As much as I'd love to, I'm not sure if I will attempt to draw this design as a complete border like she shows how to do in THIS video. She also shows another method for drawing this pattern in THIS video. I got better results using her original method though because I found that drawing the wavy guidelines was more of a challenge for me than simply drawing the design as shown in the original video.

Today's Tangle - Zett Heart

"Zett Heart" is by Katja (Cait) Haarmann and her pattern is posted HERE on the Musterquelle site.

Today's Tangle - Tweak

"Tweak" is by Jacqui Bull and her pattern is found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. Jacqui originally named her pattern "Happy" but changed it to "Tweak" after discovering that there was already a tangle called "Happy". Before the name was changed, Mimi posted a video tutorial about this tangle HERE with the name "Happy".

Today's Tangle - Jester

This quirky pattern called "Jester" is by Marie Browning and is posted HERE on her blog. I have blogged before about a pattern called "Jester" by Cyndi Knapp HERE and one by Dorothy Allison HERE.

Today's Tangle - Yale

"Yale" is by Margaret Bremner and the step-out is posted HERE on her blog. I took her advice and drew mine on the diagonal.

Today's Tangle - Jubilee

This whimsical tangle called "Jubilee" is by Cyndi Knapp. You can find the pattern HERE at TanglePatterns.com.

I found this challenging to draw exactly as shown on the step-out. I ultimately decided that I didn't really care if my spirals all lined up perfectly because it still looks pretty when they don't. I embellished mine with gold metallic gel pen auras and dots.

Today's Tangle - Swirl'n'tie

"Swirl'n'tie" is by Spring and you'll find her pattern HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. This is another grid pattern where you can change the look of the design by embellishing the basic pattern fragment.

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

Today's Tangle - Skarab

"Skarab" is by Alice Hendon and her pattern is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. The yellowish accents on my tile are metallic bronze gel pen.

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

Today's Tangle - RunCC

"RunCC" is by YuRu Chen and her pattern is found HERE on her blog. The pattern fragment can be rotated and embellished to change the appearance of the design. I drew three different versions of the fragment on my tile.

UPDATE: Yu Ru Chen's blog appears to be gone. Click HERE to view this pattern.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 8 (final day)

You can watch the Day 8 video HERE where Maria shows how to draw embedded letters.

Today's Tangle - Phicops EZ

"Phicops EZ" is by Tonya Janelle Mendez CZT and her step-out is posted HERE on her blog. I drew the tile below first to try out the pattern. I liked the colors and the look of it so I drew the tile you see above.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 7

You can watch the Day 7 video HERE.

Today's Tangle - Chianti

"Chianti" is by Linda Farmer CZT and her pattern is found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I drew the tile below first and decided that it was good practice but a little boring. So, I drew the tile above and added some pretty embellishments.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 6

The project pack series ended yesterday but I had three day's worth of drawings to catch up on last night. I will post days seven and eight tomorrow and on Sunday. You can watch the Day 6 video HERE.

Today's Tangle - Arroy

"Arroy" is by Cécile Graat and her pattern is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. This is fun and easy to draw and the shading makes it look very cool.

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

Today's Tangle - Almond Cluster

"Almond Cluster" is by Tricia Long and you'll find her pattern HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. My favorite version from the step-out is the one with the checkerboard center. I think it really adds interest and depth to the design.

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

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 4

You can watch the Day 4 video HERE.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 5

You can watch the Day 5 video HERE.

Classic Zentangle® - Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh, 'Nzeppel & Printemps

I drew this tile for a prompt in the Today's Tangles: Keeping it Classic Facebook group. The prompt was to use the classic "Z" string and to re-define the lines. Because of the dark backgrounds on my tangles, my re-defined lines don't show up very much.

These are the tangles that I used:

Crescent Moon - Read about "Crescent Moon" HERE.

Hollibaugh - I blogged about "Hollibaugh" HERE.

'Nzeppel - You'll find information about "'Nzeppel" in THIS post.

Printemps - I blogged about "Printemps" HERE.

Today's Tangle - Appease

"Appease" is by Connie Green CZT and her pattern is HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I embellished my tile with lots of auras.

Today's Tangle - Surfs Up

"Surfs Up" is by Jo in NZ and her pattern is found HERE on flickr. My scanner had trouble picking up the white charcoal pencil spirals that I used to fill the background. With a little digital tweaking, you can see them more clearly in the scan below.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 2

You can watch the Day 2 video HERE.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 3

You can watch the Day 3 video HERE.

Today's Tangle - 4 Drop Doily

"4 Drop Doily" is by Tricia Long and her pattern is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Something about this design reminds me of the bodices and puffy sleeves of gowns from the 1830s. Below is an example of a fashion plate from the period.

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

In a funny coincidence, Crows Eye Productions released THIS YouTube video yesterday called "Getting Dressed in the 1830s". If you have any interest in historical fashion, you will thoroughly enjoy this video and all of the other "Getting Dressed" videos on their channel.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06 - DAY 1

As I mentioned the other day, I don't have the project pack. So, what I have done is simulate the effect of spilled ink on a regular white tile. Instead of having to fill such a large area with a black Micron pen, I used a broad permanent marker instead.

You can watch the introduction video HERE and the Day 1 video HERE.

Today's Tangle - Tubular Bloom

"Tubular Bloom" is by Lisa Jane and the pattern is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com.

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

Today's Tangle - Haf N Haf

"Haf N Haf" is by Dennie York CZT and her step-out is found HERE at TanglePatterns.com. I love to draw grid patterns and drawing this was very satisfying.

ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACK NO. 06

The folks at Zentangle will be starting the Project Pack 6 series of videos today. If you sign up for their email newsletter HERE, they will send a link each day to that day's video. I don't know if the project pack videos will be published on their YouTube channel each day or not but you can check HERE if you aren't subscribed to the newsletter.

I don't have any idea what will be involved with this project pack other than that the purchased kit will contain a journal. Since I don't have the project pack, I will just play along as best I can.

Today's Tangle - StarfishLeaf

"StarfishLeaf" is by Cécile Graat and her step-out is posted HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Mimi has a video HERE and Melinda Barlow CZT has one HERE. I embellished mine with "Beadlines" which you can read about HERE.

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

Today's Tangle - Tissoooh!

I finally got around to trying "Tissoooh!" by Tomás Padrós recently. It took me a few tries to get this right so I just kept it very simple.

The step-out is posted HERE and HERE on Instagram. I also found two videos about this pattern HERE and HERE.

Classic Zentangle® - Cubine, Eke, Emingle, Pokeleaf, Shattuck, Snail & Tipple

I drew this tile for a prompt in the Today's Tangles: Keeping it Classic Facebook group. The string for this prompt was shaped like a bridge.

These are the tangles that I used:

Cubine - I blogged about "Cubine" HERE.

Eke - I blogged about "Eke" in THIS post.

Emingle - Read about "Emingle" in THIS post.

Pokeleaf - I blogged about "Pokeleaf" HERE.

Shattuck - I blogged about "Shattuck" in THIS post.

Snail - I blogged about "Snail" HERE.

Tipple - I wrote about "Tipple" in THIS post.

Today's Tangle - Ellipse

"Ellipse" is by Hennie Brouwer and her pattern is found HERE at Pattern-Collections.com. Ellen Wolters has a video tutorial HERE. 

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

I drew mine a little differently than Ellen shows in her video. After I did step three of the step-out, I simply rotated my tile a quarter turn and repeated the same thing, always drawing the lines on the left sides of the horizontal seed shapes. I then repeated this two more times for steps 5-6. It's not shown on the pattern but I also closed all of the open sides of the square spaces around the outer edge. 

Just for fun, I digitally cut out the holes and filled them with denim.

 

Today's Tangle - Paradox Twisted

"Paradox Twisted" is by Hennie Brouwer and she posted her step-out in the private Pattern-Collections Facebook group. You start by drawing a hexagon then you apply the "Paradox" technique around the inside perimeter. This creates a really cool design but I find drawing hexagons to be a very stressful process so I only drew one large one on the tile above. To add some interest to the background I drew radiating lines all around the design.

UPDATE: The step-out is now posted at Pattern-Collections.com HERE. The name has also been changed to "Paradox Twisted".

Hennie's example drawing features nineteen hexagons arranged like a honeycomb. With so many hooked together like that, the twisted effect is amazing. I really wanted to try drawing something like that so I came up with a way to draw perfect hexagons without using a protractor and ruler. Paint Shop Pro, which is the graphics editing program that I use, has a tool for creating vector shapes. I used it to create a hexagon image then I printed out a bunch of them in different sizes on a sheet of card stock. I cut them out and I will use them as templates to be traced around. This works great as you can see on the tile below.

Today's Tangle - All Stars

"All Stars" is by Tomàs Padrós and his step-out is posted HERE on Facebook and HERE on Instagram. I also found two videos HERE and HERE.

It took me about four or five tries before I finally figured out what size the seed shapes need to be to get the right look. I think I got them just about right this time but my star shapes need a bit of work.

Today's Tangle - Stephanie's Mooka Variation

"Stephanie's Mooka" is Stephanie Jennifer's take on the tangle called "Mooka" by Zentangle. What I've drawn is actually Jem Miller's pretty adaptation of Stephanie's Mooka drawn as a ribbon tangle. You can see Jem's tile in THIS post on her Ragged Ray blog.

Stephanie's step-out is posted HERE on her blog. She also has a video tutorial HERE.