Tangle – Page 2 – A Tangler's Mind

Rainking – Square One Focus

The square one focus for the week of Nov 11-17 is Rainking by Leona Shih. Stepouts can be found here.

Rainking can be considered a fragment tangle. Fragment tangles are the elements that fill the spaces of a grid. Fragments can be rotated or mirrored to create variations. Rainking reminded me of another tangle, Cornerz by Didier Gervy, that can be rotated and mirrored to create either a very ordered pattern or a more organic meandering pattern. Here’s an example of Cornerz. I drew the same fragment on 16 Biju tiles then laid them out in different ways, all the same orientation in one example and rotated randomly in the other example.

For my Rainking tile I decided to create a more random meandering version.

First I drew a grid with wavy lines to show some movement, and started adding the Rainking fragment randomly.

Here it is with the Rainking covering the tile.

I then drew an aura around the spaces that formed between the Rainking fragments and began filling them in with black. I wanted to cover up some of the grid lines and make the fragments stand out more.

After I got the spaces between filled with black I wondered what it would look like if I shaded each “petal” of Rainking in the opposite direction of the one next to it. I started by adding graphite alternately to the top or bottom of each “petal”. ( I remembered to take photos of the shading in progress for this tile.)

Here is the tile before the final blending.

And here is the finished tile. After blending I went back in and added more shading to the darkest areas.

The final result reminds me of fallen petals after a spring bloom. This was an interesting experiment.

As always if you see something in this post that you’d like to try in your own work please feel free to do so.

Blessings,

Lynn

Florez – Square One Focus

This week’s (Sept 30 – Oct 6) Square One focus tangle is Florez introduced by Andrea Shuman, aka Cookie. This is a tangle I have not used before but is a close relative of N’Zeppel one of the tangles introduced by Zentangle HQ.

If you follow my blog you will know that I usually start out the Square One focus by just playing around with the tangle to get to know it better, especially if it’s one I’ve not drawn before. This has been a very hectic week so I thought I’d pick up a tile and just draw without intending it to be a Square One tile. Before I realized it I had drawn a Florez shape string so decided to go with it. Unfortunately I was swept up in the creation of this tile and did not take any work-in-progress pictures, but I can share a lot about this tile anyway.

First off I should reveal that it started in a completely different direction than what you see as the finished tile. I started drawing patterns in the shapes that are now black, then was inspired to draw the sections that contain Rixty. I loved where that took me but it didn’t really go with the sections I started with. Those sections had to go, so that is how they came to be black (my own take on the Bronx Cheer). This literally set the tone for the rest of the tile. From that point on, drawing and shading decisions were made in order to balance out these black spaces.

The second thing I wanted to point out was the use of Convergent Shading in this tile. I introduced this concept in Tangle Deck 2 but have not addressed it here in my blog. It is used in the sections containing Rixty. In convergent shading two adjacent shapes are shaded from dark to light in opposite directions. Here is an example using stripes so it is easier to see.

In this tile the area around Rixty is shaded dark to light toward the center while the pie shapes are shaded dark to light from the center out. Here is a detail showing what I mean. This helps to define edges in an interesting way.

The third thing I wanted to share about this tile is the way the black shapes float on top. Usually darker shapes recede into the background. I did not do this intentionally, it just happened as a result of the way Rixty is drawn seemingly on top of the pie shapes pushing them to the back. Further supporting this illusion you can imagine that those pie shapes continue behind the two black sections to form a circle. As one person commented “It looks like the moon is hiding in the back!” Take another look at the tile and see if you can see what I mean.

This tile had secrets to reveal and I admit I was an accomplice.

As always, If you see something in this post you’d like to try in your own work, please do.

If you are on FaceBook and you’d like to try the Square One focus sometime, or just follow the page for inspiration you will find it here.

Blessings,

Lynn

CreZendo – Square One Focus

This weeks Square One focus tangle is CreZendo, by Pam Hartz Miller CZT. Step-outs can be found in the comments of this weeks Square One FaceBook post (found here).

CreZendo is one of those long and thin tangles that pose an interesting problem, one immediately thinks of using them as a border and it can be hard to think about them in other ways. I like to look for a less obvious solution and in the case of CreZendo it’s S-shape lines and Crescent Moon-ish shapes suggest to me several tangles that would complement it.

For my tile I decided to forgo the obvious Crescent Moon and instead do a little rounding which allowed me to flow right into Diva Dance and build on the auras of the tangle. On the opposite side I mirrored another line of CreZendo but only added the Crescent Moon-ish shapes to one side. This allowed me to flow right into Cadent.

Diva Dance turned into Hollibaugh and I added some black highlights and background. Cadent sprouted some Fescu which again uses the s-shape line.

Here’s how the final shaded tile came out. I think it flows together pretty well.

As always, if you see anything in this post you’d like to try in your own work, please feel free to do so.

Blessings,

Lynn

Groovy – Square One Focus

This week’s Square One: Purely Zentangle focus tangle is Groovy by Eden Hunt. Step Outs for this tangle can be found here.

I have a very busy summer ahead so I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with the weekly posts for the Square One focus. I’m already behind and I decided I wouldn’t try and catch up. But first off here are the two tiles I did for last week’s focus: Rundl by Ela Rieger.

In the first tile I added Diva Dance to Rundle and did the background using pencil.

In the second tile I used rounding on the Rundl.

Now to this weeks focus tangle. Groovy, uses a wavy grid, also known as an Ogee grid. It looks like this. (Note: I mentioned this grid in my last post too.)

To warm up for this week’s tile I decided to do a “sampler” tile with several tangles that use this grid. It turned into a kind of Family Portrait. Tangles used are top & bottom – Bask-it by Anna Houston, left to right – African Artist by Tina Hunziker, Scrumble by Jane Monk, and Groovy by Eden Hunt.

After this fun warm up exercise I moved on to a mono tangle of Groovy. I started with the wavy grid but as you can see it did not want to stay together and instead pulled apart a bit at the edges.

Next came the diagonal lines that alternate back and forth. They didn’t want to cooperate either and one space got left blank.

Then anarchy ruled and some of the ribbons got loose and some of the shapes turned see through.

In the end I let Groovy have it’s way and I like what it did. What do you think?

As usual if you see anything in this post that you would like to try in your own work please feel free to do so.

Blessings,

Lynn

C-Wing – Square One Focus

This past week the Square One focus tangle was C-wing by Staub Korn. It is one I had never tried before so I practiced it a bit in my sketchbook in order to get to know it a little better. I noticed a couple of interesting things about this pattern. First, there is an Ogee grid hidden in the pattern (I’ve gone over it in red in the photo below) and Second, it can be broken down into a Fragment which when mirrored and rotated forms the tangle ( I’ve also indicated the fragment in red).

If you are unfamiliar with Fragments, they are a concept that Rick and Maria have introduced in their recent book Zentangle Primer Vol. 1. Fragments are elements that when placed in a grid create a pattern. Note: R&M refer to the grids used with fragments as Reticula. Different patterns can be created by repeating, rotating or mirroring a fragment. But more about that in a later post.

For this week’s tile I started with a dot grid since I didn’t want the lines from a lined grid to show. I chose to use a variation of the tangle that offset the overlapping shapes in alternating rows.

I did the main outline with a .05 Apprentice pen. Then I drew an inner aura in each shape with a .01 micron. Some shapes I made see-thru so the shapes behind could be seen. Then I added tone and texture through line and fill.

The shading enhanced the effect of the solid and see-thru, the foreground and background. Here’s the final tile.

What I like about this tile is that the tangle is very regular but the fill is unexpected.

As always if you see something in this post that you’d like to try in your own work, please feel free to do so.

Blessings,

Lynn

Tangle Deck 2

Update: Tangle Deck 2 is now shipping. Get 10% off your order thru May 31st by using Coupon Code: 10off when you check out.

Soon I’ll be leaving for Portland, Maine to teach at Tangle U 2016. (For those of you who are not CZT’s Tangle U is a continuing education event for Certified Zentangle Teachers.) But before I go I have an announcement to make.

Tangle Deck 2 and More Tangle Deck Techniques are a continuation of Tangle Deck 1 and Tangle Deck Techniques. The deck contains 45 more tangles introduced by Zentangle Inc. and I’ve included 3 of my own tangles for a total of 48 tangle cards. The included book,More Tangle Deck Techniques, includes some general tangling techniques AND some specific information about some of the techniques I used in the card drawings.

Update: Tangle Deck 2 is now shipping. Get 10% off your order thru May 31st by using Coupon Code: 10off when you check out.

Click Here To Order

Whirlee – Step Outs

One day a little over a year ago my husband called me outdoors to see and experience something wonderful. It was a windy day and the maple tree in our back yard was sending out clouds of seeds which were whirling gracefully all over the place. This magical experience inspired me to commemorate the event by creating a tangle that I call Whirlee. Instructions for this tangle are on TanglePatterns,com but I have updated them and wanted to share them here:

If you are unfamiliar with maple trees, here is what the seeds look like. They are shaped in such a way that when they are blown from the tree they whirl like a helicopter blade and this lets them “fly” away from the tree.

I broke them down to their simplest shape and stylized it a bit. Then found that I could combine the shape in a lot of different ways.

Here are some additional drawings that I did using Whirlee.

Hope you give this one a try and enjoy it’s versatility.

Lynn

Zentwining

I discovered the technique of Zentwining as I was working on the drawings for the fronts of the Tangle Deck cards. I needed a drawing for the tangle Onomato. I picked up a piece of paper that I had drawn some random overlapping curved pencil lines on and began to draw ribbons wrapping around the lines. I then filled each ribbon with a variation of Onomato. I really liked the result and thought “this could be a technique that could be repeated easily.” I decided to share it and call the technique Zentwining.

1. The first step is to draw some overlapping curving pencil lines as in the following examples.

2. Next start drawing in ribbons that wrap around these lines. The ribbons are drawn in a similar way to the technique used in the tangle Aquafleur. I’ve used both re-curve and c-curve versions as shown below.

Here is an example.

3. Ribbons can go in any direction, extend off the page, and even cross lines. Using the Hollibaugh method of drawing behind makes it even more interesting.

4. Once you are satisfied with the quantity and placing of your ribbons, the next step is to draw over the pencil lines with pen making sure you stop at the edge of each ribbon and then start up again on the other side. Here is an enlargement so you can see what I mean.

Here is the drawing with all the lines drawn in pen except where the ribbons cross.

5. Now start adding tangles to the ribbons. You can use variations of one tangle as I did for the Onomato card or use different tangles.

As you can see, any remaining pencil lines are beginning to disappear into the tangles.

6. The final step is to add shading. I add shading to the tangles themselves first, then I add just a touch of shading to each side of the string lines to add a little 3D effect (makes the shapes formed by the strings kind of puffy.) Lastly I add shading to the ribbon shapes if I think it needs it.

Here are a couple of finished examples.

I will admit that this technique can take some concentration as it can get kind of busy as you work on it. Just take it slowly and be aware of your strokes and you’ll do fine. Hope you have fun playing with this technique and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Lynn Mead, CZT