Tangle Deck Update

All four 3.5 in. x 5.75 in. decks and
both 2 in. x 2 in. decks are back in stock!

large 3.5 in. x 5.75 in. decks

small 2 in. x 2 in. decks

New to the Tangle Deck Family
Tangle Deck Fragments #1

In their book, Zentangle® Primer Volume 1, Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, the founders of Zentangle, introduced the concept of Reticula and Fragments. Reticula is another name for a grid or other structure that holds fragments. Fragments are small patterns that you draw within the individual spaces of a reticula (grid). The possibilities are exciting and endless but sometimes hard to visualize in your mind. I began to think of ways to demonstrate the power of fragments.

Note: The following information is excerpted from the companion E-book, ” How To Use Tangle Deck Fragment Cards to Visualize Patterns and Inspire Creativity,” which is included with each deck as a digital download.

Tangle Deck Fragment Cards – The Beginning

To fully understand the possibilities of using fragments, I wanted to have a set of fragment cards that I could play with by rotating and repositioning to help me visualize how fragments relate to each other and, in the process, create a multitude of meta-patterns. Thus, the idea for the Fragment Cards was born. But there are so many different fragment possibilities; where does one start? I have purposely not used the fragments from the Zentangle Primer Volume 1 to demonstrate that you can create and discover fragments on your own. However, I highly recommend the book as a valuable resource.

 

I decided to take it “one stroke at a time” and start with a simple C-curve that extends diagonally from corner to corner, a quarter circle. All the cards in the first set of Tangle Deck Fragments (Set #1) are based on this simple C-curve.

Different but related fragments are created by adding additional C-curves that still follow the rule of extending diagonally from corner to corner.

Using the Hollibaugh drawing behind technique creates an even wider variety of fragments. Where two C-curves cross, one of the lines stops and disappears as if continuing behind the shape created by the other line, creating an illusion of overlap.

Out of all the numerous possibilities I came up with, I chose ten different fragments to include in the first Tangle Deck Fragments deck. Each of the selected ten fragments has 12 cards, providing 120 cards in each deck. These are not all the possible variations using C-curves, but they are a good variety and enough to create hundreds, if not thousands, of meta-patterns.

The Flip Side

The back of each card has the same fragment as the front, with the addition of a grayscale value in each shape. I used Black, White, and a 50% shade of Gray. When placed in a grid, these cards demonstrate how adding value (or color) can affect the resulting composition’s look. Your eye combines adjacent shapes of the same value into one shape that crosses grid boundaries and redefines meta-patterns. 

So, how do you use Fragment Cards?

• Play with them as a creativity exercise 
• Combine fragments to discover different shapes and meta-patterns
• Create strings and add tangles
• Create compositions defined by values (or colors) and add tangles

Tangle Deck Fragment Cards #1 has a companion E-book with information on how to use fragments, four exercises to get you going,  and inspiring examples.

I hope you try them and let me know what you think.

Blessings,

Lynn : )