By Linda Farmer, CZT The pretty wrought-iron-like Curl is an easy, easy, easy tangle pattern from tangler Lu-Marie Laker of Pretoria, South Africa, and it’s her first on the site.
Curl can grow into any shaped section and it’s so much fun to do as you turn your tile looking for where your pen wants to add the next swirl and watching the pattern grow outwards. Lu-Marie writes, My best friend, Lizelle Wheeler, took me to one of Marizaan van Beek’s classes (CZT in Pretoria). That was two years ago. Lu-Marie takes the basic swirl component of the official tangle Opus and turns it into an organic, expanding pattern with a bit of logic to how you grow it. I added a few dots and very small orbs to fill some spaces and they kind of blend right in. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Check out the tag lu-mariel for more of Lu-Marie’s patterns on TanglePatterns.com. You might also like: Organize Your Patterns. I’m the type of person who likes to create systems for doing things, whether it be business procedures or a household-related task like a reusable shopping list template.
So I thought I’d share how I organize my tangles and the steps for drawing them in case it’s helpful for fellow Zentangle® Zealots. To start with, I use Moleskine® squared notebooks. The paper is acid-free and nice and smooth for drawing with the Sakura Micron Pens. The squared pages provide light guidelines and these help me get more accurate proportions when I draw. Not having done any drawing before, I need all the help I can get. In the small notebook (3 1/2 ” x 5 1/2) I begin by marking up the page with light pencil dots in 3 cm squares (6 boxes in each direction).
Lightly penciled dots create 6 boxes for the step-by-step illustrations I do several pages at a time and then connect the dots to create the boxes. I leave the first couple of pages blank in the book and number the top right corner of each page. Shading Mini-Clinic – Part 1. Greetings friends, Linda here with another great resource for your drawing skills – everything you want to know about shading your Zentangle® art.
Grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit yourself down for a spell, you’re going to learn some great stuff today. Marizaan van Beek, CZT®, Pretoria, South Africa Part 1 of the TanglePatterns Shading Mini-Clinic two-part series is by guest contributor, former Social Worker and Art Therapist and now Certified Zentangle Teacher Marizaan van Beek of Pretoria, South Africa. Marizaan created the lovely Angel Fish tangle and recently one of her students, Carla du Preez, referred to her as “a master shader” with Carla’s tangle Aura-Leah. I invited Marizaan to share her thoughts on shading with you and she’s done a master-ful job. Each artist will have their own thoughts on and techniques for this subject and Marizaan shares hers with us today. And now, here she is … Thank you Linda, it is an honor to be here on TanglePatterns.
The Pencil The Blender Stage 1. Shelly Beauch: A Zentangle Spiral Guide. If you have been following my blog for a while you will know that spiral strings are my favourite.
With a request from Karen Lynn I have put together a guide of tips and ideas. I have found that by dividing the spiral into sections any tangle will fit. Remember to always draw your string with a pencil and keep turning your tile. Zentangle® and Gelli™ printing with foam stamps. Many of us are hooked on Gelli monoprinting.
Creating colorful prints without a printing press “is taking the art and craft world by storm“. Monoprinting with a Gelli plate is another very addictive creative outlet using simple supplies. It’s totally carefree fun, “playing with paint, color, texture, and moving at a fast pace.” In no time flat you collect a colorful stack of your very own prints. Playing with “found textures” for your prints is almost as fun as discovering a tangle in your surroundings. If you’re wondering what can be done with them, “Many monoprints are simply good beginnings for a vast array of projects. This video tutorial from Gelli co-founder Joan Bess demonstrates how to print greeting cards and matching envelopes using simple foam sheets to create printing plate stamps. Just imagine what stunning Zentangle-inspired designs we can make using our favorite tangles to create the foam stamps used in this cardmaking tutorial. Materials used: