Delft Delights
Marguerite Samana CZT originated the Zentangle style that draws inspiration from Delft tiles. Her Delft Delights workshop is available on her etsy site and walks learners through using various blue pens and pencils to create a few specific projects. I borrowed the general idea and experimented with my tiles. I don't often use color but, as an art historian, I appreciate the style of these tiles.
Radial Blossoms
I really like Eni Oken's various videos and ebooks and have taken a few of them, including "Radial Blossoms." This course draws upon Oken's Zentangle taxonomy, which includes categories like filler, grid, vine, and blossom. Radial blossoms utilize different tangles to create centralized, relatively symmetrical tiles--vine-, feather-, and flower-like tangles are the arms while grid and filler tangles occupy the space between them.
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| My favorite, with mooka and tri-bee |
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| Several together, many based on Eni Oken's video. |
More Zendalas/Radials/Petals
I must be having a Zendala/radial symmetry/petals/blossoms thing, because I've been playing a lot with swirling forms with a central point.
Twisted Rope
This technique or tangle of twisted lines come from Eni Oken CZT. The resulting ribbon looks complicated but is relatively easy to learn as long as you stay focused. I imagine you could make any letter of the alphabet with it.
"Tranzending"
Tranzending is the new technique from Zentangle HQ, which overlays one tangle on top of the other. The secret is in the highlighting, which I'm still practicing.
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| Here I added shattuck on top of printemps and pokeleaf. |
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| Nipa on top of a betweed-like star, with drops added after. |
Dewdrops
Dewdrops are an original Zentangle "Tanglenhancer" that I'd never practiced. For the best droplets, you have to know you're going to include them and put down the orb first. I experimented with adding them towards the end, a la "Tranzending," but can't get the highlighting to my liking (see above.)
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| Droplet orbs were included in the string. They are similar to Zen Gems. |
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| Dewdrops gone wrong become gold orbs. |
One String, Many Tiles
And then, continuing my radial obessesion and also inspired by the pattern on a neighbor's outdoor table, I have recently created several tiles using the same string (though I just put the string down in pen, not pencil.) Yep, kinda like a Zendala. The result is very Zendala-like and quite versatile. I don't think I've finished with the string yet. Especially because I've decided to lighten my shading somewhat, which you can see in the suite of tiles I did.
"Spoken"
A tangle that radiates from a central point, this is like a bicycle wheel. Since I'm still having a radial/Zendala thing going on, I enjoyed playing with spoken.
Minis
My inspiration for these greeting-card tiles with tiny tangles comes from Beth Malley CZT, who has done numerous little cakes herself. Her work is so fine and light and I tried to capture that here.
Hope
The idea of hope has been on my mind a lot lately. Numerous people in my immediate and extended circles are in need of hope--friends with cancer, friends whose loved ones have cancer, friends who have suffered major losses, and all my hospice patients. Hope is one of those concepts which has grown more important to me with time. It's not just big hopes--hopes for cures, hope for miracles--but smaller ones, like hope for a good day or relief or patience.
Happy tangling!
