Showing posts with label Zendala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zendala. Show all posts

Spangle…a new tangle...or tangleation?

A pattern element has been appearing in my tangles for the past few years. It may be a tangleation of the official Zentangle® pattern called Ynix which, I believe, remains unpublished. While I love drawing Ynix, usually only the seed elements of it appear in my work, perhaps because it is a shape that my hand finds very comfortable to draw. Introducing…Spangle, illustrated here with its cousin Ynix.


You’ll notice that Ynix starts with seed shapes in pairs surrounded by auras; Spangle has the same seed shapes which are clustered and flow randomly in many directions, most often without auras but occasionally they sneak in.


The name comes from Spangle Grass, another name for Northern Oat Grass, which has seed heads that resemble this shape in its early summer stage. 

Upon closer look, I could see a woven pattern within the seed head which became the inspiration for embellishing Spangle with various patterns. Add a single dot and it looks like a school of fish; add striations and they look like almonds...and so on.

Using a blank Zendala title, I drew a  seed-shaped string with a Prismacolor pencil (limepeel) and filled it with Spangle. I then filled the individual 'spangles' with about 28 different embellishments.


And here is the same Zendala with added colors of light aqua and pale vermilion.

Disclaimer: If this pattern has appeared elsewhere as a tangle pattern, please let me know so that I can give full credit. 

Zendala Class



This morning I taught a Zendala class in Northampton. We used the template for Zendala Dare #7 from The Bright Owl blog which I transferred to blank Zendala tiles prior to the class. 


We incorporated six tangles: Ixorus, Braze, Betweed, Dex, Mist and Florz, with a little bit of optional Rain ...appropriate for our calm before the approaching East Coast storm! Here are the class results. Gorgeous!

Thanks, Amy, for the photo.

Be sure to visit The Bright Owl blog by Erin Koetz Olson, CZT, for weekly Zendala templates that are printable and can be used as is, or transferred to Zendala tiles. She has a tutorial link about how to do this on her site. If you're so inclined, you may submit your finished Zendala by following Erin's instructions, and also view a gallery of all participants for each week. She has 28 templates available. Thanks, Erin!

For Nancy

Sometimes the thing to do is send a Zentangle ... or Zendala ... to a friend.