How to draw DEKORE

This charming decorative tangle pattern, DeKore, was created by Kari Schultz of Twin Cities, Minnesota. This is Kari’s first pattern on TanglePatterns and her own drawing is used here with her permission.

Kari’s steps for drawing DeKore and her example Zentangle® illustrating several great variations are shown below. Kari describes how she named the pattern and tells us a little about herself:

I named this pattern DeKore for three reasons: First it was inspired by some wrought iron grill designs that I found while looking for wall “decor.” Secondly, as you start filling in the spiral arms, you will notice that four hearts develop, and of course the French word for “of the heart” is “de coeur.” And thirdly, this basic design can grow into many different variations depending on how you fill in the nooks and crannies as you grow outwards. But no matter how your design grows from this pattern, it all starts at this “core.”

The variations of this are endless…you could continue adding layers of petals, or filling petals with other tangle patterns or embellishments or shading. (Notice the sample below has one DeKore with “Fescue”-esque dangles in the joints, and another has Pokeroot at the end of a spike.) It lends itself to beautiful auras too. The most important thing is that it all comes “from the heart!”

About me: I am self-taught and just started my Zentangle journey within the last year. I  would love to get certified someday when my kids are a little older, so I can devote more time to it. (Actually I am new to drawing in general, but I can attest that Zentangle has helped me develop my general drawing skills too.)  Oddly enough, I stumbled across the art of Zentangle through my fascination with crop circles which lead me to mandala art and sacred geometry, which eventually lead me to Zentangle®. I have to admit that I like how some of the designs I’ve created with “DeKore” remind of some of my favorite crop circles and mandala designs that I have drawn with a compass.

What I love about DeKore though, is that I can create fairly symmetrical designs that seem to radiate from the center without relying on a compass or protractor. This provides the visual appeal of symmetry, and the relaxing component of repetition without being tethered to tools, erasers or being burdened with premeditated measurements.

A little hint: It helps to draw your spokes from the center out and make sure you touch the edge of the adjoining spoke before you curl inwards. Give it a couple practice runs, and it will come fluently. Shading really adds dimension to this pattern, and adding spot color is stunning.

On a tangential tangle note: The Zentangle I provided I named “Convocation.” Coincidentally while I was sketching drafts of DeKore I  learned that a group of eagles is called a “convocation” and since the tangle depicts a group of DeKores, I named it “Convocation.” More than anyone needs to know! But you will see that there are FOUR different variations of DeKore in this Zentangle. (And the possibilities to create more variations are endless!)

Hopefully you will find this tangle “d’accord”. (Pronounced DeKore, it is French for “okay.”   🙂

Here are Kari’s step-by-step instructions for drawing DeKore along with Kari’s Zentangle®, Convocation. Thanks for sharing a lovely new pattern, Kari!

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the step outs to recreate this tangle in your Zentangles and ZIAs, or link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they should not be pinned, reproduced or republished. Thank you for respecting these rights.

Check out the tag karis for more of Kari’s patterns on TanglePatterns.com.

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