How to draw TRIPOLI

What fun! Zentangle® originators Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas have just added a new tangle pattern named Tripoli, so called because its main form is a three-sided polygon.

“Its basic structure is a malleable tessellation, but tripoli takes things a bit further. It’s not just tiling adjacent triangles – a delightful tangle in itself – but what you then do within and between those triangles that yields amazingly different and fun results.” Maria illustrates several variations for embellishing the triangles and after trying out several of them I chose this variation for my example.

As they point out in their tips for drawing Tripoli, it’s important to keep consistent spacing between the triangles. Hmm, I could use more practice at that. Tripoli is a fun challenge to draw and its variations really do produce amazingly different results. Shading adds an eye-catching finishing touch.

Maria’s step-by-step instructions for drawing the Tripoli tangle are here.

Tripoli makes its first appearance in a Zentangle tile here on the blog in April 2011.

Update 01/18/2014 – CZT Anya Lothrop (Germany) posted this tutorial with her tips on an alternate way to draw Tripoli that helps a great deal with the spacing issue. Check it out!

Update 09/12/2016 –  Tangler Mariet Lustenhower has posted a reference chart of 22 ways to embellish Tripoli.

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Update December 12, 2017 – Project Pack #02. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2017 Edition, in this Day 2 video (25:03) Molly tangles Pokeleaf, Pokeroot, and Tripoli.

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UPDATE December 5, 2018 – Project Pack #4. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2018 Edition series, in this Day 3 video starting at 5:38 Maria demonstrates how to tangle Tripoli.

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UPDATE March 2, 2020 – Project Pack #8. As part of the Dancing in the Moonlight project pack, CZT Martha Huggins tangles a colorful “jellyfish” variation of Tripoli using the new Sakura Moonlight Gelly Roll Pens:

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UPDATE March 4, 2020 – Project Pack #8. As part of the Dancing in the Moonlight project pack, with Rick keeping her company, Maria tangles Well, Mooka, Tripoli, a “Kite on a String” motif, Printemps, Gourdgeous, and Fife on several different black prestrung Zendala tiles:

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UPDATE May 29, 2021 – Project Pack #14. As part of the Accessing the Artist Within project pack, Maria tangles tangles Tripoli filled with Well, and “Feathered Fescu” on a square white Zentangle tile instead of in the Tangle Musings booklet.

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UPDATE August 30, 2021 – Project Pack #15. As part of the Letterforms, Alphabets and the Birth of Zentangle project pack, Molly tangles Tripoli beginning at 17:35 in this video.

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UPDATE 08/20/2022 – Project Pack #18. As part of the Introducing Zentangle’s new Translucen-Z Tiles project pack, Rick begins this tile with Tripoli and fills it in with Paradox at 09:15 in this video:

UPDATE December 17, 2022 – Project Pack #19. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2022 Edition project pack, Rick tangles Tripoli in this video:

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UPDATE December 2, 2023 – Project Pack #22. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2023 Edition project pack, Molly and Martha tangle Crescent Moon (4:38), Tripoli (13:29), Purk (22:28), Cadent (34:58) and Jonqal (41:29) on their 5byPhive prestrung tile:

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UPDATE December 8, 2024 – Project Pack #25. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2024 Edition – Drawing Behind project pack, Martha and Molly tangle Verdigogh, Meer, Snail, Tripoli, Zenith and Vega on a Phi tile in this video:

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UPDATE December 12, 2024 – Project Pack #25. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2024 Edition – Drawing Behind project pack, Molly and Martha tangle a tangleation of Tripoli Molly calls Polypoli in this video:

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Check out the tag zentangle for Zentangle®-original tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

For a complete list of Zentangle’s Project Packs click the PROJECT PACKS link in the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

Related Links

1. Looking for tangles by Artist or Type? For details visit the ABOUT > HOW TO FIND TANGLES BY ARTIST OR TYPE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site.
2. What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
3. Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
4. How to use the site — an excellent free video tutorial showing how to use the site as well as pointing out lots of useful features you might have missed.
5. Linda's List of Zentangle-Original Patterns — here is the complete list of original tangles (aka "official tangles") created and introduced by founders Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, including those not published online. If you are new to the Zentangle Method I highly recommend learning a few of the published Zentangle classics first.
6. "A Zentangle has no up or down and is not a picture of something, so you have no worries about whether you can draw a hand, or a duck. You always succeed in creating a Zentangle." Thus patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
   • Un motif n’est pas toujours un tangle — Qu’est-ce qu’un tangle ?
   • Un diseño no es siempre un tangle — ¿Qué es un tangle?
7. How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
8. For lots of great FREE tutorials on TanglePatterns, click on the TUTORIALS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page.
9. Strings! Have we got STRINGS! Click on the STRINGS link in the pink alphabetic menu bar below the tangle images at the top of any page for 250 different (free) Zentangle-starters. More than enough for any lifetime!
10. Never miss a tangle! FREE eMAIL NEWSLETTER - visit the SUBSCRIBE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site and sign up to get notices delivered free to your inbox.
11. If you have questions about the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab on the top menu bar of any page on the site for COMPLETE details!

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