It’s been a little while since we’ve had a new Zentangle®-original tangle so it’s fun to see Pea-nuckle from CZT® Molly Hollibaugh. As you may know Molly is Maria Thomas’s daughter and naturally with Zentangle in her genes I consider Molly’s tangles “official” too.
In introducing Pea-nuckle, Zentangle co-founder Rick Roberts writes,
“As time goes by, it is an increasing challenge to develop new tangles that are magical, simple and easy to create. …We think pea-nuckle is just such a tangle. It’s made with only two elemental strokes. One is curved; one is straight. It is simple, yet its result is surprising.”
I think how this one comes together will indeed surprise you. This illustrates it on a smaller scale than above. The step-by-step instructions for drawing Pea-nuckle are illustrated here, along with several of Molly’s Zentangles featuring Pea-nuckle with some variations.
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Update December 2015: Sakura of America has added this video of Molly demonstrating Pea-nuckle and in it Molly gives some great tips for tangling it. September 2022: Zentangle’s TangleRootz blog post gives more background on Pea-nuckle and includes this 2015 video.
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UPDATE August 22, 2021 – Project Pack #15. As part of the Alphaborders: Letterforms, Alphabets and the Birth of Zentangle project pack, Molly tangles Pea-nuckle demonstrating the letter S at 32:36 in this video:
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Check out the tag mollyh for more of Molly’s tangles on TanglePatterns, and zentangle for more 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
- 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.
- What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
- Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
- 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.
- 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.
- "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?
- How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
- 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.
- 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!
- 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.
- 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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May 16, 2012 | 
More like this: 
I have just done my very first zentangle and want to know as I can’t find it mentioned anywhere…the initial 4 dots and border that is drawn in pencil at the start of the zentangle project – is it to be then done in Micron pen at the end of the project or are the pencil lines to be erased?
Neither. Normally you won’t even see them once you’ve completed your tile.
Pea-nuckle is so COOL!! Only thing I need to watch is keeping my line of Ss touching and the second set of straight lines narrow. I was inclined to fill the background space up with them but that loses the rope-y feel.
Diana
Karen–when I start with the initial tile layout, I make sure I do the dots and border lightly and then erase them after if they are not covered by a design. Some of the tangle artists have artwork that does not cover the whole surface and there are areas of no designs–they may start with a fully closed border and then decide after they start that they don’t want to tangle in a certain area, and as result, they just erase the lightly drawn in border in that area. Congrats on your first tangle!! You are going to love zentangles!!
Update: Sakura of America has added this video of Molly demonstrating Pea-nuckle and in it Molly gives some great tips for drawing this unusual tangle.
Thanks to Sakura and Molly Hollibaugh for creating the video. And huge thanks to you, Linda, for adding that video. That really helps. Pea-Nuckle is not a tangle I’ve used. It’s one I had trouble understanding. But now I get it. Another tangle added to my repertoire! 🙂
Thanks for the video. It is really fantastic, inspiring me to give this tangle a try where as seeing it before I was a little intimidated by giving it a try.
Thanks for all you do Linda.