How to draw IX

At  last week’s CZT® training seminar in Providence, Rhode Island, co-founder Maria Thomas demonstrated the new Zentangle®-original tangle, IX.

The name for this tangle pattern comes from the Roman numerals for the number 9, and IX was introduced at the 9th graduating class.

This is such a fun tangle to draw and it grows beautifully, although my example is the basic X formation created by the central I strokes. As you’re drawing IX, bear in mind that it doesn’t really look like much until Step 5 when you add the strokes connecting the corners and then the magic happens — somewhat how CZT Carole Ohl’s Puf tangle magically pulls together at the last. IX also reminds me of the Zentangle®-original tangle Hurry, the way it interweaves. Naturally, shading adds a lot to this tangle.

One of the new CZTs Jane Eileen Malone posted the step-by-step instructions for drawing IX on her blog here. Jane shows a lovely finished monotangle Zentangle featuring IX.

I predict tons of fun with this one! And once again, congratulations to all the newly-graduated CZTs.

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UPDATE September 15, 2012 – Here are Maria’s steps for drawing IX.

Here’s another little tip to help make the tangle grow outwards: make your initial pattern and connect the corners, then use the corners to extend the I-connectors out in any direction. You can also use curvy-shaped I’s, they don’t have to be dead straight.

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UPDATE December 4, 2018 – Project Pack #4. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2018 Edition series, in this Day 2 video starting at 11:55 Rick demonstrates how to tangle IX.

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UPDATE July 20, 2020 – Project Pack #10. As part of The Legend of Zentangle project pack series, Rick tangles IX at 05:52 in this video.

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UPDATE May 18, 2025 – As part of Zentangle’s 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month Challenge, Maria tangles IX in this video:

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

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Zentangle Project Pack Summaries on TanglePatterns

For your convenience here are the links to all of my Zentangle Project Pack summaries:

1. November 2017: Introducing Sakura’s White Gelly Roll Pens
2. December 2017: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2017 Edition - A Stroll Down Memory Lane
3. June 2018: A Zentangle Ensemble
4. December 2018: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2018 Edition – Making a Zentangle Spinner
5. April 2019: Zentangle Cartouches
6. August 2019: No Mistakes
7. December 2019: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2019 Edition – Light and Shade
8. March 2020: Dancing in the Moonlight
9. April 2020: Spring has Sprung
10. July 2020: The Legend of Zentangle
11. September 2020: Fee-PHI-Fo-Fun!
12. December 2020: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2020 Edition - Zentangle Renaissance
13. April 2021: Layers and Transitions
14. May 2021: Accessing the Artist Within
15. September 2021: Alphaborders, Letter Forms, Alphabets and the Birth of Zentangle
16. December 2021: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2021 Edition - Keeping Score
17. March 2022: The Kaleidoscope of Our Lives
18. August 2022: Introducing Zentangle's new Translucen-Z Tiles
19. December 2022: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2022 Edition - Zentomology
20. March 2023: Blossoming Tangles
21. August 2023: Organic Tangles: Tangles of a Botanical Nature
22. December 2023: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2023 Edition - Exploring the Spiral
23. March 2024: The Birth of the Zentangle Method
24. August 2024: Crescent Moon & Aura
25. December 2024: Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2024 Edition - Drawing Behind
26. March 14, 2025: The Elegance of Limits
27. August 2025: TBA
28. December 2025: TBA

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These are the links to my Zentangle Apprentice Project Pack summaries:

1. January - February 2021: The Basics of the Zentangle Method

NOTE: You can always find the Project Pack Summaries by clicking on PROJECT PACKS on the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar. OR by looking in the left sidebar under TANGLES BY TYPE for the tag projectpack. OR on the ZENTANGLE PROJECT PACKS page on the ZENTANGLES tab on the top menu bar of any page on the site.

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." 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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	The 14th Edition of the TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE is an instant-download 117-page interactive digital eBook/PDF containing over 2,000 tangles on the site from May 2010 through December 31, 2024. It's a great resource and a must-have digital tool for using the site. Visit the STORE > E-BOOKS page and help keep TanglePatterns.com going by getting your copy now!
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See the BOOK REVIEWS page for more details on its features and view a sample page. Note: this is a digital product you download immediately when you place your order, nothing will be physically mailed to you.
If you're new to Zentangle® and tangling, my TanglePatterns.com BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ZENTANGLE is just what you need to get started. Also available en Français and en Español.
	This is the only Zentangle book you'll ever need: the fabulous Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1. It's your CZT-in-a-book by the founders of Zentangle®. Visit the STORE tab on the top menu bar or click on the image. For more about the content and to read the rave reviews, visit the BOOK REVIEWS tab.
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"Absolutely the best Zentangle Book yet! As an accomplished artist I used to think I did not need instruction on this art form. How wrong I was! My tangling improved by leaps and bounds after reading this book. If you think you have Zentangle down then you need this book more than ever!" ~ Kris H
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