Today Portland, Oregon CZT Billie Lauder shares her delightful Tangle Folk with us, showing how simple it is to draw these continuous line figures in just six easy steps.
Billie’s Tangle Folk are another creative way for tanglers of all ages to relax and have fun using a few simple tangles in some unique Zentangle®-inspired art!
As you dress your Tangle Folk with tangles, “it’s fun to see what happens with them as they do have personalities.” Here are a few of Billie’s examples.
And more …
Here’s another sweet example from the envelope Billie sent me containing her article. It’s so much fun receiving tangled mail!!
Billie explains how her Tangle Folk were “born” …
“About four years ago I was drawing ‘strings’ in swirling continuous lines and discovered I had created a human-looking shape.
I kept at it. With the first ones I had to add the hands and feet. But with more drawing and playing I refined the shapes, adding some smaller loops. And there they were – the hands and feet.
Next I used various tangles to fill in the body parts – or dressing my Tangle Folk.
Next step was to add hair or a hat and maybe give them something to hold or something to do.
I decided early on that I would not give them faces.
I shade the Tangle folk basically on one side of their body, but I also use more traditional tangle methods. For my shading I use a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush – Cold Grey I 230.”
Here are Billie’s six easy steps for drawing her continuous line Tangle Folk.
Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. Republishing or redistributing this image in any form including pinning is prohibited under law without express permission of the copyright owner. For more information, click on the image for the article “Pinterest – How could something so right be so wrong?”.
Now that you’ve seen how easy it is to create these delightful figures, share your Tangle Folk on flickr. Join Flickr (it’s free) and post your Tangle Folk there, be sure to add the URL to this page in your image “caption”.
If you need help scanning your images for online posting, see this page and the comments for helpful scanning tips.
For future reference, you’ll find this article on the TUTORIALS tab on the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.
Go forth and create your own Tangle Folk characters!
And many thanks to Billie for sharing her fun, creative ZIA idea with the Zentangle community.
BTW – for help in drawing ribbons with your Tangle Folk, here’s a great tutorial from Sandra Strait (Molosses).
Update August 8, 2018: I have learned, with much sadness, through a friend of hers that Billie Lauder passed away last week. Her sweet Tangle Folk will live on to honor her.
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December 6, 2015 | 
More like this: 
Thank you so much for sharing this with us, Billie, I can not wait to try this though I know my tangle folks won’t be near as sweet looking as yours are!! : )
And, to the wonderful creator and up-keeper of this lovely website, THANK YOU so much for all the work you do on it. It’s awesome and so are Y.O.U.!!! (Hugs)
Debi
Thanks so much, Debi 🙂 {blushing}
This will be fun to make for the grandchildren’s Christmas envelopes. They love the money but it seems so impersonal. Great solution.
Linda and Billie,
Thank you so much for sharing the Tangle Folk with us. I’ve always loved them and it’s great to know how they came to be. Can’t wait to try the awesome step-outs! 🙂
These are SO cute and fun! Cannot wait to give ‘birth’ to more!
Thank you!
What a WONDERFUL idea! Absolutely love this. I like doing ribbons and the bodies are just a ribbon Tangle with style. Thank you so much for sharing.
Wow!! Such a unique way of designing! Thank you Billie.
Oh, how SWEET!! Thank you, SO much for sharing this. I think I will be making a TRIBE of Tangle Folks! 🙂
Very generous of Billie! I’ve been meaning to try these ever since another CZT showed me how to draw them when I took the CZT seminar for a second time last October. There is always something new to try in the Zentangle world; I just never can keep up. I have more ideas than time. This posting just brought Tangle Folk up to the top of my list. So cute!
Thanks so much, Billie and Linda, for sharing this!
Thank you all for your comments on my Tangle Folk. You never know what they will end up doing. They do have personalities.
I LOVE the Tangle Folk and can’t wait to try it. It is so clever! Thanks for sharing it!!
Just adorable!
Wow.. what a fun string. Too cute.. going to try this soon. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Oh my gosh Billie! The cutest thing EVER!!!! I love these little tangle people. I am hoping to get the time to make some of these adorable little people for my “littles” in my life for Christmas! Thanks so much for the inspiration. Just stinking ADORABLE!!!
Is the creator of these darling folk the quilter Billie Lauder or someone else with the same name? (Inquiring Simi Valley quilter wants to know…)
Hi Marilyn, Guilty. I am the same quilter / tangler only now I live in Oregon.
I feel inspired to make some “folks” for my daughter and her family!! Thank You, Billie and Linda!
Oh How nice! I tried so hard to make one of your “Tangle Folk”. My versions looked So Silly! Now I can make one just FINE! Yippie! Tracy
These Tangle Folk are adorable! I can’t wait to try my hand at making them.
When I first saw these little Tangle Folk—I couldn’t keep the smile off my face! I drew a few and realized they have such personality and character! What fun! Thank you for sharing, Billie.
Billie. I check my email every morning. Linda’s emails are opened immediately. When I saw these little cuties I had to practice drawing them! After several pages they are starting to take shape–some better than others. None the less, they are darling and I want to use them somehow. Thank you for sharing your little folk with us. Also, thank you Linda for letting these little people scamper across your website! Nancy P
I love your Tangle Folk step-outs! I have a holiday card designed in my head and looking forward to adding a few folks as soon as I can find a spare hour or two.
Thank you all for sharing your wonderful tangles. You are all an inspiration.
Linda, thank you for this fabulous site that brings it all together.
Happy Holidays to all!
we had so much fun with this at our tangle gathering! We didn’t have the instructions down pat, so our folk turned out strutting and dancing and gave us all the giggles. http://intermountaintanglers.blogspot.com/2015/12/gathering-15.html that’s the link to the current post about it.
and I am still having fun with them. Thanks for posting this adorable tutorial.
I’ve never used them as intended, but I adore the tangle folk. They’re kind of a tangle themselves, the way that I use them. I have spent a lot of time with the folk over the year, and I wish I had commented before now. I hope Billie’s memory is a blessing for her loved ones.