How to draw MARASU

By Linda Farmer, CZT ~ December 12th, 2016

Today’s Marasu tangle is a Zentangle®-original from the group of “102 Tangles” from oh-so-long-ago when CZT certification training first began.

As of today we’re up to 158 “official tangles” and counting …

The name of this tangle MaRaSu comes from the names of Maria’s sisters Madeline, Rachel and Sue, if my deductions are spot on. Here’s a peek at Maria’s beautiful hint:

In recent years Rick and Maria and Zentangle HQ have published a “12 Days of Christmas” series and now it’s back for the third time.

Maria created a fabulously gorgeous illuminated letter “O” on a tile for the series. Each day the tile is featured in a different “frame” with that day’s tangle and the Zentangle blog post includes a sweet tale to go with. When you visit each “day”, be sure to click on the images to view the larger version. And take a moment or two to enjoy Maria’s beautiful illuminated letter and her calligraphy up close and almost-personal.

The tangle to be used on the Fourth Day was Marasu and the steps for tangling Marasu were included here.

Update 10/25/2017: CZT Margaret Bremner adds directions for tangling a “Double Marasu“.

For those interested in participating, here is the link to the beginning of Zentangle’s now traditional “12 Days of Zentangle Christmas” series which contains this year’s “rules”.

Thus far for 2016 the 12 Days’ tangles have included the following. Links to the original Zentangle blog post are first, second link to the how-to-draw instructions.

“On the x day of 3Zs, Bijou tangled me … ”

A tile full of tripoli! – Tripoli steps here
A fetching diva dancing – Diva Dance steps here
Some winsome bits of shattuck – Shattuck steps here
Some marasu encircling – Marasu steps on this page
Gold, glowing tipples – Tipple steps here
Swirling molygon-ings – Molygon steps here
Dark and naughty knightsbridge – Knightsbridge steps here
Perky pokeleafs peeking – Pokeleaf steps here

UPDATE December 10, 2018 – Project Pack #04. As part of the Twelve Days of Zentangle, 2018 Edition series, in this Day 8 video starting at 10:43 CZT Julie Willand of Zentangle HQ demonstrates how to tangle Marasu.

Check out the tag zentangle for all of the Zentangle®-original tangles with online instructions.

Related Links

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 pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle.
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?
Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form
What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals

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