Following on her unique and very popular Lee-Bee tangle, Pittsburgh CZT Sue Schneider is back today with Krokus and some Spring inspiration to brighten our days.
Sue begins by sharing “a long-time favorite poem“:
First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus —
Crocus.
Lilja Rogers
A little credit to Lilja from Martha’s Vineyard Vineyard Gazette with a beautiful photo of Spring crocus,
Lilja Rogers, a modern poet from New Hampshire died in 1998. … Her most famous work is a brief poem from an aptly named book, More Laughter than Tears, that honors the fickle spring weather and inspiration of the crocus.
Here is Sue’s lovely Krokus tangle on two Zentangle® tiles:
Sue writes,
Spring brings delightful surprises. This morning my entire front yard is bursting with pale purple, miniature wild crocus! ‘Tis the season for fresh growth and new explorations.
Here’s my newest tangle pattern to celebrate. Based on the concepts of “fragments and reticula” from the Zentangle® Primer by Marie Thomas and Rick Roberts, Krokus offers lots of ways for you to play with arrangements of a design unit within a grid.
Enjoy the glories of Spring.
As we’ve noted in the past most grid-based tangles can be varied by using one of the grid squares (= fragments) in various combinations of arrangements by duplicating, mirroring and rotating that square/fragment within a grid. Varying the type of base grid (= reticula) adds to the potential variations.
In her steps below illustrating how to draw Krokus, in the right-hand column Sue has used a red dot to show the base for each potential position of the Krokus fragment. The center column outlined in red shows the fragment unit and how it’s constructed. At the bottom she demonstrates it as a border or ribbon-style tangle. And the “tile” in the upper left shows some potential variations to explore.
Krokus offers lots of options for filling and shading in addition to the variations created by different arrangements of the tangle fragment.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the steps images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs, or to link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. They are for your personal reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. Click the image for an article explaining copyright in plain English.
As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours.
Check out the tag sues for more of Sue’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
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Free Download: How to draw four basic grids (reticula) for your Zentangles
Like some help drawing grids? (In the Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1, Zentangle HQ is now referring to grids as reticula and give 30 examples.)
Here is a free TanglePatterns PDF download showing how to ink a basic Freehand Squared Grid, Freehand Diamond-Shaped Grid with a Triangle variation, and a Freehand Ogee-Shaped Grid.
You can always locate this tutorial again by visiting the TUTORIALS tab on the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.
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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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Remember you can get your official Zentangle supplies here too, including 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. |
"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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Another great jump-starter for new tanglers is the original Official Zentangle Kit. The Kit includes all the supplies you'll need to get started properly: Sakura Micron Pens, Zentangle Tiles, pencil, sharpener, tortillion, a booklet and an instructional DVD by co-founder Maria Thomas. Click on the image for more information about the Kit and its contents. |
Fantastic Reticula Tangle with lots of fun variations!
Great recticula!! So many possibilities!! Thank you!!
I really like this and appreciate the tips on placement. That will definitely help. Awesome tangle!
Lovely tangle. So simple to draw and so rich when created in a tile. Thank you.
Sue, this is a wonderful tangle with so many possibilities. Thank you
I really like this one. .. very elegant. Thank you.