How to draw ZENCHILADA

Greetings all, and a very happy Monday to you.

I hope you had a relaxing weekend and are looking forward to another week of fun tangle inspiration.

Our easy Monday tangle named Zenchilada comes from Canadian tangler Cyndi Knapp and by now her name will be familiar to you as she has lots of great tangles as well as a few tutorials on the site.

Cyndi shares her inspiration for Zenchilada and also “some finessing tips“,

Here is another pattern that was inspired by a recipe (kind of) as you may have guessed by the name…

The inspiration for this grid based notan pattern came while I was looking for a quick and easy Enchilada casserole recipe. This one caught my eye but as much for the creme and sepia coloured apron (?) in the photo as for the recipe itself.

There are as many details (eg. the bonus mini notan within the notan) in this pattern as ingredients in the recipe, so I wanted to incorporate the recipe name in the pattern name. And because of the pattern’s basic structure (Steps 2 & 3) I also wanted to incorporate an “8”…but how. No matter what I tried, the combination just didn’t gel. Sometimes in order to get clarity, you have to take a step back to get past something that’s stuck in your mind. Once I did this, I blurted out the name Zenchilada. Bingo!

It’s a pretty easy pattern to draw. Regardless, I’ve included some finessing tips:

1. Steps 2 & 3:
a) For a truer diamond shape in which to draw the half circles (Step 4), keep the figure 8’s sides straightish – more like a sunflower seed than a water droplet.
b) For the best fill results, the sides of the 8’s at the rounded ends should touch the sides of the square’s corners to give the necessary delineation.
c) For the best mini notans, leave ample space between the tips of the 8’s rounded ends and the corners of the squares.
2. Step 4:
To get the best shaped circles, draw this step after Steps 1-3 have been completed in all the squares.
3. To make the fill process easier, fill the pattern systematically and fill Step 4 first to help you stay on track.
4. This pattern can be tidied fairly easily after it’s all filled.

In her first Zendala above Cyndi frames CZT Carol Ohl’s Afterglo with Zenchilada, and in the second one she includes a Flux-inspired variation of CZT Sanyukta Saxena’s Jolly.

Cyndi illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Zenchilada below where she includes it in a duotangle Zendala with the Zentangle®-original Mooka.

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Check out the tag cyndik for more of Cyndi’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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