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What is Zentangle?
Linda Farmer, Certified Zentangle Teacher

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How to draw SINE WAVES

Zentangle pattern: Sine Waves. Image © Linda Farmer and TanglePatterns.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. The unauthorized pinning, reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.Hello there! So nice of you to share your time with me on this fine Wednesday.

Sine Waves is a ribbon-style tangle from Texas CZT Suzanne McNeill from one of the early Zentangle®-inspired booklets in her series.

Suzanne includes the steps for Sine Waves in Zentangle 6:

Zentangle 6, the sequel to CZT® Suzanne McNeill’s series of booklets exploring Zentangle-inspired crafts, focuses on “terrific stencils and cards”.

Several finished card projects are illustrated to give you some creative ideas and details included for the supplies used to make each card. There aren’t any step-by-step instructions, but the detail given is sufficient for you to apply the concepts to your own projects.

Sine Waves plays with a bit of trompe l’oeil making the coils/waves appear to wrap around a center core. Suzanne never used shading on any of her examples but in this case a bit of graphite adds nice dimension to the finished composition. Sine Waves makes an excellent frame for a tile.

Suzanne illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Sine Waves below. Fox Chapel Publishing (who hold the copyright) and Suzanne have graciously given me permission to post her copyright-protected images on TanglePatterns for your reference.

How to draw the Zentangle pattern Sine Waves, tangle and deconstruction by Suzanne McNeill. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. These images are for your personal offline reference only. Please feel free to refer to the images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to the images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. (Small side note: if you look at the legalese in Pinterest, you are legally responsible for obtaining permission to post every photo that gets ‘Pinned’. Giving credit or sharing the source link doesn’t count.) Thank you for respecting these rights. “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” ~ Albus Dumbledore

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Check out the tag suzannem for more of Suzanne’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.

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Share your Tangle on TanglePatterns

Have you created a tangle you'd like to share with the community? I'd love to see it.

You do not need to be a CZT to submit a pattern. Many of the tangles on TanglePatterns began as ideas shared by readers just like you.

Before sending your pattern, please take a few minutes to review What Makes a Zentangle® Tangle? and How to Submit Your Pattern Deconstruction to TanglePatterns. These pages on the SUBMIT YOUR PATTERN menu explain what qualifies as a tangle and how to prepare your pattern.

Not every pattern will be selected for publication, but I sincerely appreciate everyone who takes the time to share their creativity and contribute to TanglePatterns.

When you're ready, simply send your pattern by email following the instructions on the submission page.

I look forward to seeing what you've created.

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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. What Makes a Zentangle tangle? 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, and tangles never start with pencil planning.
  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.
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  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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"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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4 comments to How to draw SINE WAVES

  • Hi Linda! Would you point out the differences between this tangle and Sue Jacobs’ Coil? Thanks!

    • Linda Farmer, CZT

      Hi Jan, they are indeed very similar but deconstructed in entirely different ways. (I’d forgotten about Sue’s variation example, I always think of Coil’s orb version.) When you place the steps side-by-side you’ll see there is a difference. You could combine the ideas by using Suzanne’s version’s Step 1 then add Sue’s Step 1 dots for placement. Depends on how wide you want the wave/coil/ribbon. And if you want the orbs or the “pole” feature. Thanks for your question! 🙂

  • Sharon Wrench

    Beautiful pattern! Thank you for sharing!

  • Jessie Hollaway

    Beautiful work Linda.

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