Zentangle® Project Pack #26 Summary – The Elegance of Limits

From the Zentangle newsletter introduction:

“The goal from the very beginning of the Zentangle Method was for people to put pen to paper and create art. When Rick and Maria sat down to design the structure of the Zentangle Method, they collected enough information that made it clear that putting pen to paper and creating art is not always as easy as it sounds. One might think that giving someone limitless freedom without structure or boundaries would be the best way for people to “be” creative.

However, they quickly learned it is quite the opposite. When given guidelines, structure, or constraints to your creative process you tap into innovation, imagination, and focus. We are much more motivated and inspired when we are faced with challenges or limitations.

In this Project Pack, we bring focus to a specific type of string and challenge you, the student and the artist, to work within its means. Together we will gather around these inspiring limitations and find creative expression that is formed by its boundaries.”

SUPPLIES: This Project Pack is available here ($39.95) in the zentangle.com store and it’s a convenient way to get all the supplies for the project. However, the introductory video reviews the items in the Project Pack and you might discover you have suitable alternatives in your own Zentangle supplies. “If you do not have the project pack materials, we encourage you to follow along with whatever you have available.”

• One Zentangle canvas tool pouch containing:
  • One Sakura Micron 03 pen, Black
  • One Sakura Gelly Roll #10 pen, White
  • Three random Sakura Koi Coloring Brush Pens from a set of six, water-based dye ink
  • #7 Round Watercolor Brush
  • One Zentangle graphite pencil
  • One Zentangle General’s white charcoal pencil
  • Two tortillions
• Zentangle tiles: 8 Prestrung White Zendala Tiles, 3 blank White Zendala Tiles

The following chronology is a summary of the videos for this Project Pack with links to the individual videos. Either click the Day #’s title link or the image itself to view the full video on YouTube.

It isn’t necessary to watch the videos in sequence, but it will be very helpful for you to watch the Introduction video first.

CZT Molly Hollibaugh recommends we watch Project Pack videos completely through once before beginning our tiles:

“You’re going to have a little more confidence, you’re going to be a little more aware of what’s happening next. Then you might try something different, you might explore it in a different way”.

QUICK LINKS TO DAILY SUMMARIES

Jump to:
Day 1 – Julie tangles Vega, Zander, Jonqal, and Flux
Day 2 – Rick tangles Paradox
Day 3 – Maria tangles Scena, Printemps, Hollibaugh, Knightsbridge, and introduces Scenabaugh 
Day 4 – Martha and Molly tangle Mooka, Knightsbridge, Pokeroot, Grass Border and ‘Nzeppel
Day 5 – Rick tangles Cadent
Day 6 – Julie tangles Marasu, Fife, Crescent Moon and the L2 Fragment
Day 7 – Maria tangles Pokeleaf, Well, Scena, and Knightsbridge
Day 8 – Molly and Martha tangle Betweed, Ravel, Knightsbridge and Tipple
Wrap Up – Rick & Maria

Introduction

In the introductory video (11:10) – Molly and Julie introduce the theme and materials in this Project Pack including a new set of designs on pre-strung Zendalas.

Step 1: At – Julie and Molly introduce themselves and talk about the Project Pack theme and one of Zentangle’s foundational philosophies, The Elegance of Limits.

Step 2: At 02:20 – They introduce the materials in the Project Pack, starting with a new set of designs on pre-strung Zendalas.

Step 3: At 04:26 – They introduce the tools we’ll be using in this series. Each project pack has three random selections from a set of six Sakura Koi coloring brush pens.

Step 4: At 07:14 – Molly talks about the characteristics of the waterbased dye ink (not archival) brush pens.

Step 5: At 08:12 – They show a few tiles demonstrating some effects the brush pens can produce.

Step 6: At 09:22 – Molly points out, “you can always follow along with any of these lessons without the color,” if you’re not sure color “is for you”.

Step 7: At 10:10 – Julie notes to be aware that because we’re working with ink and watercolor, we might want to allow for drying time before tangling and/or shading.

Step 8: At 10:41 – Molly leaves us with a quote from French artist Georges Braque about the elegance of limits, “Progress in art does not consist in reducing limitations, but in knowing them better.”

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Day 1

In Day 1’s video (32:40) – Julie tangles Vega, Zander, Jonqal and Flux on her prestrung Zendala tile.

Step 1: At 01:31 – After introducing herself and recommending that if we haven’t watched the Introduction video, it will be helpful before watching today’s lesson especially the tips and techniques for using the Koi Coloring Brush Pens. She chooses one of the new prestrung Zendala designs from the Project Pack, she refers to this particular design as “the ribbons” design.

Step 2: At – After a moment of gratitude and appreciation, she shares a quote from American writer Flannery O’Connor related to the theme of this Project Pack: “Art transcends its limitations only by staying within them.” Julie notes the quote is fitting because on these prestrung Zendalas, we’re working within a boundary and within this Elegance of Limits.

Step 3: At 02:47 – Julie begins with the black Micron 03 to tangle Vega.

Step 4: At 03:36 – To begin Vega, she chooses on the of the top ribbon sections and begins in the middle.

Step 5: At 05:38 – Once the band has been filled with the crisscross strokes, she adds a “smushed orb” inside each, “in an ‘Nzeppel fashion”.

Step 6: At 06:54 – She adds a curved “top” on each of the initial bands, making the ends appear to wrap around the string.

Step 7: At 07:27 – She repeats these steps, adding Vega in every other ribbon/band.

Step 8: At 07:46 – She adds Zander in the remaining three bands with a small variation of adding small orbs in the center.

Step 9: At 11:52 – She adds Jonqal in three of the ribbons going underneath the top layer.

Step 10: At 15:40 – She adds Flux in the remaining three ribbons, fitting in orbs in the spaces around them.

Step 11: At 18:50 – Next Julie adds shading to her tangles with the graphite pencil in the order she added them, then she adds white charcoal highlights on each.

Step 12: At 21:39 – She adds highlights with the white charcoal pencil.

Step 13: At 27:14 – In this next stage Julie adds a very light wash of color in the background with a Koi Coloring Brush Pen, beginning by working on a scrap piece of paper. [Note: A better alternative, as commenter tracylamb suggests “a porcelain plate or saucer to use as a palette, you will get more color to transfer to your tile.” BTW, by Day 2 this suggestion was turned into a short video by Molly demonstrating this method.] Julie makes swatches of two of the colors on the scrap paper, then gets them very wet and with the color now on her brush she transfers a very light wash to the Zendala background.

Step 14: At 29:41 – She adds more color to her scrap piece of paper as she needs it and mixing the colors.

Step 15: At 30:14 – She adds a swatch of the remaining color on the scrap paper and adds water to it, just as she did with the other two colors, then adds a bit of that light wash, “no rhyme or reason“, just playing with adding a light wash.

Step 16: At 30:56 – She adds a light touch directly from the pen on a spot where the Zendala is already wet and softens it with the brush, “just gives it a more vibrant color, these are the little thanks that you will play around with a find what works for you“.

Step 17: At 31:29 – “Remember it’s always good when working with the Koi to put water down on the Koi almost right away. Once it dries it’s a little harder to activate again.”

Step 18: At 31:48 – She shows her finished, still damp tile with “soft clouds of pink, purple and blue“.

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Day 2

In Day 2’s video (26:37) – With Maria keeping him company, Rick tangles Paradox on one of the new prestrung Zendala tiles.

Step 1: At 00:10 – Rick begins this lesson with a quote from the Nobel Prize-winning Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “The fewer limitations the artist imposes on his work the less chance he has for artistic success.” Rick concludes the converse of this is: the more limitations, the more success.

Step 2: At 02:11 – Rick introduces the tools he’ll be using.

Step 3: At 02:57 – Beginning with the Micron 03, he begins by restating all of the string lines. Maria notes “we almost never do this because it’ll make your drawing look more like a coloring book, but because of what Rick’s going to do with it, it works well with his ideas.”

Step 4: At 04:48 – Focusing on the four “squarish” 4-sided sections, he turns them into 3-sided sections by dividing them diagonally from one corner to another.

Step 5: At 05:22 – Rick explains we’re going to be tangling Paradox in all of the 3-sided sections and will be leaving the remaining sections blank.

Step 6: At 06:22 – Adding Paradox with the take-off and land technique, Rick cautions, “don’t get ahead of us because we do some fun stuff on the way, and you’ll see that.”

Step 7: At 07:12 – He gives a tip for “if you get interrupted”, make just part of the next line so you know where to pick up again.

Step 8: At 07:57 – “Now this is important. We’re going to do the one next to it and you can see where all the lines came together on that first one, I’m going to start at that same point. So we’re effectively mirroring the one next to it.” He notes the importance of turning your tile constantly as you go, so the character of the line remains consistent.

Step 9: At 08:57 – He adds Paradox to a third section, starting again where the lines in the previous one came together.

Step 10: At 09:25 – He points out the fan shapes being created in the adjacent sections, “and we call those meta patterns“.

Step 11: At 10:00 – He continues around the first half of the tile, Maria reminding us to skip the 4-sided shapes and leave them blank.

Step 12: At 11:10 – With one side completed, Rick notes we’re going to do something different on the other side. Instead of starting where the lines come together, on this second side we’re going to start where the lines separate and do the entire side consistently that way.

Step 13: At 12:23 – “The meta pattern that results from that is not the fan shape but it’s a different shape, sort of like a twisted column.”

Step 14: At 13:19 – Rick points out that all the string lines we inked at the beginning are disappearing into the pattern.

Step 15: At 15:18 – With the tangling finished, he points out how the meta patterns at the top are different from those at the bottom. He puts away the Micron 03 and changes to the Koi Coloring Brush Pens.

Step 16: At 16:08 – With a damp paint brush, he swipes the nib of the Coloring Pen and adds a light wash on one of the sections. His goal is to highlight the meta patterns.

Step 17: At 17:39 – He changes color and repeats the process. Then continues alternating colors and adding them to the sections. He also uses the pen directly on the sections when the ink color “doesn’t refresh itself” as quickly as he wanted.

Step 18: At 19:30 – He decides his approach isn’t working as he wanted, “So now I’m thinking, okay, Elegance of Limits, what am I going to do with this.” He tries dipping the pen itself in the water and using the pen to apply the color.

Step 19: At 22:58 – With the sections colored, Rick goes back with the Brush Pens and deepens the colors in various spots, instead of shading with graphite which he would normally have done.

Step 20: At 24:02 – He adds graphite in two of the corners of the “empty diamond shaped areas” and softens it with a tortillion.

Step 21: At 25:07 – He adds his chop.

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Day 3

In Day 3’s video (26:42) – With Rick keeping her company, Maria tangles Scena, Printemps, Hollibaugh, Knightsbridge, and introduces Scenabaugh on one of the new prestrung Zendala tiles.

Step 1: At – After introducing themselves while Maria shows us the tools we’ll be using for this lesson, Maria shares another quote from French artist Georges Braque, “Out of limitations, new forms emerge.“

Step 2: At 02:22 – Maria explains we’re going to be tangling Scena, Printemps, Hollibaugh and and tangleation called Scenabaugh on today’s tile.

Step 3: At 02:35 – We’re starting out with Scenabaugh and using the Micron 03 she begins by adding an S stroke in the middle hexagon and adds peppering at the ends of the stroke. “Instead of the ribbon shapes you usually see in Hollibaugh, we’re going to do a series of these lines together that create a ribbon.”

Step 4: At 03:02 – She adds an aura to the right side of that first line creating a ribbon and repeats with peppering on the ends of the stroke.

Step 5: At 03:26 – She turns her tile so she’s continuing to work to the right of the previously drawn lines and adds another aura with peppering on the other side of the first stroke.

Step 6: At 03:51 – Turning the tile, she adds another three-line ribbon crossing under the first set, roughly creating an X shape.

Step 7: At 04:16 – Going back to the first ribbon, she adds another stroke on each side going behind the other set, creating an interweaving.

Step 8: At 04:47 – Maria adds another “base” ribbon going behind the first two sets of ribbons. She continues adding strokes behind all the sets, interweaving them.

Step 9: At 06:03 – She adds a fourth “base” ribbon and continues the interweaving.

Step 10: At 07:05 – She adds a fifth “base” ribbon and continues to build off of it.

Step 11: At 08:37 – Maria goes around the outside of the hexagon with the Micron 03, “And I want you to understand that when I do things like this, I don’t want a straight line. I don’t want it to be even. I want it to have such character.”

Step 12: At 09:06 – She restates the string lines of the triangle surrounding the hexagon and then adds an uneven aura line around the hexagonal shape.

Step 13: At 09:40 – She adds counterclockwise Printemps spirals to fill the tip of the triangles, noting “don’t jump ahead, we have a method to our madness”.

Step 14: At 11:13 – She adds an aura around the triangle shape.

Step 15: At 11:28 – She adds another aura outside of the first one, allowing a little wider space for this one.

Step 16: At 11:48 – She adds Knightsbridge in the space she just created with the wider aura.

Step 17: At 12:20 – Maria adds another wide aura space around the Knightsbridge band and adds a row of angled Knightsbridge around the first band, creating a three-dimensional effect.

Step 18: At 13:37 – She adds a narrow aura around the edge of the Hollibaugh band, “I do auras when I’m thinking about what to do next, it always serves me well.”

Step 19: At 13:58 – She adds another aura, but closer to the edge of the tile, creating a wide band. She restates the small triangle string sitting on the lines she just created.

Step 20: At 14:42 – She divides the wider aura band into squares, starting with adding a line in the middle under the triangle and working outwards.

Step 21: At 15:07 – Starting in the middle under the triangle again, she adds a diagonal line through each square creating a zigzag through the squares.

Step 22: At 15:38 – “So now I’m working with triangles.” She adds an aura under each diagonal line.

Step 23: At 16:19 – In the triangles along the Knightsbridge band, Maria adds a rice shape on each vertical line then auras the sides of it to fill the triangle shape.

Step 24: At 17:14 – She “does a little Diva Dance, sort of”, adding weight on the vertical strokes here and there.

Step 25: At 10:00 – She adds a stroke of Emerald using the Koi Coloring Brush Pen around the inside edge of the hexagon area, then she uses a damp watercolor brush to soften and blend out the color. She repeats this around the Knightsbridge band, then lets the tile dry for about an hour.

Step 26: At 21:00 – Maria adds graphite shading and softens it with a tortillion.

Step 27: At 23:53 – She adds simple strokes inside the tiny triangles and then auras the outside edge of the design. Lastly, she adds her chop and signs the back of the tile.

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Day 4

In Day 4’s video (45:06) – In today’s lesson Martha and Molly tangle a Mooka variation, Knightsbridge, a Pokeroot variation (“Festune berries”), Grass Border and ‘Nzeppel.

Step 1: At 04:01 – After introducing themselves, talking a bit about this Project Pack theme and the tools and taking their pause for gratitude, Martha gives us the quote for the day by Michelangelo, “Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.“

Step 2: At 05:50 – Martha says we’ll be starting with a Mooka variation and she discusses the prestrung Zendala we’ll be using.

Step 3: At 07:57 – She uses the black Micron 03 pen to begin from the center to add a stroke going up the string and then curve off to the left of the string for the Mooka head, then makes a wavy line for the remaining part of the Mooka stem.

Step 4: At 08:40 – On the right side of the Mooka, Martha auras part the way up the stem and then adds a Mooka mirroring the first one.

Step 5: At 09:21 – “We’re going to do that on all of these five lines … to create these little couplets, if you will.”

Step 6: At 12:00 – Martha adds dimension by adding weighting on the undulating curved lines.

Step 7: At 13:49 – Martha adds Knightsbridge in the aura spaces between the Mooka pairs.

Step 8: At 14:32 – Molly takes over and in the spaces created between the Mooka pairs, she adds a Pokeroot variation (“Festune berries), beginning by drawing a stem and then adding the Pokeroot top which she inks in. She adds one thin aura around around the top and then a much wider one, going behind the Mookas. She then fills the space with strokes radiating like ribs, playing with stroke weight on a few to add some sparkle enhancer.

Step 9: At 19:54 – She repeats this in the four remaining spaces.

Step 10: At 21:57 – Molly adds a thin aura around the outside edge of the shapes she just filled in.

Step 11: At 22:50 – Wherever there’s a bit of space at the base of the stems, Molly inks them in. She then inks in the spaces at the top under the Mooka tops, filling the spaces up to the string line.

Step 12: At 26:20 – Martha takes over and says she’s going to add a little bit more detail before we move on, and adds tiny solid black orbs along the outside edges of the Mookas and then auras those areas.

Step 13: At 28:08 – They agree it’s time to add some color. Molly gives some tips about working with the Coloring Brush Pens, noting especially “to work in very small spaces” because the color dries quite quickly on the absorbent cotton tiles. “It’s always good to practice before we begin on our actual tile and just be open to what’s going to happen.”

Step 14: At 30:45 – Molly adds purple with the Koi Coloring Brush Pen along the pointed edge of one of the outer sections, then quickly pulls the color out with the wet watercolor brush to fill the space. They note later we will be tangling over this space so the color doesn’t need to be too dark or the black ink won’t show up. She repeats this around the remaining spaces and lets the tile dry before moving on.

Step 15: At 34:30 – She adds more color, this time on the Pokeroot variation, adding pink around the inside edges of the auras and blending it towards the centers to add dimension. The tile is allowed to dry.

Step 16: At 36:39 – Martha traces around the outer edge of the “sharkfin” colored shapes using the black Micron 03, then adds an aura around the entire shape.

Step 17: At 38:20 – She adds a Grass Border-like fringe edge along the aura just added.

Step 18: At 39:57 – Molly adds Crazy ‘Nzeppel in the “sharkfin” colored areas.

Step 19: At 42:03 – Molly adds graphite shading, then they both add their chop.

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Day 5

In Day 5’s video (17:45) – With Maria keeping him company, Rick tangles Cadent on one of the new prestrung Zendala tiles.

Step 1: At 01:54 – After their introductions and briefly talking about the Project Pack’s theme, Rick says we’re going to be tangling Cadent and he begins with the black Micron 03 pen.

Step 2: At 02:09 – He uses some of the intersections of the strings to add the orbs for the structure of Cadent. He adds all the orbs he plans to use.

Step 3: At 03:45 – He adds the first take-off-and-land S-shape stroke connecting the center orb to the four adjacent to it.

Step 4: At 04:22 – He connects the next layer of orbs using the same technique.

Step 5: At 04:57 – He connects the outer layer of orbs with the S-strokes.

Step 6: At 05:23 – He says “We’re going to take Cadent to a new place.”

Step 7: At 05:50 – Moving to one of the outside “triangular” areas created by orbs and S-shapes, he says, “So here comes the trick. I’m finding the middle of one of those S shapes and connecting it with a line to the middle of another shape.” He repeats this on the other side, creating a triangle within the shape.

Step 8: At 06:10 – He then adds a tethered aura, but going behind the triangle he just created to connect the orbs. Turning the tile, he adds repeats this on the next side of the shape: a tethered aura going behind the triangle. Turning the tile as he adds each tethered aura, he repeats this process ultimately adding a total three tethered auras connecting each pair of orbs.

Step 9: At 07:21 – “We’re just going to do that all around each one of these.”

Step 10: At 10:00 – He adds a few extra lines around the outside edges of the overall shape.

Step 11: At 10:56 – When he resumes, the Zendala already has blue from the Koi Coloring Brush pen on it, “I forgot to press record, but I did it the very same way that I’m working with this reddish color.” He slightly dips the brush pen in the water dish then lightly strokes color over the tethered aura shapes.

Step 12: At 12:02 – “And now instead of using the pencil,” he uses the brush pen without dipping it in water to add more intense color where he would normally add shading.

Step 13: At 13:03 – He adds his third color (purple) to fill the Cadent orbs.

Step 14: At 13:30 – He adds graphite shading to “lift up those squares and triangles”.

Step 15: At 14:52 – He adds a highlight on the orbs with the White Sakura Gelly Roll pen. Be careful to let dry so it doesn’t smudge with your hand.

Step 16: At 15:39 – He plans to add his chop in the center orb so he adds white Gelly Roll ink to enlarge it slightly to accommodate his chop.

Step 17: At 16:33 – He shows us another tile he did previously that’s a little different from what we did today.

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Day 6

In Day 6’s video (36:32) – Julie tangles Marasu, , Fife, Crescent Moon and the L2 Fragment (from the Zentangle Primer Vol 1) on the prestrung Zendala tile she’s selected for today.

Step 1: At 00:51 – After a brief introduction, Julie shares a quote from American designer Tim Brown, “All constraints are often the diving force between true innovation and creativity.” She reviews the tools we’ll be using and before beginning takes a pause for gratitude and appreciation.

Step 2: At 03:49 – Julie says she’s going to tangle Marasu but instead of in the usual spiral, she’s going to fill the larger crescent shape space with it.

Step 3: At 04:26 – Using the black Micron 03, Julie begins the tangle, adding pairs of curved strokes and inking the space between them.

Step 4: At 06:24 – She goes back and adds an aura on each side of the bands.

Step 5: At 06:56 – Julie explains that she wants to add a texture tangle next to the drama tangle, and she’s going to add Fife in the adjacent crescent shape space.

Step 6: At 07:44 – She begins Fife by adding a grid of dots within the space, then connecting them in a grid using rice shapes.

Step 7: At 10:33 – She adds the diagonal rice shapes within each square created by the first ones, drawing behind for the final layer.

Step 8: At 13:08 – She adds enthatching at the ends of the rice shapes.

Step 9: At 14:13 – In the next crescent shape Julie says we’re going to add Crescent Moon, “a little variation of it”. She places a ladybug shape in the corner and auras it several times, then repeats this to fill the section.

Step 10: At 16:41 – In the last crescent space, she says she’s going to add a type of “reticula in fragments”, I believe she meant to say we’ll be adding the fragment L2 in a reticulum. She starts by adding a stroke down the middle of the shape with curved ends and then adds another to mirror it forming a pair. She repeats this through the space.

Step 11: At 18:08 – In the middle of one of the “squares” she adds a diagonal curved line corner to corner and then adds auras on one side to fill the space.

Step 12: At 19:17 – She mirrors that in the adjacent space, and repeats this to fill the crescent.

Step 13: At 20:48 – In the remaining spaces around the perimeter of the tile, Julie adds peppering strokes emanating from the middle point of each with the weighted bottoms of the strokes landing on the outer string.

Step 14: At 21:59 – For now we’re going to leave the remaining spaces and move on to add color.

Step 15: At 22:52 – She puts some color from the Koi Coloring Brush pen down on another space tile (NOTE: A better alternative is to use the porcelain dish tip from Day 1), wets it well with the watercolor brush and brushes a light wash on the tile. She repeats this around the tile, alternating and blending colors. She allows the tile to dry before moving on.

Step 16: At 25:38 – She adds shading with the graphite pencil and white highlights with the white charcoal pencil.

Step 17: At 34:07 – With the black Micron 03, Julie restates the string lines in the middle of the tile to give definition to the remaining spaces. She adds her chop.

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Day 7

In Day 7’s video (26:53) – With Rick keeping her company, Maria tangles Pokeleaf, Well, Scena, and Knightsbridge.

Step 1: At 00:39 – After their introductions, Maria says her quote for today is from British-American Jony Ive, former Chief Designer of Apple, “Limited resources force you to innovate and think outside the box.” Rick and Maria have brief discussion about the concept of limitations related to creativity.

Step 2: At 01:49 – Maria begins with the black Micron 03 and adding largish orbs in the center of the large triangles on the tile.

Step 3: At 02:10 – She adds a large Pokeleaf coming off the top of one of the orbs, filling the top of the triangular space. She notes we’ve usually been “drawing behind” and she wants to get away from that this time by drawing “in front”. “By drawing this first thing down, these leaf shapes are going to be in front of everything else.”

Step 4: At 02:23 – She repeats this in the adjacent triangular space, but this time adding Pokeleaf from the bottom of the orb. In the next one, she alternates by adding a Pokeleaf from the top of the orb. In the bottom triangular space she also adds one from the top of the orb.

Step 5: At 03:15 – “So now we’re going to draw behind these Pokeleaves, and we’re drawing some Well … spinning these number 9’s off of that first orb”. She adds the 9’s to each of the spaces with the orbs/Pokeleaf using the take-off-and-land technique.

Step 6: At 04:19 – “In the spaces around Well, we’re going to spin some Scena.” (Auras with peppering.) Maria says not to worry if we make mistakes, no one will ever notice. They discuss how collectibles like coins and stamps are more valuable if they have mistakes in them. “Just keep it in mind and not let the bloopers upset you, get in your way.”

Step 7: At 06:44 – She traces over the string of the crescent shape, being careful not to go over the Pokeleaf that overlaps the space.

Step 8: At 07:05 – She adds tethered auras in the crescent shape so she can add Knightsbridge. As she adds the strokes creating the Knightsbridge spaces, she points out to notice how she’s turning the tile each time so her hand is doing that same stroke.

Step 9: At 09:02 – After adding the Knightsbridge vertical strokes in the outer band, in the band next to it Maria adds orbs. She alternates Knightsbridge and orbs in the remaining two bands.

Step 10: At 10:38 – Moving on to the other triangles at the edges of the tile, she adds a Bales rice shape on the diagonal stroke and then adds auras around it to fill the spaces. She continues around adding Bales rice shapes on the string, and tethered auras around them.

Step 11: At 14:46 – She fills in the original orbs with the Emerald Koi Coloring Brush pen and then every other square of the Knightsbridge bands.

Step 12: At 15:39 – She makes a swatch of the bright pink Koi pen on a scrap paper (NOTE: A better alternative is to use the alternate palette tip from Day 1), then dilutes it with water with the watercolor brush. “We’re going with a Lilly Pulitzer color theme here because these are her colors.” Picking up some of the lighter pink wash, she adds it to the remaining Knightsbridge squares.

Step 13: At 16:09 – She adds the light pink wash on the Pokeleaf.

Step 14: At 16:43 – She puts some water down using the waterbrush in the bottom space, then adds a bit of the pink wash into the water creating a very light pink wash in the space. She lets the tile dry “for an hour or two”.

Step 15: At 17:32 – She adds shading with the graphite pencil “to all the over and unders”.

Step 16: At 19:08 – “I’m putting some little smiley faces here on the pearls.” She then adds dark graphite under the pearls, “that’ll make those pearls pop out”. She then softens the graphite with a tortillion.

Step 17: At 20:36 – Rick says, “I think probably a lot of us have started spending almost as much or more time shading than we do tangling, because it’s like the clay is still malleable. It’s a really wonderful part of the process.”

Step 18: At 21:38 – Maria fills the tiny triangles around the outside with the green pen.

Step 19: At 22:10 – She adds shading in the outside spaces around the edges of the tile and blends it out with the tortillion.

Step 20: At 23:11 – Maria touches up around the tile with graphite.

Step 21: At 24:08 – She adds her chop and signs and dates the back.

Step 22: At 25:18 – Maria shows several of her prototypes done before today’s tile and points out how she used the Koi Coloring Brush pens instead of the Micron to actually do the tangles in some of them.

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Day 8

In Day 8’s video (47:13) – Molly and Martha tangle Betweed, Ravel, Knightsbridge and Tipple on their selected prestrung Zendala.

Step 1: At 03:11 – After their introductions and a pause for appreciation Molly and Martha give the quote for the day from author Garr Reynolds, “Learn to view limitations not as annoyances but as welcome editors that force you to think creatively.“

Step 2: At 04:11 – Molly says she’s going to be adding Betweed in the thin ribbon spaces on the tile with the black Micron 03. She adds the curved lines (“you’re making the letter T”, says Martha), wrapping the ends slightly around the strings and using the halfway point of each to add the next.

Step 3: At 07:28 – Before moving on to the next string area, Molly adds a curved arc stroke closing up the spaces and creating a braid appearance. She says she’ll come back later to add a little rounding.

Step 4: At 08:34 – She moves to the next string space and adds Betweed to it the same as the previous steps.

Step 5: At 09:34 – With all the Betweed spaces filled, Molly goes back and adds rounding/weighting where the “braids” overlap and also around the outside edges.

Step 6: At 13:08 – Martha steps in to add “a whisper of color” with the Koi Coloring Brush pens, noting we’ll be tangling over these later.

Step 7: At 14:57 – Using the side of her brush pen, she adds a touch of the first color in the outside corners of the Betweed and then quickly spreads it out over the section using the dampened watercolor brush.

Step 8: At 15:59 – Changing to a second color, she repeats this in an adjacent section noting “try to get the water on it as soon as you can”.

Step 9: At 17:20 – She repeats with the third color and suggests “you might want to clean your brush if you’re going from a dark to a light color”.

Step 10: At 18:32 – She repeats the three color sequence, filling the remaining outer sections then allowing the tile to dry.

Step 11: At 19:13 – With the Micron 03 Martha starts to add tangles in the colored triangular sections. She begins with Ravel, adding a Bales-type stroke with tethered auras and filling the pink section.

Step 12: At 23:55 – She adds orbs to fill in the spaces around the Ravel. She then adds Ravel to the other pink space on the opposite side, then decorates both with tiny dots roughly in the Ravel centers.

Step 13: At 25:56 – Martha adds a curvy line version of Knightsbridge in the green sections.

Step 14: At 33:00 – Molly adds Tipple in the remaining outer spaces, starting in the middle with larger orbs and working out to the edges of the section with smaller ones.

Step 15: At 35:01 – She decides that instead of going under the Betweed strings like Martha did, she’s going to add Tipple going over the Betweed.

Step 16: At 36:55 – Molly adds Tipple in the middle of the remaining colored space and extends it over the Betweed so the Tipple appears to be flowing over the tile. She adds a bit of rounding on the edges some of the orb areas.

Step 17: At 39:02 – She adds shading, first focusing “on bringing the Betweed to the top” by adding graphite along the outer edges and softening it with the tortillion.

Step 18: At 42:52 – She adds graphite on some Tipple areas.

Step 19: At 44:27 – She adds shading where the Betweed overlaps.

Step 20: At 45:21 – She adds white charcoal highlights.

Step 21: At 46:46 – They add their chops.

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Wrap Up

In the final video in the Project Pack 26 Series (10:18) – Rick & Maria review “so many of the things we did with these new tools and beautiful prestrung Zendalas”.

Step 1: At 00:37 – After introductions, Rick and Maria review Julie’s Zendala from Day 1, displaying her finished tile beside the blank prestrung tile she began with. They show two additional tiles using the same string done with different tangles and no color.

Step 2: At 01:35 – Day 2 – Rick shows the tile he began with and his finished one.

Step 3: At 02:13 – Day 3 – He shows the tile Maria began with, her finished tile and they discuss some of its highlights.

Step 4: At 03:35 – Day 4 – They discuss the “starfish” tile Martha and Molly completed.

Step 5: At 04:34 – Day 5 – Next is Rick’s tile featuring Well and the blank he began with. He also shows his “first take” tile he had done before filming.

Step 6: At 05:45 – Day 6 – Julie second tile and another example at a different scale.

Step 7: At 06:58 – Day 7 – Maria’s second tile and three other examples. Maria again talks about doing tangles with the Koi Coloring Brush pen instead of the customary Micron and how the brush tip can make various marks.

Step 8: At 08:58 – Day 8 – The discuss Martha and Molly’s tile from the final day.

Step 9: At 09:36 – To wrap up the video Rick pulls together all of the completed tiles as they say their goodbyes until the next Project Pack.

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This recap of Zentangle’s Project Pack #26 will make it easy for you to find all the related videos and any parts of them you may wish to refer to again.

Remember the images above are linked to their YouTube video, simply click the image to go to the video. Or, you can view the complete video on the corresponding tangle’s page on TanglePatterns, they make a fascinating “historical” record of Zentangle videos on each tangle.

For a complete list of Zentangle’s Project Packs click the PROJECT PACKS link in the pink alphabetic tangle menu bar.

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