Hello there friends, so nice to see you again 🙂
Maryland CZT Barbara Duel Johnson has deconstructed another cool tangle for us to explore and it’s her tenth on the site. Recently we shared her Kev and Jilly tangles.
Composed of diamonds and rays, DiaRay is a grid-based tangle that can be used in a variety of ways, including on its own as a fragment or as a string.
Barbara writes,
I was just fooling around one day, and this popped out of my pen.
It can be used as a tangle, and used small as a fragment, and large as a string, and the center can be a gem.
A row of them can be used as a border or banner.
I have done it both as a square shape, and as a round shape – kind of like a shape in a shape.
For my example of DiaRay I used Barbara’s large example below, the rounding in Step 5 makes a big difference although on this scale mine is pretty subtle.
Barbara illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing DiaRay below and gives us a couple of ideas of ways to embellish it.
![How to draw the Zentangle pattern DiaRay, tangle and deconstruction by Barbara Duel Johnson. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. How to draw the Zentangle pattern DiaRay, tangle and deconstruction by Barbara Duel Johnson. Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.](https://tanglepatterns.com/images/diaray-steps-barbara-duel-johnson.jpg)
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
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. Your thanks helps motivate them to continue to share! And please share a link to your favorite tangles on social media. Thanks!
Check out the tag barbaraj for more of Barbara’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
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How to submit your pattern to TanglePatterns
Everyone is invited to submit patterns, you do NOT need to be a CZT. In order for patterns to be considered for TanglePatterns.com they must be submitted to me by email. In other words you have to let me know about them.
For a submission to qualify as a tangle it must be a genuine pattern (“a repeated decorative design”) and not “a thing to draw”.
From The Book of Zentangle:
“Keep it Non-representational. Zentangle artwork is intended to be non-representational. Zentangle’s elemental strokes are also non-representational.
We don’t teach complex elements such as hearts, stars or flowers. Tangles are also non-representational.”
Remember that tangles never start with pencil planning.
"A tangle has no pre-planning with pencil guidelines, grids or dots, no erased lines."
If you need a refresher on what makes a tangle, read the A PATTERN IS NOT ALWAYS A TANGLE page on the ZENTANGLES menu bar at the top of any page.
For details on how to submit your pattern for consideration visit the SUBMIT YOUR PATTERN page on the top menu bar of any page on the site. On that menu you will find these two pages:
The first page includes instructions on how to prepare and send your JPGs. (Please save me time and do not send PDFs). It also includes a link to this PDF submission form.
When your examples include additional tangles from the site, please list them in your email. (This saves me time and my memory some wear and tear.)
If your pattern is posted on your blog, attach your steps and tile JPGs to your email and be sure your email includes the direct URL so I can link to it.
And remember, to quote Zentangle's co-founders Rick and Maria: tangles should be "magical, simple and easy to create", non-objective patterns of repetitive strokes that are easy to teach and offer a high degree of success to tanglers of all ages.
"Keep the tangles as little like 'drawing something' as possible."
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Related Links
- 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.
- What is a Zentangle? — if you are new to the Zentangle Method, start here for the fundamentals.
- Zentangle terminology — a glossary of terms used in this art form.
- 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.
- 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 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." Thus patterns that are drawings of a recognizable naturalistic or actual object, figure, or scene, are not tangles. A pattern is not always a tangle — here's what makes a tangle. TIP: tangles never start with pencil planning.
- 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?
- How to submit your pattern deconstruction to TanglePatterns
- 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.
- 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!
- Never miss a tangle! FREE eMAIL NEWSLETTER - visit the SUBSCRIBE page on the top menu bar of any page on the site and sign up to get notices delivered free to your inbox.
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Great tangle, Barbara!! So versatile! It’s one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” tangles. 🙂
Ha ha, Jan. That is exactly what occurred to me when I created it, LOL. I should have thought of it long ago.
Thanks.
Beautiful and versatile. I really like it. Thank you.
Nice one, with lots of option! Can’t wait to try it out!