How to draw BLOCK’D

Thought I’d give you bit of a tangle pattern challenge heading into the weekend so you can take time to experiment with it to see what you come up with.

Block’d is by Arizona CZT Jane Eileen Malone, who has shared her 8’s tangle and its several (also challenging) variations. The fiber artists among us might recognize Jane Eileen’s name from the various magazines her beautiful creations have appeared in including several issues of Haute Handbags, Art Quilting Studio, Sew Somerset, and Somerset Studio Gallery.

Jane writes,

“I think Block’d is a good name for a variety of reasons including the fact that I seem to recall seeing a concrete block wall before that made out of decorative blocks that were laid with a see through pattern, and it is a design using blocks. … This can be done with or without shading … Based on the ones I have played with so far, I think there could be limitless tangleations.

An important thing to keep in mind on step 1 is that if you leave a larger space between the first and next square than the size of the square itself, either going across or down, step 2 is much easier and it makes way for everything else to fall into place.“

As you will see from Jane Eileen’s examples, there is indeed a wide range of cool variations possible with Block’d based on the fills and embellishments used. For me, I found a couple of challenges in drawing Block’d. The first is drawing squares that don’t come out too wonky given my hitchy thumb which seems to be getting crankier as I get “wiser” (notice I did not say older), and the second challenge is to get the regular spacing that makes Block’d look so effective.

So this is one of those tangles that reminds you of the Zentangle® Method’s tenet of focusing on each individual stroke, taking each one slowly and being deliberate. In slowing down and being “in the moment” I think you’ll find the spacing will work out just fine. And to me the real fun with Block’d is in the ways you choose to vary the fills. Lots of different looks.

Jane illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Block’d here on her blog.

Check out the tag janeileenm for more of Jane Eileen’s patterns on TanglePatterns.com.

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