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What is Zentangle?
Linda Farmer, Certified Zentangle Teacher

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All contents of this website are Copyright © 2010 - 2023 Linda Farmer, TanglePatterns.com, and artists where named. Copying content in any form other than for your own personal offline reference and inspiration is expressly prohibited. No content may be reproduced, pinned or republished without express written permission. This work is not allowed to be used in training AI systems. Commercial use of any content is prohibited. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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RANDOM SELECTOR

Use this Random Tangle Selector with your TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE to help you select tangles. See Pages 7 and 9 of the Guide for instructions. You can also use this to select random Strings: simply pop in any number in the range of 1 to 250.

ARCHIVES

Zentangle-Inspired Cardmaking Tutorial: Part 2 – Making Multiple Cards with ZIA Copies, a tutorial by Cyndi Knapp

Zentangle-Inspired Cardmaking Tutorial: Part 2 - Making Multiple Cards with ZIA Copies, a tutorial by Cyndi Knapp

Part 2 – Canadian tangler Cyndi Knapp shares her knowledge and experience in this detailed two-part cardmaking tutorial. Cyndi gives us handy tips and techniques so that even those of us with little or no cardmaking experience can follow her system and methods. In Part 2 we learn how to use the templates made in Part 1 to make multiple cards.

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Zentangle-Inspired Cardmaking Tutorial: Part 1 – Making a ZIA Card Template, a tutorial by Cyndi Knapp

Zentangle-Inspired Cardmaking Tutorial: Part 1 - Making a ZIA Card Template, a tutorial by Cyndi Knapp

Part 1 – Canadian tangler Cyndi Knapp shares her knowledge and experience in this detailed two-part cardmaking tutorial. These tutorials will help you develop a system of easily making multiple cards using your own original tangled art. Cyndi includes handy tips and techniques so that even those of us with little or no cardmaking experience can follow her system and methods.

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Guest Contributor: CZT Barbara Langston’s excellent video guide on how to use TanglePatterns.com

Tangler Tips

Special Edition: Texas CZT Barbara Langston filmed this excellent and thorough video tutorial demonstrating how to get the most out of using all the features of TanglePatterns.com.

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How to draw ZAZU

Zentangle pattern: Zazu. 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.

Online instructions for drawing Cyndi Knapp’s Zentangle® pattern: Zazu. Also, Tombow’s Splash Technique.

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Tangler Dawn Conner shares her Zentangle-inspired “Hidden Heart” in a step-by-step tutorial

My Hidden Heart by Dawn Conner

California tangler Dawn Conner shares her fun and easy tutorial for an “eye-catching” ZIA …

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Ways to use the Zentangle® Markus Operandus to create unique Zentangle Strings

Zentangle Project Pack 09

Bonus Content! Even if you don’t have Zentangle’s Project Pack #09, the FREE downloadable “Markus Operandus” created by Maria Thomas is a fantastic tool to have for your Zentangle practice. Here’s how to use it to easily create a variety of unique strings.

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Tangle Refresher 191 – Featuring how to make sweet Zentangle-inspired gift boxes, our random string, plus how to draw Printemps, Auracross, Feeling Knotty, Patience, Nouvart

Zendala gift boxes

Buried Treasure – spotlights hidden tangle gems from a year ago in the Zentangle® world! Plus CZT Dorian Eng’s video tutorial on how to make sweet Zentangle-inspired gift boxes, and our random string of the week …

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CZT María Tovar demonstrates her inkless tangling technique in a step-by-step photo tutorial

A free tutorial featuring Spanish CZT María Tovar’s “técnica seca” or dry technique for tangling.

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A tutorial by CZT Marguerite Samama on how to create her Zentangle-inspired zenbuttons

TanglePatterns Tutorial: How to create CZT Marguerite Samama's Zenbuttons

Special treat! A Zentangle®-inspired tutorial to expand your Zentangle creativity, from CZT Marguerite Samama.

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Lightfast or not? Important considerations about color in your Zentangle®-inspired art

Tips, Tools, Techniques

After we explored the idea of adding color in your Zentangle® art in last week’s wonderful article by CZT Marie Browning, CZT Jane Catherine shares her expertise on the subject of lightfastness and color. And why it’s important to carefully consider the materials you use for color in your art.

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Tangle Refresher 88

Tangle Refresher!

Buried Treasure! AND: Frugal Friday! Great tips on getting more out of your Sakura Micron pens, and how to make your own tortillions (blending stumps).

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Sharpen your line drawing skills with six easy lessons from Simone Bischoff

Many of us are fascinated by the wonderful, larger-than-life line art of Justine Ashbee. … Since it’s Friday and we have the weekend to play and practice, I thought this would be a good time to share German artist and art teacher Simone Bischoff’s line drawing lessons which are reminiscent of Justine’s art, but on a Zentangle®-inspired scale.

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A tutorial on expanding your range of options with the Sakura Micron 01 Pen

Sakura Micron 01 Pen

Today we’re going to take a look at tangling with the Micron pen because there are Zentangle® newbies who’ve joined us and the rest of us could probably use a good brush-up too. First we’ll take a quick look at the instrument itself, and then we’ll look at the art of being deliberate and controlling your pen to expand the range of options that you might not realize are available to you in using this tool.

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TanglePatterns Shading Mini-Clinic – Part 2

Sandy Bartholomew, CZT

Here’s the second and final part of the TanglePatterns Shading Mini-Clinic series, everything you want to know about shading your Zentangle art. In Part 2, guest contributor CZT® Sandy Steen Bartholomew (author of “Totally Tangled” and more) answers your shading questions with her personal suggestions and illustrates using tiles submitted to TanglePatterns for this series. In Part 1 posted earlier this week, CZT® Marizaan van Beek reviews shading tools, gives her personal guidelines, and demonstrates her method of shading Zentangles, step-by-step. Read on! …

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TanglePatterns Shading Mini-Clinic – Part 1

Marizaan van Beek, CZT®

Here’s another great resource, everything you want to know about shading your Zentangle art. In Part 1 of this two-part series, guest contributor CZT® Marizaan van Beek reviews shading tools, gives her personal guidelines, and demonstrates her method of shading Zentangles, step-by-step. In Part 2 coming up on Friday, CZT® Sandy Steen Bartholomew (author of “Totally Tangled” and more) answers your shading questions with her personal suggestions and illustrates using tiles submitted to TanglePatterns for this series. Read on! …

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Creating colorful Zentangle-inspired mini canvases

Here’s a fun new video from Sakura’s Leslie Crumpler, also a CZT®, on creating bold, easy Zentangle-inspired mini canvases with colorful neon pens and markers. This could be a great summer project to share with kids. Young and old!

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It’s Spiralicious! A Zentangle Spiral Guide

Michele Beauchamp's Zentangle Spiral Guide

Today I have an inspirational creative treat for you. I’m naming my Guest Contributor “Queen of the Spirals”, if you’ve seen any of her art you’ll agree with me. She’s Tasmania, Australia’s CZT Michele Beauchamp (aka Shelly Beauch), artist and creator of the beautiful cover on my TanglePatterns.com TANGLE GUIDE. Michele has put together an excellent tutorial on how to draw spiral strings for your Zentangles and Zentangle-inspired art …

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Joanne Fink tutorial on her Zentangle-inspired dangle designs

This post contains a video

More Zentangle-inspired fun from calligrapher and author of the very popular “Zenspirations”, Joanne Fink. In this video Joanne teaches another of her creative ways to embellish your art with dangle designs.

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How do you choose tangles?

Let's discuss it!

Yesterday on Tangle Refresher 18, new tangler Mir asked a question about selecting tangles and I thought it was a great question for discussion. Here’s my two cents … what about you, what advice would you give newbies on this subject?

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Joanne Fink’s Zenspirations patterning techniques

Here are four video tutorials by Sakura’s Joanne Fink on patterning techniques, shape and edge patterning, monograms, and borders and frames. More fun techniques and ideas for your inspiration!

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait on Semi-Transparency

semi-transparency bubble

More skills for your drawing repertoire! Guest Contributor Sandra Strait goes above and beyond with this highly detailed drawing techniques tutorial on how to make an object appear semi-transparent. She illustrates two versions, one using color and one in black and white.

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Guest Contributor: Genevieve Crabe on Stippling to Create Shading

stippling

Guest Contributor CZT Geneviève Crabe illustrates that by using the technique of stippling you can achieve shading with pen and ink as well as with a traditional pencil.

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait on Shading for Translucence

translucence

Guest Contributor Sandra Strait offers another excellent drawing techniques tutorial. Here she shows how to make an object appear translucent using pen and ink.

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait’s Shade, Shape, Blend Color & Add Texture

Shape, shade

Guest Contributor Sandra Strait offers our Gentle Readers another great how-to tutorial. This one is a technique using squirkles to shade, shape, blend color and add texture to your drawings.

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait on How to Draw a Ribbon

Sandra Strait's Zentangle featuring Ribbons

Sue Palmer of Westerly RI, recently emailed asking for guidance on drawing a ribbon. I asked Sandra Strait if she had time to respond to Sue’s request and she replied with this great tutorial illustrating not one but two techniques.

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait on Choosing a Journal for Penwork – Part 2

This is the second of a two-part series where Sandra generously shares her wealth of experience on how to go about choosing a journal for penwork such as Zentangle. In Part 2 of this series, “Journals I’ve Known and Loved”, Sandra reviews 7 different brands of journals in detail.

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Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait on Choosing a Journal for Penwork – Part 1

By Guest Contributor: Sandra Strait. This is the first of a two-part series where Sandra generously shares her wealth of experience about what to consider when choosing a journal for penwork such as Zentangle. In Part 2 of this series, Sandra reviews several journals and their attributes.

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