Golden ropes. "I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; garlands from window to window; golden chains from star to star, and I dance." - Arthur Rimbaud I had this idea to do ropes with loops at the top of the tile. It‘s simple, but it turned out to be slightly more complicated than I thought it would be.

Intensity. This almost looks like something you might see looking in a microscope. Although this Zentangle is very simple with only two tangles, it is also very complex with all of the layering that is happening. It took a while to do, but it was a lot of fun! I ended up breaking the rule I set for myself (white paper, black pen, graphite pencil) by adding the lighter grey Printemps in the background.

Contrasts. This tile has a very simple string. I decided that I would use the simplest, geometric tangle in the upper left area and then mirror two of the other tangles in the lower right. I put the most complex tangle in the middle section. I really like the end result! Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Ennies Finery Nekton Opus Patena

Purked up. I had some problems with the Zentangle I posted last Friday. So, for the next week, I‘m dropping into tangling that is much more basic. I‘ll stick to white tiles, black in, and graphite pencil for the shading. So here, Purk was one of the random tangles that came out of the jar. I decided that I woud draw two of them in the center of the tile, and then fill in the rest of the string with random tangles.

Show time. This tile was drawn from Eni Oken‘s tutorial for the Showgirl tangle. I have to confess, I had a lot of problems with this one. Showgirl isn‘t my favorite tangle to begin with, and I‘m not really happy with the way these came out. But after several false starts, I decided to persevere. I was kind of surprised that the end result is better than I thought it would be.

I heart. The string for this tile started out as a heart. I then modified it a bit to fit in all of the random tangles for the day. Zentangle drawn on Official Zentangle tile using a black, Micron pen. Tangles: Afterglow Bamboo Bubbles Cadent Drupe Flux Poke-Root Quabog

Template. If you look closely at the string I used for this tile, you‘ll see two vases. I traced around a vase-shaped template, reversing and overlapping it for the second shape. Zentangle drawn on Official Zentangle tile using a black, Micron pen. Tangles: Afterglow Flutter Juke Kandy Snakes Knase Knightsbridge Opus Pokeleaf Quipple Sproing Stiritup Umble

Around and around. I ended up with a lot of tangles that were basically circular this time. But with a bit of careful placement, I think I managed to make them all play nice with each other! Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil. Tangles: Apollonian Waves Caviar Crescent Wave Gewgle Nipa Punzel Scallops Strircles Tipple

Tangles can be used in various ways from filling a background to creating a focal point. Here, I wanted to use Onamato in a circular focal point so that it looked like a Southwestern beaded ornament. The ribbon behind it is the more “normal” way to use this tangle. I tried to make the “beads” look like a version of turquoise with fool‘s gold inclusions and polished carnelian with a few gold beads in between.

Cream. I like this simple Zentangle drawn on cream colored paper. However, it turned out that the pens bled a lot because of the high fiber content. So I guess I will have to keep on looking for a different brand of this color paper. Zentangle drawn on BK Rives cream colored printmaking paper using red and black Pigma Micron pens. Tangles: Bumpety Bump Fracas Kule Nzeppel Tipple

Leaves. Take a close look at the string used for this Zentangle. Do you see it? I traced around a leaf template to create the basic string. The Ennies at the bottom left was added because I felt it needed something there, so it‘s in addition to the leaves. Zentangle drawn on olive card stock using a black, Micron pen. Tangles: Courant Crescent Moon Cubine Ennies Flux Holey Huggins Isochor Tipple

Sugilite is a rare purple cyclosilicate mineral. It was named after the Japanese petrologist, Ken-ichi Sugi, who first identified it in 1944 in Iwagi Islet, Japan. It is found primarily in Japan, Quebec, Canada and at the Wessels mine in South Africa although other deposits have been found since 1977. It is often has inclusions of Richterite (blue) and rusty looking Bustamite. It‘s color ranges from royal purple through fuchsia.

Dingbatz. I‘m still trying to wrap my brain around the Dingbatz-style Mookas. I decided to try making them over-sized to see if that made any difference. I kind of like the way tese wrap around to the back of the tile. But After I did them, I realized I should apply the same techniques used for twisted ropes to them. I‘ll have to give that a try here in the future!

All wrapped around. I love Crazy Huggins. It can go every which way or be tamed with symmetry. Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Bristol Vellum using brown Pigma Micron pen. Coloring done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Polychromos colored pencils. Highlights and other markings done with various gel pens. Tangles: Crazy Huggins

I‘ll have the cabernet. Actually, this is more the color of Welch‘s Grape Juice! I really liked this color combination. The gray and purple played nicely with each other and allowed for a good amount of contrast. Zentangle drawn on gray print making paper using wine and gray Copic multiliner pens. Shading done with Polychromos colored pencils. Tangles: Crescent Moon Cubine Ixorus Knightsbridge Locar Quipple Rain Rixty Swarm Ynix