Here’s the latest tangles added to the calendar for February: Bilt, Bulb Lantern, Furrballs, Triral, Shingee, Insydout, Twistee, and Lampions.

May we all have a Zen-ful week. Thanks for stopping by.

I’m working on catching up with the wonderful Carole Ohl’s tangle-a-day calendar and I posted on the Facebook group my tangle for January 7 – 9th. Carole then re-posted the picture on her blog, saying that it inspired her. (Thanks, Carole!) Although the tangle used the same pattern as can be used in (the official Zentangles) Tripoli and also looks like Fife, I started the tangle somewhat differently. I’ll share that rather simple difference here.

Did you know that there are five different types of triangles? (It’s been many years since my Geometry class in high school!) You can see the different ones here. You don’t really have to know this to do the tangle, I just found it interesting.

So the tangle isn’t all that different, it’s mainly just a different way to do a starting “grid.” You start with one triangle, of any shape or size, and then just build other triangles off of the sides of the first triangle, and continue the process until the area is filled. You can vary the shape and size of the triangles as you wish. This process has a nice, repetitive, feel to it (as it should, being Zentangle).

From here, you can add any pattern you like. It’s fun to play with the different triangle filler patterns to see what becomes of them as you move along. Here is another page from the calendar, showing three possibilities:

Have fun with the different patterns. I don’t really think that this is a new tangle, but if it were, I would name it “Tri-umf” because I came up with it while watching a Green Bay Packer’s football game (they had a great season, and a not-so-great post-season).

I look forward to see what other tanglers do with this idea.

Well, I’m a little late in posting this; February arrived more quickly than I was ready for. I considered not doing a calendar for this month, but then remembered how much I enjoy finding and trying out the new (to me) tangles.

On this one so far I have: Koolapopper, Celtic, Footlites, Click Clack (inadvertent variation), Fricle, Warts & Wobbles, Sanibelle, Croon, Motsided, Whatz that, and Warangaie.

 I love the Letraset ProMarkers, they are so bright and clear and very easy to use.

I sat down at my table, pulled out my little sketchbook, and said to myself “Just try Fengle and see where it goes.” I found that my left hand likes to draw more free flowing, organic, circular lines more than straight ones. I think it’s because those don’t usually have to be very precise. I found also that it made a big difference if I let my lines flow rather than trying to make them look a certain way.

I enjoyed the challenge; it really helps me to ease up and enjoy the Zentangle process. A good reminder what it’s all about.

For a fun read about my sister’s “Lefty” experience, check out her blog.

This week’s new-to-me tangles are: Yuan, Zazzy, Camob, Bandola, Whistler, Triarchy, and Curvaceous. Thanks to all the tangle inventors!

This week we worked on some challenging tangles including W² and Huggins. You can see a nice example of Huggins in the tile at the center of the bottom row. The students were very focused and motivated to get the concepts of these more difficult tangles. We also did Verdigough, Raddox, Betweed, Flux, Vitruvius and Jetties.

We are having loads of fun, and as you can see from these tiles, the students are very enthusiastic. I am inspired by their creativity and willingness to try even the more complicated tangles.