Starting Over, Part 2

Continuing the tale of my Beginning Zentangle class....My next assignment was to learn and use (counter-clockwise from the right side tangle) Bales, Nipa, Static, and Puf.

 Class Tile 2 - Counterclockwise from right side: Bales, Nipa, Static, Puf

Static is deceptively easy, but actually pretty difficult to do well. I’ll have to practice that one. A lot. The important points (no pun intended) are First,  to make sure you change direction with a point, rather than rounding or curving it. Then Second, not to make the “teeth” too close together as I did. When they are small and close together, the illusion of 3-dimentionality is lost.

Puf  is just wonderful – one of those “magic” tangles that results in a surprise pattern after you have finished.

On to the last tile. Of the three tangles, I had done Cadent (bottom) and Mooka (at the right) before. Mooka is a tangle that I’ve used a lot, but liked not at all and never did well - I think the absence of a "joining" at the bottom really bothered me. Carmen was able to show me a way to draw it so that I understand its popularity with tanglers.

The new one is Socc, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful tangle. I’ve fallen in love with it! It’s related to Puf (Tile 2) and Garlic, but is very organic and different every time you tangle it. I can see myself using this one a lot.

 Class Tile 3 - Clockwise from right: Mooka, Cadent, Socc

All in all, the class was worth every minute, and every dollar I put into it. Carmen Burgos is a great teacher – I’m looking forward to more classes with her. For anyone who is self-taught in the art of Zentangle, no matter how experienced, I recommend Starting Over.