Diva Challenge #239 - "Munchin Play"

This week the Diva's Challenge is to use Munchin.  an official Zentangle® tangle.  The stepout can be found here, and on the Diva's blog there is a Sakura video showing Molly Hollibaugh drawing the basic version on a black tile.

 I started by going to my journal, and tried drawing it various ways. I tried following the instructions for transforming tangles out lined in Helen Williams' new book, Tangle Transformation. By the way, I am delighted with this book, and recommend it without reservation!

The last variation I tried stayed with the basic construction, but instead of having evenly spaced lines originating at the apex of the triangles, I varied the width between the lines, trying to make each resulting section smaller than the one before it.

I found this more interesting than regular divisions

I settled on the last option. I tried to follow a basic rule: That each line would divide the remaining available space in half. 

Munchin divided with 4 lines into 5 sections, with Flux in the largest section

The rule worked, but I found the large sections too roomy.  I tried adding a tangle inside the largest section of the triangle. That section was created with the first line (line 1 above) that bisected the baseline of the triangle.

I was ready to do a tile.

Munchin with graduated divisions in each triangle. Triangles filled with (spiraling clockwise from upper right) Celtic Triskele, Amaze, Flux, Shattuck, ????, Extracto, Tipple, Bunzo, Drip Drop, ????, Diva Dance Foxtrot, Tripoli, Zenplosion Folds, Mooka

That was OK, but I felt like I could do more. I thought I could divide the tile diagonally into a section filled with a smaller Munchins (still graduated sections) and a single large Munchin triangle  (lower left) with each section filled with another tangle. I even sneaked in a few awkward Paradoxes. Can you spot them? 

Munchin with Mooka, Flux, Snail Tangleation, Shattuck, and Tipple.

Still not happy, not sure why....So I returned to the sketchbook and looked at the versions of Munchin that I drew with curved lines.

Munchin with simple C-curve lines (H.W. refers to Helen Williams, "A Little Lime")

Better.

Munchin with S-Curve lines (mostly)

Still Better! Time to try another tile...

Munchin Monotangle with S-Curves

I don't know if I will ever really like Munchin. I wish I had more time to play with it. I reminds me a little of Aquafleur - beautiful as an object, but challenging to work into a design with other tangles.

Still, it was a good challenge and motivated me to study and to practice a single tangle and try some possibilities. As usual, critiques are welcome!

Cabin Fever vs. Celtic Knots

Cabin fever, Day 11.  Another couple of inches of snow, on top of the ice, on top of the snow, on top of the ice.

Can't go out, too old to sled, too lazy to clean house. What to do? Zentangle, of course. But today I'm playing with Celtic Knots. I've always wanted to learn to draw them (and there is an actual Celtic Knot Tangle) and found a wonderful Youtube channel called The Celtic Goldsmith. The first lesson in his series is drawing the Celtic Triskele, perhaps the simplest and oldest documented Knot. Here's the "stepout" (a series of steps to draw a tangle): 

Not terribly difficult, if you follow instructions, and don't go merrily drawing the next step without checking the previous one, like I did in the crossed out step in the second row. Now for some tiles:

First the obvious. Four Celtic Triskele, with Betweed, Paushkalov (aura'd), on a background of Tipple. Except for the Celtic Triskele, all of these patterns can be found at tanglepatterns.com.

Next, I tried using the Celtic Triskele as a string, filling with Cadent, Fife, and Ditto. Again, these tangles can be found at Tanglepatterns.