Organizing Tangles

A while ago I  downloaded several e-boooks from acclaimed artist and CZT Eni Oken. She talks about how to organize the many patterns that we collect over time. There are so many tangles out there. The original tangles developed and deconstructed by Maria Thomas, but there are hundreds,maybe even thousands more. I am sure many CZT's and novice tangles, scour the internet to see the possibilities. Even on the Zentangle Mosaic App there are endless possibilities.

I  will admit that I have been guilty of doing this, printing pages of step-outs and putting them in a large binder. Eventually this became unwieldy, but more than that, I really didn't know how to draw all these tangles. 

I have begun a new method. Instead of printing out a million tangles, I look at the tangle I like on my  iPad. Using a step out template, acquired from Acadia Laser Creations on Etsy, the size of a regular index card.
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Once you have made your own step-out card, the line by line drawing of the tangle has been done many times.  I note the name of the tangle. I feel that it is only courtesy to acknowledge the CZT whose creativity and generous sharing has allowed me to find the tangle. I also note the type of tangle it can be.

Very often that means that you can draw the tangle really well. On other occasions the step out is more complicated and much more practice is required. In that case I often use a sketch book to practice. Sometimes, however, I search to find a video of how to draw the tangle. Melinda Barlow who authored this tangle has many wonderful video lessons on U tube to help you to draw the tangles. Sometimes just watching someone else draw the tangle is all you need.

Once I feel I can do the tangle competently I create a bijou tile of the tangle.

I keep the bijou tiles in  coin pouches into which they fit perfectly. 

When I go to teach a class, I can decide which tangles I want to teach, and take the step out card and the bijou. Then on the document camera I can demonstrate the tangle using my step out. The bijou gives students an idea of how the completed tangle can look.. On the back of my step out card I often detail other ideas of how the tangle could be done. So much easier than a sketch book or binder to carry around with me. As at any class, only a few tangles are taught at a time.

As you can see I am slowly making alphabet cards to go at the top of each page. A-C done so far, I guess "D" is next.