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Any Project Pack is Possible.....One Stroke at a Time

Any Project Pack is Possible.....One Stroke at a Time

Molly writes:

I recently received the following question about our latest Project Pack:

“I've been doing Zentangle only since April, and I have done a lot of the traditional black ink on white 3.5" or 2" tiles. I have followed the Zentangle Primer Vol 1 book and many YouTube videos of yours and other CZTs but have never done a project pack. I am still new to Zentangle. Do you think it would be ok to dive into project pack 21 or would I be better off going back and doing other project packs before it? I guess I'm asking if project pack 21 is for more advanced tanglers?”

Zentangle Project Packs are designed for all levels of tanglers that have some experience with the Zentangle Method. The lessons use common Zentangle language and techniques that would be better understood with some prior Zentangle knowledge. In the beginning we started with basic concepts, and though not in order of difficulty, it does seem that our Project Packs have thematically become more sophisticated over time. With that being said, there are some Project Packs that offer more basic instruction and exposure to fundamentals of the Method than others. We try to vary the themes throughout the year and seek out ideas that tanglers might be interested in exploring. 

Many, if not all our project packs, have multiple underlying themes which overlap. For instance, there are some that feature materials, but we wrap a little bit of philosophy into each lesson. Or we start with philosophy but wrap a new technique or skill into the lessons. It is this intersection of artistic technique and Zentangle philosophy that is ultimately where the value lies. 

When I review the collection of our Project Packs, there are a few Project Packs that offer more to those who are new to the Zentangle Method. If I were to select the best Project Packs for learning tangles, I would recommend Project Pack No. 04 and No. 10. Both offer fun ways to learn individual tangles in their basic forms. If I were to choose the best Project Pack to introduce you to different tile shapes and paper surfaces, I would choose Project Pack No. 02 which offers a taste of many of our different tile shapes and colors as well as accompanying pens and pencils. If I were to recommend Project Packs that bring focus to Zentangle philosophies I would suggest Project Packs No. 06 and No. 14. 

We have Project Packs that feature themes that take a deep dive into a specific collection of materials such as No. 01 with Black tiles or No. 12 with Renaissance tiles. Some Project Packs work thematically around a surface or a specifically curated collection of tools, such as No. 07, No. 08, No. 11, No. 17, and No. 18. These Project Packs usually feature lessons that are independent from one another and are not sequential. In other words, you can do some or all of the lessons in the series and they can be done out of order. These are great opportunities to progress from working on white tiles and you can learn a lot about different materials and techniques specific to those tools and tiles.

Then there are Project Packs that are more thematically tied to a technique or project. These include ones like No. 05 that features Zentangle Cartouche, and No. 15 that works with letter forms and alphabets. Project Packs No. 09, No. 13, and No. 16 also guide us through fun tiles that thematically work around a style or technique that we as artists can get all tangled into. Each of the project packs leave you with another tangling skill to take with you and integrate into your practice.

In 2019 we began a series of Project Packs that work with our concept of Zentomology®. These include Project Packs No. 19, No. 20, and No. 21. They all focus on learning the different categories of tangles, their characteristics, and how they work with each other compositionally.

If you were to ask me if there was a Project Pack that is not a beginner experience, I would have to say Project Pack No. 19. It has been, thus far in our series, the marathon of Project Packs. It is also my favorite one and the one I would recommend to any avid tangler. You can get lost in this project for hours and hours of tangling bliss. It challenges, inspires, and requires quite a bit of tangling stamina. It leaves you learning about many different tangle categories, how to build composition with tangles and works you through sophisticated shading techniques. And it leaves you with a very large and impressive piece of artwork!

We really do believe that all our Project Packs can be approached by tanglers of all abilities. 

  • Will some people need to watch a lesson a few times? Perhaps they might.
  • Will there be challenges or mis-strokes here and there? Perhaps there will be.
  • Will each and every tile or composition created be unique? You bet they will be!

Project Packs as a whole can be approached just like any other tile, one stroke at a time. Take it slow, enjoy your pace and embrace your Zentangle practice. Have faith in yourself as an artist and give yourself some room to explore and go in different directions. 

Finally, to answer the specific question asked, "Is Project Pack No. 21 for more advanced tanglers?"

My response would be, “not necessarily.”

“Should you try Project Pack No. 21?”

The answer is, “Yes”. If you have any introductory exposure to the method, you have enough experience to do the Project Pack. Work at your own pace and embrace your work. More importantly, do it the best that you can. It is your journey, not anybody else’s. Following along as the videos are released is fun and the energy is supportive. It is exciting watching it all unfold. You can always watch a video lesson first without tangling and then watch it again and tangle at your own pace. It is magical to see what others are creating along with you, and you can always choose to take your time on your own work but still follow what others are doing.

Our Project Pack series unfolded almost accidentally and has unexpectedly grown into something we both love and cherish. We never envisioned that we would get this far. Here we are, 21 packs later, and things have evolved in a very exciting way. We have learned and been inspired by all of you and thank you all for supporting us and tangling along. If you are also new to the Zentangle Method, I give you an encouraging, “Go for it!”, any Project Pack is possible, one stroke at a time!

Which Project Pack inspired you the most? What did you learn from that Project Pack?

Molly Hollibaugh

74 comments

  • So far, I have done 19 of the Project Packs and have loved every single one! But my favorites are those that include the small, beautifully bound, books where we record our daily progress. Thank you ZHQ for providing us such wonderfully challenging and creative endeavors! The Zentangle experience has been a significant highlight in my life….. especially making great Z friends who we communicate with on a regular basis! I am forever grateful!!

    Bonnie Johnson, CZT on

  • I have been a CZT since 2014. My all-time fav project pack, hands down, has been PP 06 – No Mistakes. I have filled multiple copies of that little green booklet that I initially bought to teach a class based on that PP. It just never fails to give me a creativity boost that never gets old.

    Linda Dochter on

  • I started my Zentangle practice several years ago with Project Pack 22 (the spirals) and I absolutely loved it. It is still my favorite and I’m actually doing it again, this time with more ability to come up with my own ideas while watching the videos. It’s a fairly sophisticated series, but is so well explained and I didn’t have any trouble following it as a new tangler. Second PP I did was 19 (with the tree) and I was totally hooked – and no problem at all being new to Zentangle. It was easy and enjoyable to follow along. I love doing the Project Packs when they first come out because I like the sense of community – doing the project at the same time others are working on it. I so enjoy what people post in the app as we all go through the PP together!!

    Dione Greenberg CZT42 on

  • Love this blog and Project Packs!
    I have not done them all, but my top 3 I think 😉 :
    PP 04 – the spinner!!! Learned so many tangles
    PP 06 – No Mistakes journal book
    PP 10 – beautiful book with so many tangles and then can roll the dice and choose a tangle!
    But honestly, I love all the PP’s that I have done! Thank you, ZTHQ, for every single Project Pack! Nothing like getting a ZT box in the mail 💜💜💜

    LaquetaS on

  • I just started my Zentangle practice in March of this year. Amazing! I purchased project packs 23, 24, and 25. I have tackled #25 and have learned so much about drawing behind, shading, etc. It had so many different individual projects. I truly enjoyed them all and became more confident with each one. Excited to begin #24 next! Such a sweet little booklet/journal!

    Julie Rae Ryan on

  • I love each and every one of the project packs that I’ve completed! They are also different and unique and introduce everyone to new techniques and tools! So far I think 28 and 30 were my favorites.

    Beth Liddle on

  • Your blog post recommends project pack 2 for learning different tile sizes and surfaces, but that project pack is retired. In order to experiment with tile shapes you need to purchase entire 20 tile multi packs of each. It would be great if there were tile size samplers so you could get a pack of tiles of a particular color, but all (or many) of the available shapes. This would give tanglers a great opportunity to experiment and decide where to dive in next.

    Agree that PP 10 is a great one that walks you through many of the common tangles, teaches about the different genuses of tangles and encourages creating tangleations. Also introduces using color. It has a little of just about everything and leaves you with a great tool/reference to inspire the next tangle for the rest of your practice.

    Kathy on

  • Molly project packs are so important in my Zentangle life! I have so much anticipation for it to come in the mail! The brown envelope, not knowing what’s inside, it’s so exciting. When I open it up and see the tools some of which are new to me, the excitement builds. Then the tiles which can be the first time I’m seeing that particular tile or color, can’t wait to touch them, feel them.

    My favorite project packs are: No. 4 — I never used the spinner wheel, but I completed the pack with the watercolors and framed it so I could refer to it often and I do. No. 10. —- one of my greatest treasures is the legends booklet. I have posted so many tangles from this back. I can’t tell you. And it helps me create new designs for the tangled all the time. My last favorite I don’t know the number but it was the 12 days of Christmas 2025 pack. This pack created a masterpiece for me of Renaissance style. Various shapes. I have framed all 10 of them admire it admire it every day on a giant frame in my guest bathroom. I admire it every day. It is my all-time favorite!

    Thank you, Molly for delving into this subject of project packs.❤️ and I agree it would be helpful to have a short paragraph describing each pack in the store online.

    Mary Illana Perrin CZT 32 on

  • I love project pack #4 with the spinner. I recommend it to people as a great starter pack. It’s great for beginners to learn a lot of tangles and gives them an excellent practice tool once it’s done. If you get stuck, spin the spinner! Since the project pack comes with two spinner boards you don’t have to worry about not being good enough. Jump in and do one now. Sometime later (months, years?), when you’ve built that confidence and figured out which tangles you most enjoy, do the second one.

    Holly C on

  • What a wonderfully detailed response. Thank you.

    Jacki Brewer, CZT25 on

  • Every project Pack is beautiful and everyone is unique. My Story, I got hooked on zentangle with Project Pack # 19 so one of the most advanced Projects I had no idea what I was doing I was just fazinated by the colors and the tangles and your wonderful voices I tried all kind of projekt packs. Got hooked and now I‘m a CZT😉

    Anita Davis on

  • Eek… I hit “post” before finishing my comment, so part 2 here!! I wholeheartedly agree with those who’ve suggested a brief description of each PP, to accompany each listing in the shop. Full videos are available for every pack, and each has been discussed many times on the blog and in emails. Once they are revealed and completed, I believe BRIEF descriptions would help newer tanglers choose them more purposefully.

    Tracy B on

  • ABSOLUTELY PP10 has been my favorite, without a doubt. If someone hasn’t purchased the “original” kit, it will, as it did for me, introduce them to the fun icosehedron way of choosing tangles. It also may be their first introduction to “bending” a tangle to their own creative will, seeing each in a new way. For me, it was crucial in the process of “letting go”, realizing that step outs are foundations, not rules.

    I read a comment somewhere suggesting that a brief description be added to the Project Packs’ listings in thw shop.

    Tracy B on

  • The Project Pack on Cartouches is my favorite!! I used the skills I learned in there all the time. Family and photos and precious things are so important to me and my family. I give special photos where I have drawn Zentangle around them and then framed the photos and give them as gifts they are received as precious. Heirloom things I have mounted and then tangled around, framed and given have also been received as precious. Thank you Zentangle, all of you, for this wonderful gift in all of the Project Packs, they feed my soul!!

    Tonya Minton CZT28 on

  • For me so far, my favourite project has been #19, done on that seemingly huge piece of paper. I loved it so much that when I had finished it I started all over again and made another one using A3 watercolour paper…and then I cut the new finished one in half! I went on to my other love, book binding, and finally after several days, I had produced a beautifully hand bound Coptic style display book with many black pages to show my tiles to greatest advantage. I now (so far) have finished three more similar books, with unique, colourful and tangled covers. Thank you to you all for everything you do!

    Sue Zanker on

  • I love PP 10. There are many, many pages to fill with tangles from the videos and on your own. Since it is a reference, each tangle has its own space instead of in an artistic composition (not that those aren’t great too). There are explorations of a wide range of tangles, and variations of them. Best of all, I use this reference all the time. That , or the spinner, is where I’d start.

    Jeanine Hughes on

  • It would be great if there was a reference guide that shows which project packs emphasize different techniques or tools. Molly referred to them within this blog, but I don’t know if I’ll remember where to go find this info again!

    How about it, guys? Can that be done?

    Ginger White CZT34 on

  • I have enjoyed all the project packs, but Project Pack 21 has been my absolute favorite! It has pushed me to think creatively and to make my own designs rather than simply duplicating the lesson. The 5 challenge days really made me use the creative part of my brain (and I’m still working on Challenge Day 5). Thank you so much for this creative, fanciful project!

    Sharon Thagard on

  • I knew zentangle for the first time in January, 2023. I just began to care my mother at that time, and I became obsessed with the zentangle as I tried to organize my own mind and also rehabilitate my mother.

    I purchased a pack called the project pack 21 from Japanese czt as soon as I knew that it was going to be released.
    I can draw something like a botanical specimen with the pack and it’s a very moving experience. I was becoming more exited and much happier. As I am a flower designer and I love plants.

    In Japan, a drama of Mr. Tomitaro Makino, a world-famous botanist, was being broadcasted, and it was showing many old botanical specimens. What a wonderful connection!

    I imagined a lot and I enjoyed a lot while learning from Zentangle teachers’ blog and Youtube.

    As a complete beginner, I started with pp21.
    I drew carefully and bound up my works carefully. Now It’s my lifetime treasure.

    MITUE WAKISAKA on

  • All the project packs have something unique and creative that is exciting to dive into. I adored the one with the glaze pen and sketch and wash (number escapes me right now). These tools were fun and explorative to me at the time. I really loved the No Mistakes booklet and will be creating this along with my daughter at the end of the year as she is having some surgery and we are going to use that time to bond, create and have quality time together – one stroke at a time. I think as a seasoned tangler, we always love the 12 Days of Christmas Project Packs for the wonderful surprises and fun ways to create. We tanglers are so happy that you have stretched and grown to create these packs and always look forward to the fun and anticipation of a new PP. To anyone reading this, I agree, watch the videos first and feel it first to see if it resonates with your own creativity. Some can feel complex in geometry or thinking skills, so do what inspires you – then dive it! You can do those trickier ones later when you have more strokes behind you and you are ready to challenge your mind and tangling hands! Thanks for it all Zentangle! Bring it on!

    Veronica Hodges CZT #37 Australia on

  • I have LOVED the flower/organic project packs of late, because I am a gardener and enjoy the shapes and and growing themes so much. But I often pull out the project pack book from #10 to inspire me! I recommend it to beginners.

    Alice Steuck Konkel on

  • I have learned something different from each one. My favorite so far is PP20. Thank you for all you do.

    Georgene Ksiazek on

  • Far and away my favourite project pack was PP19. I was in heaven for five weeks doing that. I especially loved it because it was so big and challenging. It made me concentrate, immerse myself and think about it even when I wasn’t tangling. It gave the most complete break from troubling thoughts I’ve had in a long time. May there be many more like PP19!

    Vreni Murphy on

  • I love floral style tangles so PP 19, 20 and 21 have been my favourites so far but I also love PP18 Translucen-Z. It’s so cool to be able to see through both sides of the tile and blending the shading on them is smooth like butter. Maybe one day I’ll be able to work through all the Project Packs. Thank you Zentangle Team, for all your hard work and love that you pour into each PP.

    Michele Werner on

  • I was introduced to Zentangle and drew my first Tangle in June. When PP 21 was offered in August I jumped right in. I had no idea what I was signing up for, just wanted to do more and figured the instructions would be helpful. I loved every minute! The instructions and videos were excellent and encouraging and fun. And I really loved making my own botanicals with the bonus weeks. I just posted all my PP 21 pages on the Mosaic App. So glad to be part of this grand community. Thank you all!

    Deb DeCicco on

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