Revisiting That Challenging Tangle

I love this blog post. It’s so relatable. I’ve finally mastered those tangles that where challenging the first few years as a CZT. Yes, the first few years. Then there were those tangles that came easy to me but came easy to others. I always find it fascinating because the more and more tangles I come across, the more it so wonderfully repeats itself. And that’s why the motto HQ created, “anything is possible one stroke at a time” is so true, and after having to relearn how to walk in my 40’s, I now say, “anything is possible one stroke and step a time.” Thanks for this post!

I love this blog post. It is such a great reminder of the way that the process of creating zentangle art is a constantly growing experience. I also participate in a group that does weekly challenges. Today’s Tangles Keeping it Classic. She posts both a string and which tangles to use. I love doing it because it gives me inspiration and it challenges me. Some weeks I don’t love the prompt and I do it anyway. Other weeks I might miss or skip a prompt. And I often use my favorite tangles from the choices. But sometimes I feel like the tile really needs something different, and sometimes I just want to challenge myself. Sometimes I still dislike certain tangles when I am done, but other times I re-discover them and grow to love them. It is also why I love the project packs. I find the same thing with them. Sometimes one of them uses a tangle I dislike or find challenging. And sometimes when I am done, I have re-learned or re-discovered it. I feel like, just like there are no mistakes, there is also always learning….So thank you for sharing, Molly. It is inspiring to see that you feel the same way I do sometimes…..

I would like to learn drawing zentangle. How can you teach me or what? I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you.

alle drie erg mooi. Ik ga zo alle drie proberen. groet anna

Me encantó lo que escribiste sobre Mooka y el desafío…muy inspirador lo que decís Molly!gracias

Auraknot and Peanuckle are the two challenging patterns for me. This article will inspire me to revisit both these tangles and maybe try a more organic variation to break-out of the inherent underlying structure, that may be the source of my resistance to both these patterns. Sometimes the “crazy” version of a tangle can be very liberating!

This is so interesting, Molly. Like everyone I have tangles I can’t make friends with. For me though, they change periodically. I am at a rough life patch right now and can’t find my zen anywhere.
Usually it is just a few tangles at a time that give me the cold shoulder, I will ignore them until we make up and like each other again and find I’ve lost favor with others. Ah, this is life! Luckily there are enough tangles in our wonderful Zentangle World where we can find a new group for a while then drift on to hang out with another appealing bunch.
I guess it is the same with our fellow tangles. It seems I find wonderful groups I join and tangle with for a time and somehow loose track of them when learning a new class, technique, phase, or something. I do think of my other tangle friends, though.
Is it time we have a catch up blog on where the Diva has drifted? What is she doing now? That amazing woman had so very much happening in her life; where are you Diva?!

I too have trouble with Mooka, but love the look that I keep trying. I once drew it but like the challenge it is it withdrew from me. I am currently stuck and try as I might cannot tangle. If you know how I can start again that would be helpful.

Thanks Molly. Really enjoyed reading that. Wow!! If we used this philosophy in life, we could sail through our difficult times by simply being strong enough to confront them.

And yes, Mooka isn’t my most favourite as I don’t seem to think it looks as graceful as it should…..
But having said that, I recently have started a larger work on black paper using huge Mookas…..
Will post when done.

Mooka has always been challenging, but I had to do it so many times for project pack 02 that I finally began relaxing with later mookas and I actually enjoy it now and playing with where it can fit. Also, the whole Diva Dance scene was just too much for me to put my pen to paper until I saw Rick’s demonstration for one of the projects packs and I began after considerable practice knowing I could do it! Sometimes I just over think tangles!

Thanks for posting this, Molly. I am still waiting to make swan-like Mooka like Maria’s. Mine usually look kind of alien. I also find the grid patterns challenging. Not that it will stop me from trying them; it;s a process!

Molly, thank you for your honesty. I shy away from a few tangles that are not complex or difficult. I just don’t like how they turn out which means they look different from the way that I see others draw them. I am a CZT and yet have not noticed this in my own mind. I would never allow a student to think or behave this way. Okay Sway here I come! 😀

Ugh, one is definitely Purk! I don’t know which one of you came up with such a torturous tangle, but I just never like my results. I mean seriously, the lazy S’s are fine, but then trying to cram those orbs in there so they hit the edges just so…it’s maddening, I tell you! Sigh…I guess I can try again. I will wrap lights of Zentangle around my heart and give it the old college try. [wish me luck]

This morning, as I walked on my treadmill, I watched Molly’s video on Arukas…which is Sakura backwards! Arukas have been a challenege to me. But, today, this morning, I think I may have found the confidence to give it a try! Thanks Molly!

I am so excited to see that I was chosen last month! My challenge tangle is Rick’s Paradox…i never like how it turns out for me. Time to try again!

It’s funny – I wrote a blog post just yesterday about my uneasy relationship with Mooka and the Pokes. To me it’s about sticking with them, spending time with them now and then, trying to find a way to feel more comfortable with them. Different ways of drawing the tangles works for me. I now have a handful of Mooka ways which suit me, and I’m now working on ways with Pokeleaf. I think there are profound lessons in this about ways we can approach other uneasy areas in our lives.

There have been a number of tangles I have found challenging, and going to the Mosaic, or Googling that particular pattern, studying the renditions, noticing the shape of the pattern, the lines of the pattern. This has helped a lot. Then came Toodles. That first curve just didn’t. It was more S than curve. Like Sara Mudge says, it was difficult. So, I copied a tile with a single Toodles on it into a blank MS word page, and repeated that single tile as many times as the page would hold it. I printed it out on lighter watercolor paper, then used a non-working ball point pen, then a pencil, then a Micron, I traced that first line, again and again and again, keeping myself deliberately and determinedly aware of how my hand felt while drawing that shape, how the tip of the writing instrument followed that line, how my arm felt when tracing that line, how my mind saw that shape. Then I aura-ed that line again and again and again, carefully keeping my arua-ed line as close to the length and shape of the original. When I tried Toodles again, muscle memory gave me a lovely curve! Now, I just have to do that with Rick’s Flux!

Fengle has been a challenge tangle for me! Your inspiration gives me hope to keep trying and make it my own creation! Thanks for your beautiful tiles and encouragement to practice, practice, and then practice some more!

Thanks for this challenge. Mooka has been one tangle I’ve struggled with, but keep playing with it as I do like the outcome, Tho it is about the process not the outcome! Pokeroot shows up in a lot of my tangle pieces as I’m drawn to nature and organic tangles. Liked this mix of the two.

I find any tangle pattern with an S curve in it difficult. Fengle, cadent, toodles to name a few. I need practise with this stroke!

Flux! Thought I have to admit that I’m loving it more after doing tons of mini Flux for the Christmas Holiday Wreath that Yvonne Westover shared with us on our CZT page. So you’re right, often doing a tangle we don’t love, over and over again, we become more appreciative of it. I tell my students that actually as often they don’t love Printemps until they do it more than once.

I meant to say they are all still a challenge for me… LOL, but I love being inspired by you all!

I’m on day two of learning to Zentangle so they are all still a chronic me!

Yes. We all come across those challenge tangles. When I first found Zentangle Finery looked so soft and inviting ro me. Yet i needed lots of patience and practice before i finally ‘got it’. I now love Finery and use it heaps. Thanks for the reminder. What may be easy for some may not be easy for others.

Love this! I can relate so very closely on the Tangles that are difficult and making them my (your) own! They are the ones I love the most today! Thanks for the share.