I’ve been collecting patterns that inspire me in an Evernote notebook for over a year now thinking that some of them would make phenomenal tangle patterns. I see new patterns every day and think, “I should really give this a shot” and then talk myself out of it. Call it lack of confidence, fear of judgment, excuse mongering…but I have finally conquered those demons and created my first tangle. With CZT #18 fast approaching (CAN. NOT. WAIT.), I thought it was high time.
I did check every single pattern I’ve documented to make sure it’s not a duplicate, and while there are elements that are familiar (Xenso, Starbarz, Insydout, Bales), I am fairly certain this meets the new tangle pattern guidelines.
So here goes. First, the inspiration: An Instagram post of this walkway at Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro (full disclosure, I’ve never been there so the Instagram poster info is included for credit purposes). I loved the mosaic, but didn’t try to recreate that, instead focusing on the overall dark/light placement of the larger diamond shapes.
Here is the step-out for the pattern (note: creating these is harder than it looks!):
The key to this is to be super careful when making the wavy lines in steps 3 and 4 so they end up forming the right shapes in the middle of the diamonds. When shading, take it slowly, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself and color a section you meant to leave blank.
Finally, a tangleation.
| tan-gle-a-tion (tan-gəl-ā-shən) noun 1. A noticeable variation of an existing tangle. |
Tangleation: Rio, Vache 2, Pop’t, Huggins
I drew a large grid on a 5×7 sketchbook page and spent no fewer than 4 weeks of hour-long sessions (while my son was getting SAT tutoring) filling in each section. Definitely turned out to be more work than anticipated but I do like the result.
Let me know what you think! And, if you use the tangle, I’d love to see what you created so please link to your work!
I encourage and appreciate sharing!:
Very nice! In my head I keep superimposing the second pattern onto the first and trying to picture what it would look like. I’ve never tried, but it does seem like you can really get lost in the designs.
You really can. If you want to learn I’d love to hang out and teach you! It’s been way too long. The Target parking lot isn’t exactly like spending time 🙂
Haha, you mean the Target parking lot isn’t a good hangout spot? 😉 We should definitely get together! I’d love to catch, time goes too fast!
Cari, congratulations for making it to tanglepatterns.com!. Rio is an awesome pattern to use in place of Knigtsbridge—which I tend to use too often when I want a certain look to balance a lacy tangle. Your step outs are brilliant. I never would have figured it out the way you did. You have inspired me to try some deconstructions of patterns I have found on my travels.
Thanks so much, Suzanne…that’s especially meaningful coming from you!
Cari, I love how you made this simple so we can all do it! Can’t wait to try and have pinned it too.
Thank you, Marilyn!
I like Rio – especially for lovers of stong design elements, and can see the potential pitfalls; but your ‘tangelation,’ (I’m quite new to this art/design/meditation form,) is breathtaking!
That was 4 weeks incredibly well spent 🙂
If that’s how you ‘tangle’ then I look forward to you overthrowing your nay-saying-demons!
Much Respect,
Shell (from Oz)
Do you teach in the Doylestown area?
Yes, I don’t have a studio but I can teach almost anywhere!
Do you have a regular class schedule. If so, I would be interested. Thanks.
I don’t have a regular class schedule, but I’d be happy to teach one on one or a small group whenever it works for you (nights and weekends only).
Very nice Cari! I agree with Suzanne Fluhr, it’ll be good to use as an alternative to Knightsbridge for a simple but bold pattern. I’m interested that you used wavy lines and I’ll have to try that method; I would have drawn circles around the intersections. You might like to check out Suzanne McNeill’s tangle Euclid – very similar but very different!
I will definitely check it out, Margaret! Thank you.