Week 2 - Tangletastic Challenge

Hello, Tanglers! 🎉

It's Week 2 of the Tangletastic Challenge! ✨

Last week’s entries were fabulous! You can see them all in my Tangletastic group, where we have a gallery for each theme - perfect for a little spark of inspiration whenever you need it.

This week, we're doing a technique. The challenge is all about thinking differently about your tangling.

Your challenge for today: ⭐

Create a tile using negative space.

When you normally tangle, you fill a space (such as a square, circle, or shapes) with lines and patterns. Tangling in negative space flips the idea. Instead of filling inside a shape, you leave the shape itself blank and tangle all around it.

So the shape becomes the “negative space”, the blank area that stands out because everything around it is busy with patterns. The magic is in the contrast: the space feels just as important as the filled-in tangles.

As you can see in my sample tangle above, the 'Mookas' are white (the negative space), and I've tangled around the edges rather than inside them.

I started by watercolouring my tile around the Mookas, and then I carefully tangled around the colour.

My friend sent me a lovely birthday gift of some Ecoline Pastel Brush Pens.  They are watercolour pens, but you could use any watercolour.

I wanted these pens because I find it hard to get consistent light colours with my paints, where I'm still learning. With these, I was able to simply lay down some colour around the Mookas directly onto my tile, and add a bit of water to smoosh the colours before filling in the tangles.

My sample is a Pre-Strung tile from a 20-tile Zentangle®️ set. I have a handful of sets still available in my cosy little online shop. It’s a little 'shop window' for now, so just drop me an email at ruby@ruby2shoesdesign.com, if you’d like to buy a set.

These pre-strung tiles are great if you're not sure what to tangle or don't have much time. I've been busy working on the pre-sales admin of my book this past week, as it's almost ready, so I needed to create something for this challenge with limited time. I did tangle slowly, though, I promise! It was fun to do.

Here are a few simple ways to try today's challenge:

✨ A Classic Shape: Lightly pencil a heart, star, or shape in the middle of your tile. Tangle around the outside. Erase your pencil line at the end so the shape looks like it magically appeared.

✨ Letter Play: Write a big initial. Keep the letter empty, and tangle all around it for a bold monogram effect.

✨ Floating Islands: Draw a few random blobs or “cloud” shapes across your tile. Fill the background, leaving the blobs blank so they look like little islands between the tangles.

✨ Reverse Borders: Instead of tangling inside a frame, tangle the background and let the border itself shine as the space.

This is a playful way to train your eyes to see the space as part of the design, not just the lines.

It's meant to be a fun 'challenge', so don't overthink it. It's all about playing. Once you've created your tile, share it in the Tangletastic and then add it to the Tangle Gallery in the group,

I can’t wait to see your tiles sparkle in the Tangle Gallery! 🌀👑

✨ Remember to stick to 'The Rules' ✨

1. Tangle to the weekly prompt.

2. Share your creation in my Tangletastic Facebook Group, and in the Tangle Gallery under the relevant prompt.

3. Share it on Instagram using #TangletasticChallenge and #Ruby2Shoes, and remember to tag me @ruby2shoesdesign. 📸💖 Sharing on Facebook works too! 🌀👑 Link to my Tangletastic group - http://bit.ly/Tangletastic

4. 💬 Share the Love: Comment on at least three other posts each week. This isn’t a competition. Every tangle is magical! See someone’s post without a comment? Please leave a little sparkle for them.

Can’t wait to see your tiles sparkle in the gallery! 🌀✨

🌟 NB. ✨ While I’ll be cheering you all on, I won’t be commenting on every single post personally: The magic of this challenge is in us supporting one another as a community. 💖 I tried for week 1 and still missed a few people, so the more it grows, the harder it will be.

💌 Don't know what this is all about?! Full details here.

Come and join my Tangletastic group so you can join in.

Let’s do this together! 🎉👠✨

Please note: Some of the links shared are compensated affiliate links, and I may receive a small commission if you choose to buy something after clicking through. This is at no additional cost to you. I really appreciate your support.