Celtic Knots and Radial Balance

I wanted to spice up my Celtic Knot project that I've done several years in a row, because so far it just hasn't met my expectations.  Previously, I'd had the kiddos use their initials to make illuminated letters with Celtic imagery (which I'd photocopied from my Dover books and passed out in resource folders).  Most students just didn't really puzzle out how to draw the overlapping knots.  So I thought I'd make it easier by having them draw the knots with a Zentangle pattern.  Here are the steps for the pattern:

Original link here:  Tangle Patterns


So I showed them that step-by-step on the Elmo.  I expected a train wreck.  I told them this was an experiment, and I was going to see how they did before we even worried about turning this into a project or anything.  I expected tears, and crumpled papers flying across the room, hitting me in the head.  But, y'all....They did it!  They got the pattern in one or two tries.  Even the more challenged kids picked it up and were very satisfied to see that it worked for them!

Then I started showing them my work in progress.  I told them I was going to have them draw 1/4 of a Celtic knot, and "cheat" to make the pattern transfer onto the other parts of the paper.  I haven't tried this with the kiddos yet, so I'll keep you updated on how that goes.  This would work even better if you are willing to let the kiddos use charcoal pencils to outline their knots as they are transferring.

But here's what I did for my example:

 Fold the square paper in fourths and draw design in one corner.  Trace over it hard with an ebony pencil or other soft lead pencil.

 Fold and press with your hands, or a wooden spoon to transfer the pencil lines onto the second quarter of the paper.

 Open and you should see a very faint reverse image of the knot you drew.  Trace over it dark with the soft pencil. 

 Fold and transder the first half onto the second half.  (Good way to review factions, too!)

 Trace over the pencil lines darker. 

Connect the lines where they may be slightly mismatched, and begin coloring however you wish.

I think I'll make another fancier one as I go along, but I think the above example works well as an illustration.  Our state's standardized test has evidently got symmetry on it, and the kids aren't scoring so well with that.  In that case, I can actually help!  I've been stressing symmetry with all the grade levels this year.

Weekly Zentangle Challenge #14: Straight Lines Only

Here's my zentangle with straight lines only. This one was a serious challenge!

Quick Zentangle Swap with COLOR

I just created another Zentangle swap on Swap-Bot. This time I specified that the tiles can include black, white, gray, and up to two colors. Come on and join in! Click Here.

Grocery Bag Zentangle

For this, I used a square of paper I cut from a grocery bag. At first I wasn't really thinking much, then it occurred to me I actually had three values to play with. So I began using the brown as my middle value and making shadows and highlights with the black and white. Later attempts will be more refined, I suspect. I like doing this! The white pen is just awesome. It's a Pentel Sunburst MED Gel, by the way. I was tempted to get the gold and silver pens too, since a gold & silver in the same pack was the same price as one white pen. But I dunno, I am afraid of heading into the "scrapbooky" world. Scrapbooks are just not me AT ALL. No offense of any of you scrappers. I just never got into it.

Weekly Challenge #13: Non-Dominant Hand

Here's my Zentangle that I drew using my left, non-dominant hand. I kind of like the line quality. It looks nervous or something. I think, coming up, I'm going to try some on brown paper using my white pen along with my blacks.