When I first saw
Sand Swirl, my immediate thought was, "That's
Dansk!"
But not quite. It is
very similar to Dansk (and less so to
Verve) yet different. There’s a circle instead of a droplet shape and the Auras run into the stem instead of all the way around.
Amy in Tennessee wrote me about the similarities. She noted the "subtle
differences between Sand Swirl and Dansk ... something that the
Zentangle world
celebrates - subtle differences and variations. My understanding and
appreciation of tangles is deeply enhanced by the awareness of subtle
differences." I have to agree. I think that noticing subtleties in
tangles helps us notice subtleties in other things, making us less prone
to generalizations and even prejudice.
|
Tangles: Black Pearlz, BouclƩ, Khirkee, Paizel, Sand Swirl, Tripoli |
Sometimes a variation is sufficiently different to warrant a new name. This question arose when I posted my tangle
St. John's Cross. To me it was a variation of
Florz but people said, no, it's really quite different, so I decided to consider it a new tangle and give it a name.
In my
tangle reference binder - which has just passed 400 tangles - I have two tangles called Sunflower, one from
Anne Marks and the other from Suzanne McNeill, each
quite different. Suzanne McNeill's Sunflower bears a remarkable resemblance to Cathy Clifford's
Wirly Bird! Eden Hunt's
Groovy and Suzanne McNeill's Cuddles (in
Zentangle 7) are almost identical, but one has slanted lines and the other's lines go straight across. Cindy Angiel's
Waverly has lines going both ways!
Echoism and
Wishbones are essentially the same; it can be 'filled' in many ways.
I find that as Zentangle becomes more and more popular, and more and
more people come up with more and more tangles, I'm seeing many very
similar tangles, but very rarely identical. Occasionally the same name
is given to different tangles. It's quickly become all but impossible to
keep track of everyone's creativity and the names they've used.
There. That's enough links to keep you busy for a day or two!