Review of Das Grosse Zentangle®-Buch (translated the Great Zentangle® Book) #Zentangle #Zendoodle #ZentangleInspiredArt

Beate Winkler, CZT® has a new book that has just been published in Europe-- Das Grosse Zentangle®-Buch (The Large Zentangle Book). Currently it's only available in German, and will probably be difficult to get in the States or Canada.  Many CZTs and other tangle from both countries have work included in the book, so hopefully it will be translated and sold in an English version sooner or later.

None of my art work is included, but one of my Zentangle pattern steps-out was, so of course, I wanted to review it for you. 


 I debated about the best way to do so.  I don't speak German,  I thought about asking for more information about chapter titles and so forth, but then I decided not to.  I decided to give you the experience of a non-native speaker and what I was able to understand from the book.  Since I'm guessing in some cases, I might be incorrect.  Please feel free to correct me in the comments, if you see something wrong, and I'll update as needed.

Look & Feel

Specs
144 pages
20.3 x 25.9 cm/7.9 x 10.1 inches
Glued Binding
Soft bound Cover
101 tangle step-outs

The paper is high quality and thick, so the book is fairly heavy.  This is a mixed blessing.  The book should withstand lots of use but the weight might make it uncomfortable to carry.  Because of the glued binding the book doesn't lie very flat, but I've found this to be the case with many of the Zentangle books.

There are many illustrations through-out, not just for the tangle step-outs.  While the examples are done by various people, the step-outs are done by the same person, so there is a cohesive look through-out. 

The tangles are broken out into three kinds.  I'm not able to tell what the groups are, but I suspect easy, moderate and difficult.  The tangles are presented A-Z within their respective groups.

I did have trouble figuring out a few chapters. In most cases, the illustrations were sufficient for me to get the gist if not all the details.  The information on materials to use and how to start tangling look very similar to those in other Zentangle books.  A complete beginner who didn't speak German might have trouble.  If they have another Zentangle book they can read, they would probably figure it out.

Many of the tangles included can be found in other books and on the internet.  I'm not sure if any of them were created just for this book.  A few looked unfamiliar to me, but I don't claim to know all the tangles that are out there!

Content
The book begins with what looks like a greeting from the author, and then to the meditative qualities of Zentangle.  There are sections explaining what Zentangle is, what materials to use, and a step by step showing how to begin. 

I'm not as sure about the next chapter, but I believe it explains how the tangles are grouped and how tangles might be combined. 

The step-outs follow, but there is quite a bit of content after those, as well.  I found it more difficult to know what some of these chapters were about. There is definitely a glossary, a gallery, a links page, a list of contributors, information about the author, and an alphabetized and illustrated index to all the step-outs.

While this wouldn't be the first book, I'd recommend for a non-German-speaking beginner, I think they would still be able to benefit from it.  The same for those who know quite a bit about tangling and are looking for more tangle patterns. For those who already have Zentangle books or have compiled step-outs, I'd compare the tangles listed to see if there is anything new to them.

Tangle Patterns included

Ahh  
Fjura
Paradox
Angle Fish
Florz
Poke Leaf
Appearance
Flux
Potterbee
Aquafleur
Fracas
Printemps
Aura-Leah
Gallileo
Puffle
B-horn
Goldilocks
Purk
Birds on the Wire
Golven
Purrlyz
Blooming Butter
Gryst
Qoo
Brayd
Henna Drum
Quare
Bubble Bobble Bloop
Herzlbee
Quib
Bumpety Bump
Hollibaugh
Quipple
Bumpkenz
Huggins-W2
Rubenesque
Bunzo
Ing
Sanibelle
Cadent
Keleido
Sharalarelli
Casella
Keeko
Shattuck
Cat-kin
Kettelbee
Strircles
Ceebee
Knightsbridge
Sundoo
Chainlea
Ko’oke’o
Sweda
Checkers
Kuke
Trio
Chemystery
Laced
Tri-Po
Coil
Leaflet
Tripoli
Connessess
Logjam
Tropicana
Cool ‘Sista
Luv-A
Tulipe
Crescent Moon
Mak-rah-mee
Twenty-One
Cruffle
MI2 Versions 1 & 2
Unmogliches Drejeck
Crusade
Mooka
Verdigogh
Crux
Moving Day
Wheelz
Cubine
M’Spire
Widgets
Dessus-Dessous
Msst
Wiking
Ditto
Munchin
Winkbee
Dragonair
Nipa
Zander
Dutch Hourglass
Nzeppel
Zenplosion Folds
Ennies
Nzeppel Random
Zinger
Fescu
Octonet

Fiore
Onamato


Examples

This example uses Appearance,Cool 'Sista, Dragonair, Dutch Hourglass, Quare, Quib,  Tropicana, and Wiking.     



This example uses Appearance, Aquafleur, Birds On the Wire, Crusade, Golven, Strircles,Widgets, and Wiking.




Comments

  1. Thanks Sandra, I appreciate your review. While the text is all in German, from your list I'm assuming the tangle names are in English?

    Regarding the step outs, how many seem to be "new"? Rough percentage. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With one exception, the namea are in English. I don't really even want to try guessing at a percentage. The problem is that names get re-used so I might remember a name but have seen it with a different tangle. I don't think very many of these, if any, were created just for the book, though.

      Delete
  2. Hi. I am a newbie to the art form, and I find it very rewarding. I do speak German and thought I'd tell you that the b-looking letter in Das Große is in reality a double s, so it can be written Das Grosse (the big).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I knew one of my readers would come to the rescue and help me out.

      Delete

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