Art

I don’t know if you remember the handlettering A to Z book I put up a couple weeks back, but today I have a book called Dangles for you.  It’s goes along with hand lettering quite handily, as well as being useful to mandalas, creative ring art and such like.

I have to be honest here, this book intrigues me yet scares me off.   Weird eh?

I am not what you’d call a girlie girlie, so I’m not into necklaces, charms, dangling things and such like.  Just not my style, Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them on others but for me…it’s like NO. The art that is created with this concept just intrigues me cause it’s actually kinda pretty.  🙂

I know.. weird.   But it’s me eh!  🙂

Anyways, in Dangles you get 8 different section, each devoted to teaching you a different aspect of making a dangle.   From understanding what they are, to how to use them in different contexts.

 First off, just what is a dangle?   Dangles are “beautifully illustrated strings of charms that you can use to decorate letters, shapes and objects.” (p.6)  They have no set boundaries, you can wrap them around an object, let them shoot up from the bottom of a page, let them dangle down from a letter and more.  They give you a way to personalize any design.

Ms. Kneibler starts with showing us how to add a dangle to a letter.
I appreciated how she took the time to show us a basic letter, how to add some style to that letter, and then showed how to add a dangle.   After that she gives the reader a chance to try their own hand at the letter, giving a letter outline so you can practice all the steps yourself.

She does this for every letter of the alphabet, showing how a dangle could work with both upper and lower case letters.

The letters section is followed by a section on adding dangles to complete words.    She repeats the process that she started with the letters, showing how to hand letter a word, then to add pattern to the word letters, and then to add dangles to that overall word.   Leaving room to practice what she just finished teaching you. 

One of the neat things that I found very helpful was how each section is colour coded.  You know if you are in the dark purple section that you will be learning about dangle shapes and mandalas.   In this section there is less room for practice.  It was more about showing you the different ways that dangles can be used in the making of shapes and mandalas. 

Isn’t the finished mandala pretty?

 The golden rod section teaches us how to put it all together, the letters, the objects, just making it all work together.   It was hard to choose which one to share with you, but this bird and flower I thought was pretty neat eh?  The dangles just seem to flow naturally from it.

 Charming projects is the light blue section, it’s not very large and focuses on how you can turn your dangle art into things like bookmarks and gift cards. 

One of the most helpful sections for me was the Charm Directory.   Seeing all the variety and the ways to put the different shapes together.  I just liked this section and found it helpful.  There were no names to put the designs, just showing all the variation which would be a huge boon when learning how to do this, so you can figure out more easily how to let your imagination soar. 

Aren’t the possibilities astounding?

The final section is the colour gallery, here you will find each of the letters and words demonstrated, along with the page numbers they are found on for easy access. 

 So what do I think of the book overall?
Really well designed!   I like the step by step training, with the room and encouragement to try it out yourself.  Well done!

If adding charms to your hand lettering appeals, or you want to learn how to add charms to your drawings to add some pizzazz to them, this book will definitely help you learn how to do that, and to do it well.

Dangles: Creating Decorative Letters and Art with Charms.
Olivia A. Kneibler
Race Point
144 pages.
Type: Art Teaching Book, Drawing
Size: about 8 x 10 inches

Reviewed for Quarto Group

Where to find this book?
Amazon.ca: The Art of Drawing Dangles: Creating Decorative Letters and Art with Charms

Amazon.com:  The Art of Drawing Dangles: Creating Decorative Letters and Art with Charms
 

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