Square One, Purely Zentangle: Assunta and Ing

Did not get a chance to do anything with Assunta last week so decided to combine it with this week's prompt, Ing. There was an additional prompt which was to also focus on shading. I think for most non-art trained people, this is one of the more intimidating things to do. The fear is that you will ruin the tile after putting the work to do the tangles. I remember when I first started tangling I was told two things that helped. One was that the shading is not about light source or what you typically look at in art it is about highlighting the tangles. The other was to make copies of the tiles and try different things to see what different shading would look like and then pick the one that you liked the best. I have to admit that I do not do the later that much anymore. I also do not practice shading in different ways. I should really spend more time on this, but don't. One of the things I learned later is do not be afraid to put down graphite on the tile. there is always that concern about there being to much. I usually find myself adding more. That being said, the shading was the most difficult part of this tile. I was trying to get a little more rounding effect on the spokes of Assunta. Was not as successful as I would have liked. But as I said earlier, I do not practice this as much.

Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

After looking at the picture and the post, decided to go back and add a little more graphite to the Assunta. Not sure that it shows up that well in the picture, but looking at the original, even though it is just a little darker on the edged, I like the second one better.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Another tangled candle option

Had this for a while and had not gotten around to try it. In an earlier post had commented that people made comments that they would not burn the candles that had the tangled images on it because it would ruin the tangles. In an earlier post had tangled on glass candle holders that could put an electric tea candle inside it. While walking through Hobby Lobby saw these electric candles (battery) that are wax. Was not sure how they would hold up to being heated. Did not do a bad job. This is a smaller one but also have some larger pillar candles that I may try next. the advantage is that you do not have to worry about ruining the tangles but still get the effect of a lit candle. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

I included the votive candle on the left to give you an idea of the size of the pillar candle. For those of you not familiar with the process, you do the tangles on tissue paper and then using a heat gun you melt them into the wax on the candle. It takes some time and have to be careful to keep your fingers out of the way of the heat as it does get hot. It works best to wave the gun back and forth over the candle rather than leaving it in one area. On the votive candle I attached the one end and then wrapped a strip of wax paper over the top and then used the heat gun to set the strip. Need to make sure the strip is pulled taut so there are no wrinkles. Can without the wax paper on top. It partly depends on how the candle melts. On the electric candle I put three images on the candle, the other two images are below. On this I cut each image and attached it separately. I did not need to use the wax paper as the paper melted into the candle quickly.

Tried to get a picture of what it would like when lit. Took during the day so did not get the complete affect.

Thanks for visiting. as always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go  Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #195: "Turning Old into New"

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Sandy Hunter, whose blog is tanglebucket.blogspot.com. I first became aware of here blog through my sister. Sandy had developed some tangles but she also had a knack for combining two tangles into one pattern. She labeled this as her tangle remix. Was interesting. I cannot say that I tried to do too many, but I think I did try a few. They were fun but my brain does not think that way. This week's Challenge is to take favorite, or go to tangles and do them differently. If you picked a grid based tangle, do it free form and if you picked a free form tangle, use it a grid. I did the best I could with this. Not sure I was totally successful with this with both of the tangles that I chose. One tangle I chose was cadent. I use this a lot and like it. I usually use it in a structured way. It is not really grid based as I would define it, but I usually use it much like a grid. The other tangle I chose was Antidots. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it. Oh yeah, I used a Renaissance tile as that was the only tile that I had in the kit that I usually carry.

Tangles used: Cadent, Antidots

The shading was done with a white Prismacolor pencil and a Zenstone.

I did not get last week's Challenge, "Embracing the Yuck", done in time to post it. Am including it in this post only as it was some work. This is the second challenge I did using the non-dominant hand. I had started it and felt like I needed to finish. I have to admit that I did not really enjoy doing this. My idea was to start out with Knightsbridge to get a little practice. After I started it, there was such a large time gap before I could continue that it was not of much help. Here it is. I hope that somebody enjoys it.

Tangles used: Knightsbridge, Tripoli, Betweed, Ixorus, Paradox

I have not looked at many entries from either week's challenge. Not sure now much I will be able to look at #194 but definitely want to look at what people have done in this week's Challenge. Encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at what others have done. Would also encourage you to try it yourself, even if you do not post it. Would encourage you to post it though if at all possible.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Square One, Purely Zentangle: Hurry

The latest prompt in Square One is Hurry. I got this one done in a hurry. I do not think that I I have completed one the day of the prompt before. Really did not hurry that much though. I have used this tangle before but not a lot. I just do not think about it. Not sure why. I tried to use it in a couple of different shapes rather than doing a monotangle. I think that is generally how I have used it before. Here is what I came up with. I hope you like it.

Tangles used: Hurry, Henna Drum, Swarm, and Tungruv

I find it a little ironic that a method that stresses focus and meditation names a tangle Hurry. Not sure now this one came to be named. Just random musings.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!

Square One: Just for Fun

I like Square One because it does make me deal with the basics. They do not issue a challenge but a prompt. Every once in a while I like to go totally off on my own just to see what happens. That is what happened with this tile. I started with a random string and just went from there. As I was doing it, I was a little surprised by the different variety of tangles/styles involved in this tile. There are grid based, organic and just a tad of basic paisley pattern. It took me longer to finish than I anticipated, but it was fun to do it. Not sure why but I think because it was not a challenge or I was not doing something that I was looking at including in a sale. Maybe I should try this more even with the challenges. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Frondous, Scena, Scena with Diva Dance, Florz (variation), Curly Bracket Feather, and Scrolled Feather. The quasi paisley is just a tear drop shape filled with different tangles. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go  Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #193: TriTangle - Trio, Huggins, & Xyp (THX)

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Holly Atwater. She tied it to Veterean's Day and upcoming Thanksgiving and chose three tangles that the first letters spell THX. I think that is text for thanks. The three tangles are Trio, Huggins, and Xyp. The last two I am familiar with. The first is new to me. It reminds me a little of Mooka but it is done differently. If I was more proficient, I might be able to do it with a  single stroke like Mooka but did not really worry about this. Not sure how I feel about this one. There are things that I like about it but to me Trio seems disconnected. Maybe it is just my initial reaction to it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

I have not seen what others have done. I hope to be able to look at them over the next couple of days. I may have a little more time as I have some tests planned. Nothing major, just routine follow-up things because of family history. Hopefully I will not be too out of it to do a little web surfing.  Would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at the other posts. Would also encourage you to make comments on the tiles as most of the artists enjoy receiving comments on their work. Would also encourage you to try it yourself, even if you do not post it.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Ceramic Blanks : Tangled Treasure Boxes and Ovals

Earlier on a Facebook page another CZT, Gillian McAuliffe, posted pictures of some ceramic treasure boxes she was working on for her staff. She was kind enough to give out the information about where she had gotten the boxes.  I explored a little and decided to get some to work on. I have only completed 3 so far. Here is what I have done. Hope you enjoy them.

They are not the easiest to photo graph so you can see what is on them. They are pretty rough so you have to prep them before you start using pens on them. If not they will wear away your nibs. I used Modge products to prepare the surface and as a finish. The finish is Dimensional Magic. Not knowing a lot about things, I wonder if gesso might also be used. Not sure who to check with on this. The Modge Podge, I thinned out a little and brushed it on. The finish is really just suppose to be spread on from the bottle but because of he shapes, and not wanting to do one side at a time, I also brushed this on. For the tangles, I think I only used Identi-Pens. I may have used some Sharpie pens for the color on the circular one.  Since this was the first time I worked on these, I kept the designs pretty simple. 

There are other shapes available also. I think there is a star and a hexagon. I just got the circle and the squares. I did get one other things. There are also 1.5" ovals. I got 10 of these. I thought they would make neat pendants. Again they need some prep before you start tangling on them. I did the same on these as the boxes. The strap is 38" of Suede . I am pleased with the way that they turned out.  Here are a couple of pictures, Hope you enjoy them. 

The first 2 that I did were just black and white but I did not take pictures of them. 

For anyone interested, I got these through Ceramics by Donna on e-bay. If interested, here is a link to her store, http://stores.ebay.com/Dynamic-Ceramics-by-djnow

 Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Tangled Votive Candle holders

I had done some votive candles before where I used the technique of making the design on tissue paper and then used a heat gun to attach them to the candle. People would look at them and say how they liked them but they would not buy them because they were too pretty and they would not want to burn them. Kind of defeats the purpose of them. Wondered what else that I could do. Was in Hobby Lobby one day just looking at things. They have battery operated candles that have a wax covering. Thought that that would be too difficult to work with directly and did not know how the tissue paper technique would work. I may still try it. I was about to to look at other things and ran across these frosted votive candle holders. They came with battery operated tea candles. I decided to use an Identi-Pen to make tangles on the holders. Here is what they look like. I hope you enjoy them.

I kept the tangles simple on these first ones. The one on the right has different grid based tangles and the other is a monotangle using Fassett.  I guess that people would have the option of putting a real candle on the inside after the battery ran out if they did not want to replace the battery. They are the wafer type.

 I have a clear holder that I am going to try using the same technique. From working on clear glass ornaments, that presents some challenges as you see through as you are working on it. It can be difficult to keep track of the lines. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #192 : UMT - Seton by Chris Letourneau" & Square One - Punzel/Chainging

Do not usually do this but did one tile for two different things. As busy as things have been I figured this was about the only way I was going to get some thing done for both of them. If you are a regular to the Diva Challenge, you know that the next couple of weeks are going to be done by guests as Laura is preparing for and dealing with her youngest son after his surgery. I am sure she and the family would appreciate any prayers and support during this time.

Chris Letourneau is the first guest poster and she made the challenge to use her tangle Seton. You may recognize Chris's name as a semi-regular poster to the challenge and also the author Made in the Shade and co-author of Pattern Play. The Square One prompt was to use the tangle Punzel/Chainging. They are different but closely related.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Seton & Punzel and a little Betweed

I primarily used the two tangles and added a little Betweed on the edges of Seton. As with a number of tiles, the shading is the most challenging part. I was not sure what to do with Seton. I am okay with the way it turned out, just not thrilled with it.

I have not looked at many of the things posted on the Diva's blog. Just a few that have shown up on my blog reader. I hope to have some time to look at what others have done. If you have not done so, would encourage you to visit I am the Diva and look at all the great art also. Give it a try your self, even if the only one that you share it with is yourself.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #191: "Monotangle : Betweed"

Have not really had much time to post much of anything. I actually completed most of this earlier in the week but was out of town most of the week and would not have had a means to post it. So I procrastinated on doing the shading until tonight. Also trying to get things done for our local Art Association gift shop. That will be an on-going process during the month. Glad that I was able to finish. I also get an extra hour to post as this is the weekend that turn the clocks back on hour as we stop Daylight Savings time. This weeks challenge is a monotangle using Betweed. I have used this tangle a lot and had mixed results with it.  For this challenge I decided to just play a little. I played with different pens and color. Here is what I came up with. I hope that you enjoy it.

I used pink, purple, brown, and black microns. I also used green and blue Sakura Gel Starburst pens. They do show up better on the Renaissance tiles than the black tiles. The shading is done with colored pencils. 

This was a little hard to photograph. Not sure if it would have shown up better as a scan. The green colored pencil did not come through as strong on the photograph. Over all I am pleased with the results. As I stated in the beginning I was playing and really did not have a expectations. I wanted to use Betweed in different size and shape spaces. 

I know this is late, but if you have not, go to I am the Diva and look at all the other great pieces. I hope I have time to look at some of them. I usually try to comment on most of them. Has been harder lately as I do not like to look at what others have done until I have finished mine. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!