A couple of new things have been working on: Coloring pages and large tile

Have continued to be busy trying to get things together for the market that I am participating in. This next Saturday is the last day. When that is done, I can rest for a little but then I need to do things to get ready for Christmas and I have another baby afghan to get done.

Not like I did not have enough to do but decided to see what would happen if I had coloring pages available. I have not done any before and have not looked at a lot of them. They are popular. Even our local library has some contest going on and the paper had an article about a group that meets weekly.  I wanted to do something that was a little unorthodox. Not totally unusual for me. Came up with two of them and one that I would consider to be more traditional. Cannot say that they were a run away hit at the market but did get people to stop so I could talk with them about classes.  Here is what I came up with.

Tangles used (starting in the lower left corner): Merryweather, Cadent, Tripoli, Shattuck, 'Nzeppel, and 3 quasi paisley teardrops.

Tangles used: Featherfall (Carol Ohl), Scroll Feather (Helen Williams), Antidots (Anita Roby-Lavery), Msst (Zentangle®), Wist ( Michelle Beauchamp), Florz variation (Zentangle®), Frondous, Ahh, Fengle, (Zentangle®), Pixioze (Margaret Bremner). The string is Organic (Sayantika Ray)

Tangles used: Flux, Fescu, (Zentangle®), Henna Drum (Jane MacKugler)

That last page was the easiest to do. Not sure if I will do more or not.

I have worked on tiles before, but the largest I did was a 6" square. This one is just a little shy of double that. I think it is about 11.75". Used Microperm and IdentiPen on this. Took a while to complete because of the size. I am planning to cut cork to glue to the bottom so can be used as a trivet or it can be a part of a center piece. Not sure what I will do to seal it. I have some sprays but I also have some water based polyurethane that I have not tried before. If goes well I have about 5 more this size that I can do.  Here is the tile without the cork on the underside.

Wanted to keep the design fairly simple so I used tangles where there would be a larger amount of negative space. Only used 3 different tangles. Keeko, in the corners is from Zentangle®. Mumsy is by Sandy Steen Bartholomew.  I again used Henna Drum, by Jane MacKugler.  Not sure that I would want to do something with grid based tangles. If I really feel daring, may try one using Tripoli or Quandary.  I like both of those tangles but have never tried them on anything this large. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

I have been busy and just not goofing off: New stone coasters with Zenith and Organic as frames/borders

I  have not posted much of anything lately or even participated in any of the challenges that I so much enjoy. I have been in what I refer to "production mode".  Doing a lot of ZIAs but not much relaxation in the process. Do not take the time to take pictures of everything. If I remember, will try to take a picture this Saturday. Most days I am just focused on staying warm. The overage temperature at the start of the event has been in the low 30's. One day we had about 5" of snow. We are inside, but the building is being remodeled so is no heat. Some have propane heaters but I am not one of the lucky ones and not going to spend the extra money to get one. Place is not wired to handle electric heaters. Oh well only have two weeks left.

Wanted to post some things that I just finished today. Have done these before but not for a while. They are 4" stone coasters. Have not put a sealer on them yet and will probably also fire them for a short time in a small craft oven that I have. Think this process burns off the dust and reduces clouding from the sealer. Here is a picture of the four that I did today.

Here is a picture of all four that I got done today. I forgot how much fun these are to do. They are about the size of tile so it is almost like doing one of those. Used a Identi-Pen for the tangles and then a gray Fabrico dual tip marker for the shading. Will probably use a light coat of a spray acrylic sealer.  

Did a single picture of this one as I was able to use a  newer tangle, Organic by Sayantika Ray. When I first saw it, thought that it would make a nice frame but as with a lot of tangles, the corners can be the tough part. Was able to work out a way to do this one that I was pleased with. 

I keep saying that I hope that I will be able to get to some of the challenges. I have started a few, but have not finished them in time to post them. When, and if I finally get a chance to complete one, maybe will post the ones that I finished after the deadline.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 244: "Tripoli Triptastic"

Have not had a lot of time to tiles for challenges recently but when I saw what this week's challenge was about, wanted to try to get something done. Had the opportunity when I had to wait for some routine work to get done on a vehicle. Tripoli is a tangle that I like using. I would not say that it is a "go to tangle" like it is for The Diva, but I like it for the secondary pattern that develops when you use the different fills in the triangles. Since I have not been able to participate regularly, I also decided to try to combine two challenges. I think it was last week that it was being minimalist. I chose to do this with this tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tripoli, Henna Drum

The tile is one that I did for a class when was doing alcohol inks to add color to tangling. Had it as an example and decided that I would use them to tangle on. These were with Dylusions inks. I think the colors on here are Turquoise and Crushed Grape. When I did these I sprayed the tile with water first and sprayed the inks on the wet tile.

I hope that I have some time to look at some of the post of other people. May not be able to comment a lot as still working on getting inventory up for the market that I am participating in the next 4 weeks. If you have not, visit I am the Diva and see all the great art created by other artists.

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

Go Tangle !!

New items for the season

I have been woefully negligent about posting anything or participating in any of the on line challenges recently. I think I over extended myself. I have three different things going on over the next 5 weeks. The one that takes the most time, meaning I have to man the sale starts tomorrow and is every Saturday  until the 2nd or 3rd week in December. I still have a lot of work to do . Here are a couple of new items this year.

The first two are pillow boxes and a gift card envelope. I like the way the envelope works better than the pillow box. The pillow box is done on paper that I colored with alcohol inks. It turned out darker in the pictures than it is in reality. Used some of my wife's card making supplies to finish off the envelope. It makes a nice closer for the flap. There are foam dimensionals between the layers. The gap is where the point of the flap fits in.

I did a card last year and this is a new addition. The cares are the only things that I make prints of. They are too time consuming to try to do individual cards. I liked this because it reminds me of a tree with ornaments. I was pleased with the way that this turned out.

I am hoping to get back into the swing of  things with posting a little more regularly and hopefully participating in some of the on line challenges more regularly.

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

Go Tangle !!

Tangled letter project: Framed

Said I would post when I had finished with this. Not real pleased with the frame but ended up getting some thing a little bigger because I was going to use this as a display and wanted to have some information on it. The letter is as 5" stencil and the frame is a certificate frame, 8.5 x 11. Not sure that  would have looked good in a 5x7 frame. May try a clip frame to see how I like that look. The problem is that only saw 8x10 size. Oh well, will just have to experiment. Someone suggested, asked, if could make copies of the letters so that could just do prints if someone wanted one. Will try a few with that. Here is the finished project.

Two Challenges in One: Diva Challenge #239 & Zendala Dare # 112

Have not been able to participate in any of the challenges that I usually do. Decided

that it I was going to do it needed to come up with a way to use one tile for both challenges. The Diva Challenge is to use the tangle Muchin. You could also add the challenge of doing white on black. The Zendala Dare was the usual format of The Bright Owl posting a template and pretty much leaving it up to the person what they wanted to do with it. This did present a challenge as I usually do not change the template a lot. There is nothing that says you cannot change it but I always viewed it as part of the challenge was using the template. Well to complete one tile for both challenges I did not think I could accomplish that with the template that was provided. What I did was a pretty significant change. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Munchin, Tipple

Shading done with White Charcoal pencil. 

To see the original zendala template, and look at what others did, go to The Bright Owl. This is the first Zendala Dare that I have done in a while.

To see what people have done with the tangle Munchin, go to I am the Diva. I would encourage you to try either one of these challenges or if possible both of them. I am hoping to see what is posted in both challenges. I may also get lucky and get to the the focus tangle of the week on Square One.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #238: " UMT- Tri-bee by Beate Winkler, CZT"

Was not sure if I was going to get to the challenge this week. I usually try to do the UMT Challenges because it gives me a chance to try some new tangles. This challenge also gave me an opportunity to work on some things that will be doing in a class a little later this month. The class is on adding color but will doing it with water color washes and alcohol inks. I have used water color washes before but never used alcohol inks. This is my first experience with Dylusions ink. Did not turn out too bad but did not get a really good balance between the two colors. I did a regular white square tile and a Renaissance Zendala® tile. The later is the one that I used for this challenge. The red is not quite as overpowering as what it is on the white tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tri-bee, Flux, Featherfall, Zinger, & Scroll Feather

Highlighting and shading was done with an 01 Micron that is low on ink. Have never done this before, but I like the effect.  

Have not had a chance to look at what others have done. Hoping to get a chance to look at them. Are usually some great pieces of art. If you have not looked at them, go to I am the Diva and look at what others have posted. Would also encourage you to try it your self, even if you do not post what you  do. It is about the process for you, not the end result. 

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

Go Tangle !!

New Project: Tangled Letter - Step II, Cut out

Was not sure that I was going to post each step but got this done and decided to go ahead. I completed the areas that I am cutting out. May have to go back and clean up a few of the cuts. Still not sure what I will put it on. To give an idea of where the cuts were made I took a picture with two different backgrounds. Not sure what I will end up using. Will probably be something neutral so very likely that it will be black. Not sure what I will do for a frame.

Tangles ( from the bottom): Mooka, Rixty(variation), Tripoli, Flora, Nymph, Cubine, Keeko, Poke Root, Poke Leaf.

This is a time consuming process. Not sure how if I will do this as a class and not sure how to structure it. Concerned that it did it in two or more classes not sure how would charge for it. Also not sure if many  would be willing to put that much time into it. I cannot do longer classes. 

Did notice that in doing the cutting, What I did on Tripoli, it really changed the way that the tangle looks. Probably better to use more organic or linear tangles when you do this. Have a couple of different size stencils. Do not have a 2" which would probably be better if doing more than one letter. May try making my own stencils by picking fonts on the computer, enlarging them and then tracing those. Will wait and see.  Nest will probably do with a little more traditional block letter.

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

Go Tangle !!

New Project: Tangled Letter

I really do not remember who the CZT was that originally posted this. The first time I saw it I thought it was great and wanted to try it. That was some time ago. I never gave up on it, I just did not work on it a lot. Part of that at first was that I did not know if I wanted to do the letter free hand or to use a stencil. I ultimately decided to use the stencils that I won in Genevieve Crabbe's give away. They are a 5" stencil. I used the letter for my first name, a D. I am not done with it yet as I have only completed tangling and coloring. I hope to complete the cutting out of sections soon but wanted to post what I had so far. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Mooka, Rixty(variation),Tripoli, Flora, Nymph, Cubine, Keeko, Poke Root and Poke Leaf.

Colors where done with Prismacolor pencils. Some are layered and others are single colors. I used a blender on all of them.

Two things that I have to decide. One is what color matte I will use as a background and also what to cut out and what to leave. Will post when I have it completed. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #235: "String Theory: Stripe"

Things have been busy so have not had much time to participate in any of the challenges that I normally do. It has also resulted in my neglecting my blog and not making many post. I have missed participating in them. When I saw what this week's challenge was, I first thought about skipping this one also. But I realized I really needed a break and do some tangling just to tangle. The challenges have a structure but not as much pressure as when am making something for sale or a display. Kept it simple except for one stripe. I will explain that later. Pulled out a Renaissance tile just for a little variety.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Shattuck, 'Nzeppel, Puff, Opsess, and Gingajava

Shading/highlighting done with HB graphite pencil and white Prismacolor pencil. Used a blender on the Prismacolor.

Said I kept it simple except for one stripe. Used a couple of old standards like Shattuck. That is one of my go-to tangles.  I could not decide whether to do large squares or smaller squares with Gingajava. I decided to use the smaller squares. Was too small a space for the detail inside. Oh well, it still turned out well.

Have not looked at any other posts so far. Hope I can get to some later. Have a lot going on until later in the week. Hope I have a chance to look at what others have posted and post a few comments. Would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at the great art work. Try it yourself, even it you do not post it.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #233 : "New Official Tangle - Zenith" - 2nd post ZIA attempt

Saw so many great uses of the new tangle Zenith as a frame that decided that it would indeed look great that way. Have done matte frames before but it has been a while. Was pleased with the way that this turned out. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Zenith, the corners I do not think are a specific tangle but line work.

Not sure that the color on this shows up well. The matte is for a 5x7 picture and fits in an 8x10 frame. It is ecru with the gold highlights. Used black and brown 01 Microns for the tangles. Did not do any additional shading. the shading in the corners was the result of the repetitive lines.

If you have not all ready done so, would strongly encourage you to visit, I am the Diva to look at all the great posts using this new tangle. Try it yourself, even if you do not post it. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #233: "New Official Tangle - Zenith"

Guess I was a week ahead. I used Zenith in last week's challenge. May include that one in this post also. Do not like to use things that I have posted before. I wanted to do something different with it also. I was lazy and used what I had available so this is on a Renaissance tile. I wanted to try something different. It did not go as well as I planned. I got a little ambitious when I wanted to do two rows of circles instead of leaving it with one. That is where the problem occurred. In keeping with "no mistakes" and my practice of posting the first tile that I do, I pushed ahead. I really could not think of a way to incorporate what was there so I did the next best thing, Bronx Cheer. Even with that, it did not turn out too poorly. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Hollibaugh, Zenith, Shattuck, Mooka, & Bronx Cheer.

Shading and highlighting done by layering colored pencils and white Prismacolor pencil.

Have only briefly looked at what others have done. Do not usually get mine done this early in the week so will probably check back through out the week to see what others have posted. Would encourage you to check out the posts at I am the Diva. Try it your self, even if you do not post it. I can tell you that part of the fun of participating is reading the comments that others make on your post. Not everyone comments, but there are a number of people who do.

I mentioned earlier that I might post last week's tile also. Here it is. Saves you the time to go back to an earlier post.

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

Go Tangle !!

New tangle, tangleation or a pattern: SYR

I started exploring different things that could do starting with a basic shape. I started this over a year ago when I posted a page from my journal and called it "S-Ploration". I did not name any of the patterns and I did not do step outs on most of these. One that I did do, and that developed out of this exploration is Opsess. The easiest way to view the journal page is to go to My Tangles page on my blog. You will have to scroll down to S-Ploration.  I decided that it was time for me to finally get this done.

I started with the one that is probably the most involved but it is still simple. It uses intersecting S's. You can add what ever embellishments you can to finish it off. There is one on the journal page that I would consider a variation that I did not include in the step out. I call this SYR. To pronounce it just say the letters (ess-why-er). I chose this because it reminds me of iron or wire work. Here is the step out.

Here is a time that I used it when I was doing a demonstration at an event to generate interest in classes.  I am not sure that I have used it in a tile or ZIA.  Here is a section of that newsprint, showing this tangle.

I will be posting the other step outs that I have created for a few of the other tangles on this page. I hope you have fun with this and would be interested in seeing anything that you might do using this tangle.

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

Go Tangle!!

Zendala Dare #107

Did not realize how out of practice I was in doing Zendalas. I have used the round Zendala tiles before but more recently it has not been with a template. It is taking me a little bit of adjustment having a template and deciding how I want to use it or even what tangles come to mind when I look at it. I have to admit that the recent templates have been an additional challenge for me. The template is similar to a string and it is a guide that you can decide how you want to follow. I have tended to not modify the templates in the past. May have to revisit that. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Auraknot, Finery, Fassett, and Zenith

Shading done with HB, 2B, and 4B pencils

I was hoping to participate in the Zendala Dare a little more regularly. Have not been able to do so. Will have to examine that as I continue to have a number of other things that are occupying my time. Not sure if some of the challenges lately have been the style of the templates or just my lack of doing them. Am looking forward to looking at what others have done. If you have not done so would encourage you to go to The Bright Owl and look at what others have done. Give it a try yourself. You do not have to use a circle tile to do it. 

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

Diva Challenge #232: Guest Blogger, Holly Atwater, CZT: Dual Challenge - Audio vs Betweed - Betweed

This will be my final post on this week's Diva Challenge. I like the tangle Betweed. I have seen some really great ways that it has been used. I have to admit that I am not always as pleased with the way that mine have turned out. My original intent was to do a white on black tile. That changed when I went to start and I found out I did not have the container with my white gel pens. So I began looking at what I had with me. I had some regular gel pens as well as Glaze and Moonlight gel pens. Decided to go with the latter. These are both Sakura products. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Betweed, Zenith

I chose not to do any shading on this. I may decide to try somethings with either some water color pencils or Prismacolor pencils but I kind of like it the way it is. That is unusual for me as I usually like the impact shading has on a tile.

As I mentioned earlier, this was done with Sakura Moonlight Gel pens. They do tend to be rather bright and some of them are fluorescent. They do tend to look a little different after they dry. Actually the color came out more after they dried.

If you have not all ready visited I am the Diva, would encourage you to do so. This is one that is really a good one for people to participate in if they have not done so before. I encourage it , even if you do not post it. I mentioned in the beginning that this would be my last post on this week's challenge. I did not really explain why. It really has to do with time. It has been a while since I have participated in the Zendala Dare and I am hoping to tackle that template this week. There are only so many hours in a day and have to choose how I am going to use them. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #232: Guest Blogger, Holly Atwater, CZT: Dual Challenge Audio vs. Betweed - Audio 2

Here is the second tile I did for this week's Diva Challenge. It is the Audio 2 Meditation. I decided to go out of the box a little and used a Renaissance tile and a brown micron on this instead of a Bijou or original tile. This presented a little more of a challenge. There was a section where she was talking about he shading or highlighting that I did not understand what she was saying to do. I think this is a difficulty with the spoken, and written language, that many times things seem really clear to us because of our frame of reference. Others who do not have this hear it differently. Remember an old communication exercise that use to do where a person had a figure on a piece of paper and what they had to do is give verbal directions to the group to draw the figure on the paper. The person could not use there hands to illustrate and the people could not ask questions. Was always interesting to see the variations that would occur. The idea of there being a "right way" was not relevant in this exercise but it is hard for it not to creep in. Did have to remind myself of that when I was unsure. Made it a little easier to  proceed. I have to admit that as I have looked at others that have done this same audio prompt, I am looking to see how they addressed it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Nipa. Shading done with HB pencil. 

I added a little extra shading to accent the movement on this one. I was aware of the tangle that was being used fairly into the directions. Tried to not let this influence me. 

This is one that I would encourage you to participate in as if you just look at the posts of the audio challenges, not sure that it will mean as much to you.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #232: Guest Blogger, Holly Atwater, CZT : Dual Challenge - Audio vs Betweed - Audio 1

This week's Diva Challenge is definitely a different one. Will do a couple of posts because of the way it is structured. Basically, it starts out like the old Mission Impossible , "....Your mission, should you choose to accept it is ..."  Not really quite like that but can chose to do all or just some of them. I have completed a couple of the audio challenges and hopefully can get to Betweed sometime this week.  This first one is the Audio 1 challenge and I did it on a Bijou tile. Here is what I came up with.

Tangle: Tripoli

Shading with 2B pencil

This was interesting as I had an idea with the first instruction what tangle was going to be used. I tried to pay attention to just he instructions rather than thinking ahead. I added a little more shading to this to highlight the whole tangle.

Will check out what others have done at least for this part of the challenge. Will have to visit a lot for this.

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

Go Tangle !!

  

Two class lessons accomplished with one project: "Tangle play and There are no mistakes"

Really did not plan on posting this but things have a way of just happening sometimes. I have been busy getting things ready for a class on Saturday August 22. We are doing the 3D ZIA balls. Figured it would be a good project this early in case people wanted to use it for Christmas. Well in the process of making an example for them to look at, I ended up addressing two Zentangle® principles. They both occurred  because of the same thing.  I will show you the picture of what I was doing so I can refer to it.

I was working on the middle stripe and decided to use Sandra Strait's tangle Fohbraid. I checked her blog for the step out. I knew I was going to have to do some playing with it because of the shape of the tangle and the space that I was putting it in. Kind of putting a round peg in a square hole. Felt that for this, I needed to have minimal negative space. Well before I could really decide what to do after I had the main part of the tangle done, I changed one of the lines. The arc coming from the corner of the triangle is suppose to come down to the arc underneath it. OOPS!!

Now what to do. I really did not want to start over. I was not doing any of the embellishment inside the sections so I just continued what I started, not really being sure what I was going to do. I am not sure when I I decided what I was going to do. I looked at the spaces and just let it happen. I was pleased with the way that it turned out.

I made a copy of this so I can use it in some upcoming classes, as well as the one tomorrow. Figured one of the best ways to illustrate those two principles was my own examples.

In case you are interested, here is what the finished project looks like. Think it turned out well. Looking forward to class tomorrow.

Tangles used , from the top down: Flora, by Sandy Steen Bartholomew, sorry but I do not remember the name of the leaf-like tangle down the middle. Next is Tierso with the Fohbraid variation. Last is Japonica, also by Sandra Strait, with Shattuck (with highlights). 

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

Go Tangle !!  

Diva Challenge #231: Guest Blogger - Sharla Hicks, CZT - " The Undulating Tangles in C and S minor"

This week's guest blogger has an interesting challenge. It is to take a couple of the basic strokes and play with them. There are a few more suggestions. One is to take familiar tangles and work in a series. The other is to take a new one and begin a new series. This makes a little more sense if you look at her entire post here. She developed her style by redoing the same tangle and changing or pushing each attempt. I think this is what she means by a series.

When I hear undulating, the first person that I think of is Helen Williams. She has a way of weaving her tangles and lines across the page that is unique to her. So I chose to use one of her patterns, Tumbleweed. Cannot say that it is undulating as what hers would be, but it was interesting doing it. At some time I would like to try to do a little more with it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tumbleweed, Stripes, Tipple

Shading done with 4B, 6B, and HB pencils.

I think I may have gotten a little carried away with the shading. I thought of using gray Prismacolor pencils to do the shading but I only have 2 gradients, 30% and a 50%. Did not think this provided enough variance. For some reason when I try to do Tumbleweed, I do not get that nice broad flow that I would like. Need to keep working with it. 

I have not had a chance to look at many of the things that others have posted. A few have shown up in my blog reader. Hope can look at them during the rest of the week. If you have not all ready looked at the other post at I am the Diva, would encourage you to do so. Give it a try yourself, even if you do not post it. 

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

Go Tangle !!   

Diva Challenge #230: "Let's all be ZenDivaDala - Guest Blogger The Bright Owl, Erin Olson, CZT

This week I did not have to make a choice between doing the Diva Challenge or the Zendala Dare as the guest Blogger is Erin Olson, the CZT that does the Zendala Dare. Since she has returned she has definitely come up with some unique templates. This week is no exception. I am not sure about this one. I usually use tangles to complete the different sections. While I used some, or variations of some it is mostly line work. That is different for me. I have seen some people that can do this with really stellar results. Mine are not in that category but it is okay. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles, or variations used: Betweed, Scena, Verve, Munchin

Shading done with 2B pencil.

Lately have been spending more time trying to get my inventory back up. That is one reason that I have not had as much time to participate, or even respond to recent challenges. It also a reason why my blogs have been pretty simple and maybe a little terse. Hopefully things will slow down a little soon. I have not looked at what others have posted. I am sure that there are a lot of interesting creations. If you have not checked them out all ready would encourage you to go to I am the Diva to do so.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #229: "+/ - ", Guest Blogger Sandy Hunter,CZT

These week's Guest Blogger is Sandy Hunter. She may be best known for some of her tangles and her tangle remix. They are fun to do . Her challenge is not just to have some negative space, but to make it the focus of the tile. This was harder than I thought. I have not used strings for a while. I usually just pick a tangle and start. I though about doing this and seeing what negative space was left. I decided to not do this and settled for a string with a basic star/flower shape. I had some ideas of what I wanted to do but I am not sure that it ended up leaving the white space as the star of the tile. I decided to use the black/brown color combo and this may have taken away from having the negative space be the focus. The tile itself, I like but not sure that it was successful in addressing the challenge. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Zander, Shattuck, Merryweather

Shading done with HB, 4B graphite pencils. Color highlighting done with Prismacolor Pencils (Golden rod, Burnt Ochre, and White. 

When I decided to use Merryweather, did not realize that it was a tangle developed by the Sandy Hunter. Went to check the step-out and then saw it. Decided to keep it as it seemed to fit. If you  have not all ready done so, would encourage you to go to I am the Diva to look at the pieces of art that have been posted. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #228: Guest Blogger - Cari Sultanik, CZT

Have another newer CZT being the guest blogger for the Diva Challenge. Cari Sultanik is also the lady who started the FB Zentangle Prayers for Hayden. This was to support a little girl, and her family, that is struggling with cancer. People she asked that people do a tile and post it to the page but a number of people also sent the tiles as well. But that is not what this challenge is about. This is about celebrating things organic and natural. She stated that she has always liked the tangles that imitate nature.

I have been busy the last couple of weeks getting ready for classes, an event, deciding to put items in a local consignment/reuse store, and my job has kept me busy. I did not even do a tile for last week's challenge. I was not sure that I would do anything this week either. After I started it, I was glad that I did. It was nice to do something just to tangle and not preparing things. Was definitely ikn production mode before. This was just relaxing. I enjoy doing the organic tangles also but there are times when I can be frustrated by them. I chose to use some old faithful tangles for this one. This is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Featherfall, Phicops, Abundies, & Tipple. 

I am not sure about the pod tangle. It is kind a cross between In-a-pod and Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Awdry. It may also be one that someone else has done and I just do not know the name of it.

Shading is done with HB, 2B, and 4B pencils.

Carol Ohl's Featherfall is one of my favorite oranic patterns. I like the way that you can have them close together and it still looks nice. Did not really intend it, but after I was doing this had an aquatic character to it. I am pleased with the way this turned out as well as enjoyed doing it.  

I have not looked at many of the pieces of work that others posted. I saw a few that were in my blog reader. Probably will not have time to look at a lot of them, but hope to get to as many as I can. Will have to see how many I can comment on. I know I like it when people take the time to comment on my work. By this time, as this is really a late post, I am sure that most people have all ready looked at the posts but if not go to I am the Diva and check things out.

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

Go Tangle !!

More tangled gift bags

I did not intend to post a lot of these but some unique things happened as I was doing them. Here is the first one that I did. It is on brown craft paper and is about 5" x 8" I used Prismacolor pencils using a single color with white to create a tone. It generally lightens the color.

I purchased a number of other bags as well. These are larger and measure about 8"x 9". Here is one that has a silver frosted finish. I again used Prismacolor pencils with white for the tone and tried to do some with just the white. That did not show up as well in the pictures and it is not as strong in reality unless the light strikes it just right. I kind of reminded me of working with the frosted glass ornaments that I did a couple of years ago. as I usually do, I used a blending pencil on the Prismacolor pencils to smooth out the color.  Here is what the frosted one looked like.

I used a purple and a green Prismacolor pencil. For the black shading, I used a regular graphite pencil but also used the blender on this as well. I layered it to get the different intensities.

Here is the last one. This is the one that was the most surprising. The bag is the larger size and it is just a plain white paper. It is almost like working on a tile as far as the color goes. The paper is not the same quality. I say that as I approached it with the idea of using both black and brown microns. It developed in true Zentangle® style. I had no idea of what I wanted to do. I did not want to use a string so I started with a single circle. I did the one in the upper right first. I then did the one with Gneiss and the one with Drupe was last. I liked the combination of the black and brown. Then there became the issue of how to finish off the background. Probably got carried away with Opsess on the bottom but Florz was an easy choice. I did not want to do too much embellishment with it. I again used Prismacolor pencils for the highlighting and fill in Opsess. I am really pleased with the way that these turned out.

For those of you familiar with different tangles, I did not really make that many mistakes on the bag. A couple of the Bronx Cheers were to cover up some errant pen marks. Most of them were additions to provide a little balance after having so few on the cover.

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

Go Tangle !!

Tangling for fun: Flextangles and Tri-hexaflexagon

Getting ready for some events early in August. Wanted to have something fun. Not sure if I will sell these are do something to give them away as a way to attract customers. Either way they were fun to do. There are two different things. I only have one done with a little heavier paper. That is the flextangle. This post will have a lot more pictures than I normally post just to show you the different sides. and templates I have created.
Here are pictures of a completed Flextangle.

The tangles are done with microns and gel pens. The other sides are done with colored pencils. I did not make a copy of this so there will only be one like this. 

I did do a couple of other templates. Here are those. I have not made copies of these and put it together yet.

I did a little shading on the second one. Not sure if I will do any shading on the other. I kind of like it without. May keep it that way for the variety.

This last template is a little different.

The Paradox was done with colored Microns. The one above it is colored using Tombow markers. I have not used them a lot but they worked well on this. This is a Tri-hexaflexagon. If you are not familiar with these, here is a link to a page to see them. http://www.auntannie.com/Geometric/Flexagon/.  The Flextangle is easier to change the pattern but is a little harder to put together. The opposite is true with the Tri-hexaflexagon. It is flat so it is easy to put together but it took a while to figure out how to change the sides. I also think that it works better when you have patterns that are the same and you change the colors. 

The templates and the completed items were done on 90lb drawing paper. It is not as stiff as some of the card stock I have used, but it is heavier than copy paper. It withstands the flexing fairly well. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

Square One Focus Tangle: Hollibaugh

This week's focus tangle on the Square One FB page is Hollibaugh. This is an interesting tangle. It is usually one that I always teach in the Basic Class because of the drawing behind technique. Wanted to do something a little different with it.  Not sure when I did this before. Seems that maybe it was part of a challenge or maybe it was in response to a post in one of the FB pages. I like it because it adds a little flair to the tangle. Have been seeing Hollibaugh tangles that people have been doing at  Can-tangle. Not sure exactly what they were doing as there were just pictures with little information. Think that it is doing tangleations and trying to stretch tangles a little more. Because of the way that this is done was also able to include last week's focus tangle, Finery as I was not able to post a tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

 Tangles used: Hollibaugh, Paradox, Tipple, Finery, & Shattuck 

Shading done with 2B pencil

Have been a number of interesting things posted on the FB page. If you do not regularly follow this page, would encourage you to do so. You can see some great work and get some inspiriation about things to do. Is not really a site to post questions but can contact the poster in a private message with questions.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare # 102: Two in a Row & a New Job

The Bright Owl is on a roll posting two Zendala Dares in a row. She does have a reason to be pleased with her ability to do this as she is starting a new job which allows her to use her Nursing degree. Starting a new job while exciting is also stressful. Hopefully, creating her zendala allowed her to relax a little. This is an interesting template. Kind of fits in with this week's Diva Challenge on simplicity. Last week's template had a multitude of sections. This one had a lot of larger space. Simplicity and  easy are not always synonymous. I actually had more difficulty deciding what to do with this template. I finished this earlier but did not get around to posting it right away. That is probably a good thing as this is one of those tiles that my first reaction was so-so. After letting it set a while and then looking at it again, I am more pleased with it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Betweed, Cubine, Flux, Shattuck, Blooming Butter with Mak-Rah-Mee, Cadent, Antidots, & Zander.

The shading is done with 2B and 4B pencils. 

The center ring is somewhat inspired by some stacked circles that I have seen on the FB Stacked and Tangled page. Did not really turn out exactly like I envisioned, but that is okay.  Have only looked at The Bright Owl's blog a little. The last I looked there were only a few things posted. I hope more take the time to  do something and post it. I know it is hard and there are more challenges now than when she first started the Zendala Dare. I enjoy doing them and it is different than the other challenges and FB page ideas/focus. Not sure that I will get to every one she posts and will probably have to rotate what I participate in a little. If you have time, check out what others have done at The Bright Owl and try it yourself. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #226: Guest Blogger - Katie Crommett - Simplicity

This week's Diva Challenge guest blogger is, I think, one of the more recent CZTs Katie Crommett. I guess by newer, she was after my CZT training. I remember seeing her post things though before she went to the training. Any way, her challenge to us is Simplicity. Not sure what things I will see as that can mean different things to different people. She also indicated to use only 2 - 3 tangles at the most. I think I was successful in this challenge. I only used 3 tangles and none of them are particularly complicated. I tried to keep the shading simple also. Here is what I came up with. I hope yolu enjoy it.

Tangles used: Abundies (which mine looks a lot like Narwal), Springkle, & Florz

Shading done with 4B & 2B pencils. 

 I have not looked at many of the things posted so far. A few have shown up in my blog reader. Hoping to get to look at as many of possible over the rest of the week. Would encourage you to check out I am the Diva. Take a risk and try it yourself and post your results on the Diva's blog.

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

Go Tangle !!

Another thing that did not move: Tangled Gift Bags with a Little Color

A couple of years ago I did some gift bags for the office staff. I unfortunately did not take any pictures of them. I am trying to get a variety of things together for some events over the summer. Thought I would do some gift bags again. Have a variety of them but started out with the brown craft paper ones. Tried to add a little color to this rather than just using white highlights.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Pea-nuckel, Intwine, Dragonair, Antidots, &Chainlea

Highlights and shading done with Prismacolor Premier pencils.

Tried a little different thing with some of the color. The green and blue are a single color then white over the color. If I do it again I may try some layering of colors before I add the white. It is really experimenting trying to get the color tint that you want. The brown is actually the layering I did on one of the recent challenges. I used white but instead of it being the last color it was in the middle. It is Goldenrod, White, and Burnt Ochre. 

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

Go Tangle !!   

Zendala Dare #101: She's Baaaaack !!!

Guess who's baaaaaack? That's right, it is The Bright Owl with Zendala Dare #101. I remember seeing the previous one, but not sure how long ago it was or if I even participated. For a couple years it was one that I participated in regularly and I do enjoy Zendalas. I have to admit that it took a little getting use to. I have not done a lot of Zendalas lately and those that I did were more free hand so I was not dealing with a template. Some would think that having a template would make it easier but there is a little decision making about how you want to use the template. I put the whole template on the tile and just took a little at a time. I started on the outside, then the center and then the middle part and the shading. It really was easier once I decided on the center. Before that I was not sure exactly what I was going to do with the majority of the template. Well enough gabbing. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used : Verve, Betweed,  Gneiss

Shading done with 4 B pencil

The last I looked there were not a lot of other zendalas posted at The Bright Owl. Hoping that a few more will do something. It is always interesting to see what people do with the templates. Would encourage you to take a look by clicking on the link above. Why not give it a try yourself, even if you do not post it.

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

Go Tangle !!