Mixing two techniques: Tangling and Pyrography

Have wanted to do more with combining these two before but have not had the materials or the time. I have some other materials but they are rounded. Figured was probably better to start with something that was flat. This, for me, takes more patience than just tangling with a Micron. I actually did do a couple of them with Microns first. The others are burned. The small ones are about 1.5 inches long and the larger ones are about 2.75 inches long.  Used Tung oil as a finish. I hope you enjoy them.

Decided to keep the tangles pretty simple and use ones that basically had straight lines. I did stray from this a little when I did Bales on one of the larger crosses. Figured that was a little more possible since it was a larger surface. Used a tipple effect on two of them. I like the one that is darker a little better. I think it is because of the contrast.

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

Go Tangle !!

Some more new things: Finished shadow box with tangled insert

I am not sure if I posted something earlier on here or it was on the CZT FB page about these shadow boxes that I got at Hobby Lobby. Was not sure when I would get around to doing anything with them. I was able to work on them sooner than I expected. Here is a picture of one of the shadow boxes before any thing was done on them.  The box is about 2.5" square.

Was not exactly sure what I wanted to do with them. I thought of painting the box and then tangling on that. That would be a lot of work and was not sure that I wanted to tackle that right now. When I first saw them my first thought was that I could do a tile to put in the window. That is what I decided to do. I still wanted to do something with the box itself but did not like the idea of painting them. I decided to just varnish one of them and the other two I stained first and then used Tung oil as a finish. here is what they looked like when done with this process.

The lower right is the natural finish. Did not show up as well in the picture. The stain is pretty light and I did not let it soak into the wood for long because I wanted the stain but not something that dark.The stain is a Minwax product, Golden Oak. 

For the inserts I used Bijou tiles. I had to trim a little to fit into the window and as you will see later, some of the tile is hidden because of the size of the window.  Here are pictures of the tiles I did. 

I realized after taking the picture that you could not really see them that well. Here are pictures of each one individually with a few comments about them.

This is the first one that I did. The color is done with layered Prismacolor pencils. Was pleased with the way that it turned out.

This was actually the last one I did . Wanted to do more of a traditional tangle tile. Used Cubine and 'Nzeppel as the tangles. I did use layered Prismacolor pencils again to add the color.

For this last one, I started out doing a water color wash. I used Faber-Castell pencils. I liked the wash but was not sure wanted I wanted to do. When I originally looked at it with the blue on the sides (sorry, did not take a picture before I started tangling on it). Was not too taken with it. I began rotating the tile and noticed on the one orientation the blue looked like sky and water and the middle section looked like hills. I liked that but was still not really sure what I wanted to do. Was not sure what tangles I could use. I admit, I was also worried about how it would look. Anyway I pushed ahead and used the brown Micron for most of the work except for the lower blue section. Does not show up but also used as a white Prismacolor pencil to try to put in some clouds in the top section of blue. I was pleased with the result.  Here is what the finished tile looked like.   

Used a tangle from Sandy Steen Bartholomew's "Totally Tangled" book Swell. For the hills, I used Diva Dance and a Shattuck style stroke. I decided to leave the sky and the one section untangled.  I hope you enjoy it and hope I did not add too much to it. 

Okay, enough rambling. Here are the finished items.

Think they turned out well.

I appreciate your patience if you got all the way through this post. I have some other new things that I am working on but they are not ready post. Combined a little tangling with pyrography. Stay tune to see those.

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

Go Tangle !! 

More new things and finishing another: Tangled gems on wooden boxes & cross pendants

I think about a week ago I posted some wooden crosses that I was working on. Well I finally was able to finish them. Have the polyurethane on to seal them, have added the bales, and also a 32" waxed cord. I have a couple of others that I am working on that I am not using polyurethane on but Tung Oil. I think I like those better. Does not have the sheen that the polyurethane has but I think I like the matte effect. Also easier to get it on evenly with fewer coats. Will post pictures of those when I get them done. Here is the finished project. I hope you enjoy them.

The other new thing is a combination of new things. I had purchased some small wooden boxes a number of months ago. I never got around to doing anything with them. I had a couple of ideas, but they just sat for a long time. Well, I figured that I needed a couple of new things for a venue that I participating in later this month. So I pulled them out. I thought about a little pyrography but decided against it as the wood is not that good for burning. I may try that later. I had done a class on the tangled gems and decided to try putting one of those on the lids. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy them. 

I used Faber-Castell water color pencils on the gems. I did the blue one first and learned a few things in the process. The setting is done with a black micron. I used a really light touch to do that.  The orange does not come through as well in the photo as it does for real. I think that the artificial light had an effect on this. Probably as the orange one was the second one I did, and I was a little more comfortable with the process, I prefer this one. Both have 3 colors that were used to create the tangled gem. Not sure how many of them I will do in the future as they are a little labor intensive.

I have a few other new items that I am hoping to get done. Stay tuned and I will post pictures when I get it accomplished.

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

Go Tangle.

Some new things that are working on: Tangling on wood

Always looking for new things to do. Saw these in Hobby Lobby and finally getting around to doing something with them. These two I used a micron to do the tangles. I have some more and am going to try burning them. Used a water based varnish to seal. That is the reason for the "shine" on the picture. All they need now are some bales and probably a leather strap. Have to look for some other bales. I think the ones that I have I can make work but they are a little large for these items. They are pretty small. They are about 1.5" by 1.25" and .25" thick. I have some larger ones, but have not done anything with them yet. Will post another picture when I get them completed.

Here is what they look like so far. I hope  you enjoy them.

Tangle in the middle of the black one is Gneiss and the brown one is Merryweather.

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

Go Tangle !!

Two for One: Diva Challenge #270-Skye by Margaret Bremner, CZT and Square One focus-Bales.

Had some time to do some tangling. Actually I made time. I probably should have been doing some other things. This week's Diva Challenge is to use Margaret Bremner's new tangle Skye. I saw it when it was first posted. I did not have time to try it then. Since the Diva made it the challenge, it was the push I needed to do it. It is a little tricky and there are a couple of spots that did not turn exactly as I had planned, but it is okay. To get a little more mileage from the tile I also included Bales which is the focus tangle on Square One. As with a lot of tiles, one of the biggest challenges is the shading. Not sure what is occurring as I had been feeling a little more comfortable with the shading that I had been doing. Finding it more difficult for some reason.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Skye, Girdy, Bales, and Tipple.

Shading done with HB and 2B pencils.

Have not looked at many of the other posts. If I am going to participate, I usually do not look at what others have done until I have completed mine. Occasionally I will see one that shows up in my blog reader.  If you have not visited I am the Diva yet, I would encourage you to do so. I would also encourage you to try your tile. It is fun and you do not have to post your work. Although people who participate are very supportive

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

Go Tangle !!