Lacey crocheted white over sweater

Have not done a lot of posts on things other than ZIA or Zentangle® items.  Actually it has been a long time since I have posted anything.  Part of the reason is that I participated in a Winter Market that met for 6 consecutive Saturdays.  The last Saturday was December 16.  Here are pictures of my area and the different things for sale.

This kept me pretty busy.  In the process, tried to keep some of the smaller items available if I sold what I had.  Also ended up with 2 commissioned pieces. The one was a set of tiles that I put in an acrylic frame for coasters.  I do not have pictures of those.  Were both ZIAs with a musical  theme.  The other was a crocheted sweater.  I have modified things that I made for family members but this was the first time I did something for someone else and without a pattern.  I went to Ravelry and looked for some ideas as I knew what she wanted.  Took some information from one on sizing and took off from there. I had done a lacey shawl that she liked and she wanted something along those lines.  Could not replicate the exact pattern as the shawl was done in a large triangle. Anyway, here is what I ended up with for the completed project.  I was pretty pleased with it.  Have not delivered it yet so hope she enjoys it.  Here is a picture of the finished sweater.

It is a simple pattern using double crochet stitches. The neck and arm openings are finished with single crochet rounds and the bottom has a shell stitch. That was one of the stitches that was used in the shawl that she liked as an edging and I was able to incorporate it in the sweater as well.

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

Go Tangle !! ( or knit or crochet if that is your thing!)

Diva Challenge # 336: "Striping - Monotangle"

Have not been able to participate in a lot of challenges lately.  Had some time but then realized that I only had Bijou tiles.  Oh well, just did two in a little different style. Am away from my laptop so am doing this on my tablet. Hope I can get things posted. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it. (Had to wait until I got to my laptop as was not able to figure out how to load things on my computer.)

This is a more traditional use of Striping.  

Here, I tried some thing a little different.  Did not exactly turn out the way that I was thinking but still kind of interesting.

  This is from one of the challenges that I did not get finished.  Felt some need to finish it but also had some time to tangle and did not have any blank full size tiles.  Did not use the typical hexagon shape, but most have 6 sides. 

 All the shading was done with HB pencil. 

I have not looked at any of the other things posted on I am the Diva. If you have not either, encourage you to look at what others have done. Are always  interesting pieces.  Just click on the link above to go there directly.

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

Go Tangle !!

 

Diva Challenge #335: "UMT - Tint by Henrika Bratz. CZT"

This week's challenge is a Use my Tangle (UMT) challenge.  It uses the Tangle Tint by Henrika Bratz.  I was not famillar with this tangle but I like it because it uses simple strokes and you can do a lot to embellish it.  I needed some simple tangling so it fit really well for me.  Won't go into a lot of detail but life has been a little more stressful lately for a variety of reasons.  I started the last two challenges and never completed the tiles.  One all I got done was the string. Another, I got about a third done and never got back to it. I finished this tile in a relatively short time.  Did not try to do a lot and kept everything simple. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tint, Florz

Shading done with graphite pencil

I have not looked at anything other than the Diva's example on her blog.  I would encourage you, if you have not all ready, to go and look at the pieces submitted. There are numerous pieces of astounding art.

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

Go Tangle !!

Another tangled pumpkin

The other two that I did have been sold so was trying to get others done. Here is one that is a mixture of free form and structured patterns.  Used a Sakura Microperm pen to do the tangles.  I am fond of the tangled tree myself.  Here are picture of the top and the different sections of the pumpkin.

The tangle dividing the different "scenes" is Shattuck. It is one of my go to tangles.  Other tangles used include Sea Wave, Aquafleur, Phicops, Diva Dance, Squid, Indy-rella, and Sanibelle to name a few.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #330: "Zentangle Plates"

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Jeanette Clawson. She is a graduate of CZT #27 although she has been tangling for a number of years.  You can read about her story here on The Diva's blog. She explains a little about what lead her to this art form.  Like many, it was a tool in dealing with things.  It isn't that tangling is the only one that can do this but I think its portability makes it easy to use anywhere.

The basis of her challenge is her love of mandalas.  When she was at the CZT seminar they discussed tangle plates, which is really a mosaic or arcs and when you put 4 tiles together, they form a plate.  You can get as symmetrical and as intricate as you want.  She did 4 tiles but indicated that it was not necessary to do 4 for the challenge. You could do only one.

I like mandalas also and have about 100 that I have done over the years.  I have not done the mosaic style of this challenge.  Was not sure that I was going to participate due to time and I knew that I would not be able to do 4 tiles.  My intent was to do one tile.   It is similar to the stripes challenge that was done a couple of times.  Well when I was ready to start, I found out that I did not have a full size tile. I had some Bijou tiles. I only had two of them. Which I decided to use. So mine is a "broken plate".

As a time saver, I decided to do the same tangles on similar rings.  Here are the two tiles that I completed.

Tangles used: Tipple, Cubine, Hibred, Meer, Bird on a Wire

Shading done with HB pencil

Here are the two together to form my "broken plate" ( see the jagged line along the bottom?)

I have only seen a few of the pieces posted. Those are ones that show up in my feed list.  I plan on trying to look at them over the next couple of days. Would strongly recommend that you go and look when you have the chance. You can do so by clicking here on I am the Diva.  

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

Go Tangle !!

ZIA Variation on Aloha

When I did the Diva Challenge using Aloha I had mentioned that I was working on something that I was going to use a variation of it in. I finally was able to complete it.  This is a picture mat for a 5x7 picture.  It will fit in an 8x10 frame. I used a blue 01 micron. Did not do any shading on this. I could but I like it enough without it that I am going to leave it.  Have really enjoyed using Zander lately. Works great as a border or as a string.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.  I enjoyed doing it.

Tangles used: Aloha, Zander, Tipple and Flux.   

If you are not familiar with the tangle Aloha, deconstructed by Suzanne Fluhr you can find it here, as well as on tanglepatterns.com . 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #328: Guest Blogger, Suzanne Fluhr - Use my Tangle (UMT)

Got something done a little earlier this week as I was home a little more due to having a lithoripsy done.  Gave me something to do, although I could have probably worked on a number of other projects as well.

The firs Challenge of the month is typically a UMT Challenge, and Suzanne kept with this format choosing her tangle Aloha. You can read about it's origin on her blog here. It is a fun tangle to do and is versatile.  I chose to use it along with some other tangles to create an organic themed tile. I thought about using a grid tangle in the background. Was more an decision of convenience that anything else.  Was thinking of something like Florz.  Aloha can be used as a border. If I get it done soon, am working on a mat for a 5x7 picture. May use Aloha and some similar tangles on this as well.

 I first had contact with Suzanne on line through the Diva Challenge.  She participated in them in spite of her anxiety about her ability and then she also decided to go to Providence and attend a CZT seminar.  It is interesting to see the progression of her work over this time period and now she is a guest blogger.  Congratulations Suzanne.

Anyway, here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Aloha, Flux, Boing, Ahh,  and a few Zingers

Shading done with HB pencil.

I have not had a chance to look at all the things posted so far.  I have seen a few that have appeared on my reading list.  Would strongly encourage you to go to I am the Diva and take some time to explore all the great art that is submitted. This seems to be versatile tangle and think that may see a variety of things.

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

Go Tangle !!    

Diva Challenge #327: " The Diva Dancing in Lisbon"

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Henrike Bratz. She is from Germany and attended one the recent CZT seminars after tangling on her own for a couple of years.  She had recently been to Lisbon and took some pictures of different patterns that she saw. One she entitled the Lisbon fragment. You can see her step outs and variations here. You can see more of  her work on her block at this link. She coupled it with Diva Dance as that tangle was one used in the first Diva Challenge that she participated  in.  She gave the option of doing a duotangle or adding other tangles to the tile. The Lisbon tangle is one that is nice to look at but for me, it requires a lot of concentration.  Maybe it is because it is new to me but it is probably not one that I will use when I just want to get focused and lose myself in the repetitive strokes.  I also think that it is a tangle that looks best when your lines are very consistent.  Mine usually are not but it turned out okay.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Lisbon fragment, Diva Dance, Finery

Shading was done with HB pencil and Sakura white Gelly Roll pen.

This is the first time that I used the dots like this in a tile. I had seen others use it and wanted to try it. I think that since my line work was not as consistent and some of the grids are a little wonky, this helped with the overall tile.  I usually do little shading on Diva Dance. 

If you have not all ready done so, would strongly recommend you visit I am the Diva to look at some great pieces of art.  I have not had a chance to look yet but am hoping to do so over the next couple of days. You can go there directly by clicking on the link above. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #326: A Preteen, A Metaphor, and Mindfulness

This week's guest blogger is Elisa Murphy.  The basic part of her challenge is to do a mono tangle of 'Nzeppel.  You can read the details of the challenge on I am the Diva.  She focused on some of the issues of fitting in but I think the focus was really on really trying to engage the mindfulness of the Zentangle® art form.  That was not really a problem when I was doing the tangle as it does use repetitive strokes. I think this helps with the mindfulness.  I find any tangle that uses only a few of the elemental strokes and you just keep repeating them to create. the pattern, and do not have to keep looking back at the step out for what comes next, helps me get into that zone.  Case in point, I was working on something and was using paradox while I was a vendor at an event.  Now I know for some your reaction might be, " How in the world can you be mindful when doing Paradox".  Well, a couple of times I was so engrossed I did not notice people standing at my table looking at items.  Don't think I lost any sales thankfully. Now back to the challenge.  I lost a little of the mindfulness when I decided to add color. That is always a challenge for me. I have looked at it a number of times and while not completely satisfied with it, it is growing on me.  Think part of it is that I would have usually added some embellishments to this but chose not to to stay with the monotangle limit.   Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangle used: 'Nzeppel

Color done with Prismacolor pencils. Used a yellow, a yellow orange and a red. Did a lot of layering and also smoothed with a blending pencil.  I was not thinking in that I also used a cool gray Prismacolor pencil for the spaces in 'Nzeppel.  When I used the blending pencil, it got a little murky but additional layering helped. 

I have not looked at any of the other things that have been submitted. If you have not either, would suggest you go to I am the Diva and look at some interesting pieces of art.  

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

Go Tangle !!

Removal of Bright Owl button. But you can still find her blog.

Not sure what is going on but the buttons for both the Diva Challenge and The Zendala Dare recently changed. The Diva Challenge one did not interfere with my blog. For some reason the Zendala Dare super-sized the button and it blocked some of my post. It took me while to change it. Was just procrastinating.  I had left the button so that people who wanted to find the templates could use this. I decided to add her blog to my Zentangle links list so these are still accessible by clicking on it in the list.

Diva Challenge #325: "Pea-nuckle"

One of the things I find interesting in the tangling community is people's reactions to different tangles. I think it illustrates the diversity of the people that enjoy this art form.  This week's Diva Challenge highlights the tangle Pea-nuckle and is again courtesy of guest blogger Jessica Davies. Interesting that in both of her challenges she chose to focus on things that initially she was not fond of but later changed her perspective. While I agreed with her the last time, we did not on this one. I have always liked Pea-nuckle.  I like the way it looks and have used it in ZIAs specifically to get the basket look.  It also is a forgiving tangle in that the lines do not have to be consistent and the "Ss" do not all have to be the same size.  I also like the "S" shape and a couple of years ago did what I called S-ploration to just play with different things that could do with this elemental stroke. Out of this came my tangleation of Pea-nuckle which I also included in this tile.  I did this in 2015. I will provide some links later if want to explore either of these.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Pea-nuckle (lower left) Maria's flux, Ahh, and Pea-nuckle tangleation (upper right). 

Shading done with HB pencil. Not sure that it shows up that well in the picture but also used a white charcoal pencil and white gel pen to add a some highlights in both of the Pea-nuckle tangles. Trust me, it's there. 

With the larger area in between the two Pea-nuckle sections wanted something that was not as much dense line work. Thought about Betweed but did not want it quite that thin and did not want to do sections across. I chose to try using Maria's Flux in a Betweed fashion. Not sure that I completely pulled it off the way I would have liked but it is okay.  As indicated above, said that I would give a few links for things. This first is for the Pea-nuckle tangleation. There is a step out .  Just click on the link here. 

Is not a link for my S- ploration work. When I went to find it, realized had posted it on the My tangles page. You can go to the top and scroll down to find that.

Hoping to have more time to look at the different pieces submitted this week. Will see how that works out. If you have not been there, would strongly encourage you to explore the unique pieces of art that others have created. Just click on this link to go there directly.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #324: "Tangled Heart"

I was not sure about this challenge. I am not a heart type of person. I decided to do something because I really needed to tangle. This week's challenge is a guest post by Jessica Davies. During the summer, the Diva will have some guest posts to give her a little break and allow her some time with her family. Jessica chose this prompt due to some recent health problems and she used tangling as a way to help deal with the stress associated with it. There is a lot of anecdotal information of how tangling has helped a variety of people with a myriad of challenges.

I did decide that I would participate. I am not sure about what I came up with but the process was definitely relaxing. It is not that I do not like this tile, it is that it does not have the flow that I sometimes imagine in my head.  Usually the more I look at it, the more comfortable I become.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tipple, Mooka, Zinger, Ahh, Zenith

Shading done with HB pencil

I chose a Zendala tile as I had not done one in a while and it is also a little bigger. I have not done a zendala for quite some time. May have to revisit that again soon. 

If you have not visited I am the Diva to look at the other pieces submitted, I would strongly encourage you to do so. You can use the above link to go there directly.  I usually do not look at what others have posted until I get mine done. Will try to look at as many as I can in the next few days.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 323: "Home"

This week's Diva Challenge is to create a tile that reflects your home. The Diva talked about her Canadian heritage and the fact that they are celebrating their 150th birthday.  I have had a few homes in my life. They all have their unique characteristics and traits as well as memories. Was not sure what I was going to do for this challenge, or if I was going to do anything at all.  As I was thinking about it, when I think of home it usually involves the place that I grew up. I have not lived there for over 40 years but that is where a lot of my relatives live and if someone asks me, "Where's home?", that is the place that I will mention. Won't go into to details, but there are probably some recent and ongoing life events that also makes me think of that as home. Even after I decided on the place, was still not sure what I was going to do.

I grew up in a small town in Northwest Ohio. In the early years we lived on a street that only had one other house. Across the street was a farmer's field which usually rotated between corn and soybeans. There were two sections of town. The old section that mostly bordered the state road that went through town, and the newer section, where there were mostly ranch style homes. Were only a couple hundred people in the town. One of the things I remember about our house was the large maple tree that was/is in the front yard. I always wanted to climb it, but someone trimmed the lower limbs so the lowest branch was about 8' off the ground. By the time I was tall enough to jump up and grab it I was past the tree climbing stage. While I did not climb it I spend many hours underneath it playing with my cars and trucks. The roots made for some interesting "roads" around it's base. It also served as base for some of our hide & seek games. For some reason the grass under the tree was the best in the yard. Sometimes I would just lay in it "contemplating what ever seemed important at the time".

Hopefully, if you managed to read this, I have not totally bored you. I wanted to somehow depict all that in the tile that I did. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used:

 For the tree it is Sea Wave and Antidot, The ground is Diva Dance and the road behind it is Nipa, I used various tangles on the houses. Cadent, Florz and on the roof, I used Flukes, Shing, Tagh, and Cubine.  The funny looking things behind the tree are my best attempt at trying to put in corn. 

One of the extras of this challenge is that it gave me an opportunity to play with Margaret Bremner's tangled houses. It was a learning experience. I am going to experiment more and will try some color. I also am going to try a little less structured houses.  I was pleased with the result for a first try. Trying to do the shading on this was a real challenge. I kept it to a minimum.

I have not had a chance to look at things that have been posted on I am the Diva. Based on the prompt for this challenge I am looking forward to seeing a lot of unique and creative pieces. If you have not done so would strongly recommend that you click on the link above and enjoy all the great art.

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

Go Tangle !!    

Special ZIA Update : Finally finished

Had earlier posted this ZIA when I was working on it. I finally finished it. just not as soon as I would have liked. As a reminder, this is what it looked like at the first post.

The actual drawing is about 6" x 10" 

I used various size Microns to do the outlining and the tangles. The color was done layering Prismacolor pencils. For blending I first used a white Prismacolor pencil and then also used the Prismacolor blender.  Here is the finished product. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used starting in the lower left corner: Paradox, Poke Root and Poke Leaf. 'Nzeppel, Fassett, & Shattuck.

In the original post I mentioned I was not sure what I was going to do with Paradox and Fassett. I decided to only do graphite for shading on these two tangles. 

It will soon be on it's way to Alabama. 

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

Go Tangle !!   

Diva Challenge # 322: "Trying Aquafleur"

I really enjoyed this week's challenge, even though it took me longer to complete my tile than usual. There were two prompts/inspirations for this challenge.  The challenge was on the tangle Aquafleur which Laura acknowledged, she was not quite comfortable with the way that it flowed. I think right after I saw the challenge but had not started, I saw Margaret Bremner's blog post on using tangles to make Deciduous Trees. Her first example used the tangle Aquafleur. If you want to see some eye-popping, mind boggling work using a variety of tangles, click on Margaret's blog Enthusiastic Artist, to see what she did. It is amazing work. She is doing a series of posts on this topic. She also has one on her work with houses. Really awesome stuff.

 Now back to the Diva Challenge. I have used Aquafleur before but usually only once in a tile. I had not ever explored the tangle before. That is what I decided to do. I did not try to make a tree but just wanted to use Aquafleur in a different way. I had never tried to combine them before.  It was kind of fun. Here is an example of how I used Aquafleur on a card that I did a few years ago.

This is probably the way I used the tangle before.  If I put more than one in a tile, they were just separate items.  This is an A2 size card. 

Here is what I did for the challenge. I hope you enjoy it. 

Tangles used: Aquafleur, Printemps tangleation/Diva Dance

Shading done with HB pencil

The reason I called this a Printemps tangleation is because of the way I did it.  It looks a lot like Diva Dance but I did it like Printemps.  

I have not had a chance to see many of the pieces submitted. I have seen a few that were on my blog reader.  I am hoping to get a chance to look at the great pieces of art that people come up with.  If you have not all ready done so would encourage you to click on I am the Diva and look at all the great pieces of art.  I would again also encourage you to check out Margaret Bremner's blog for some really awesome art as well as some great things to try.

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

Go Tangle !!

Larger ZIA for a special occasion.

Do not usually do large pieces and it is really unusual for me to do a special  piece. This one is for an anniversary. Had hoped to have it done before the date but will not make it. The other thing that is less often for me is using color, particularly coloring tangles.  I have used color washes more frequently.  Was not sure about using color at all and almost did it only in basic black and white. Decided to take a risk and add color.

Not sure if I will put color on all the tangles or will do a couple with just graphite shading. Thinking of using this on the Paradox and the Fassett. Still have not decided what I will do.

Did not measure this to get an exact size. It is done on an 11x14 sheet.  I am guessing it is about 10x7.5.  Will have to be custom framed when done. Will get to that later.

Open to any suggestions about this. Color is done using layered Prismacolor pencils.  Will post more on this when I post the finished work.

Here is what I have so far. I hope you enjoy it.

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


Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #321: "Non Dominant - Aura Challenge"

I have done these challenges before and the results are interesting. Not sure what the difference is and why they turn out so different. Whenever I do them though, it reminds me of the time a number of years ago when I broke my wrist and had to learn to write with my non-dominant hand. It was a challenge. That lasted about 8 weeks. Never did get the hang of doing cursive but except for a few rotations, was not too bad. That is what I found with this one. Had to think about the direction that I was doing things. Not sure why this one is so wobbly. I also realized that I am use to being able to see the line I am drawing better with my dominant hand. I like that. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Kunstler, Shattuck, Pixioze

Shading done with HB graphite pencil

I have not looked at what has been posted on I am the Diva. Would encourage anyone that has not, to go look at the different works of art that have been submitted.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 320: " UMT Dansk - by Margaret Bremner, CZT"

Is a lot going on, that I will not bore you with, that has made it difficult to participate in the Diva Challenge as consistently as I would like. Had some time, actually made some time, to do some tangling today, as I have missed some of the simpler things. This was for me more than anything else. This week's challenge is a Use my Tangle challenge. The one chosen was Dansk, by Margaret Bremner, CZT.  I have used this tangle a few times. I have to admit for it's simplicity, I do not feel like this tangle flows as  smoothly as I would like. Think I figured out something near the end when I was using this.  It is a nice fill. It is not a Mono-tangle so combined with a few other tangles. It also will allow me to post it in one of the FB pages of which I am a member. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Keeko, Dansk, Flux, Msst, and Showgirl

shading done with HB pencil

I have not looked at any of the other things posted for this challenge. Hope to have time to do so and make a few comments. If you have not all ready done so, would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at the different pieces posted.

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

Go Tangle !!

Beyond the Basics class: Tangled candles

Had done a couple of these but never did a class on them until this last week. The 3 ladies have taken a number of classes with me and enjoy doing ZIA projects as well as working on different techniques. Two are very consistent about doing things outside of class on their own. One has even tried a few ZIAs of her own including stone coasters and a paper bowl. She is quite talented.  Here is the "Class Mosaic" from the class. I hope you enjoy it.

They each have their own style as you can see. The hardest part about doing this is holding onto the candle as you are using the heat gun.  

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

Diva Challenge #316: String Theory - Stripes!

The Diva Challenges like this are fun to do and allow me to participate as they come together quicker than some others. I combined 2 different things in this. One is the theme of this challenge, stripes and the other is stacked. Was not sure how the negative space in the corners were going to turn out, but it is okay. Also not sure if the last "stripe"in the middle is really a stripe Can you have a stripe of one?
Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: From the outer edge to the middle, Bales, Paradox, Cubine, Puf, and Knightsbridge. I am having a senior moment. I do not remember the tangle between Bales and Paradox.

Did not do much shading. Used an HB pencil for all the shading

Have not looked at any of the entries at I am the Diva. If you have not been there. Would strongly encourage you to go look at all the different pieces of art that have been posted. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #315: "Tangle study = Molygon"

Finally able to get something together for the Diva Challenge. I do miss participating regularly, but have to make some decisions about where I spend my time.  Have to admit, part of what made it possible to participate is the tile I used is one that I had prepared and worked on in a recent class. I had not finished puting  tangles in it so decided to add this week's focus.

Have to admit that I have not done Molygon since it was first introduced. Not one of my favorites and not particularly thrilled with the way that these turned out. I like the tile but not how Molygon turned out. part of my "problem" is that I tend to do things in a smaller size. Do not think that this works with this tangle. I also did not get quite enough lunar shape to them also. Well it is what it is.
Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Cadent,  Poke root, Poke leaf, Henna Drum, ING variation, and Molygon

As I indicated above the tile was from a class I was doing. We were doing water color washes to add color. This was done with Faber-Castell  water colored pencils. After used the pencils to put down the color used a wet brush  to blend and spread out. This was just one part of the class as we also did a larger piece using alcohol inks. Was a fun class.  But I digress.

Did not do any other shading or highlighting on this. Thought about doing a little on the Molygon but decided not to.

I have not looked at any of the other pieces posted. Hopefully will have some time to do this later. If you have not been to I am the Diva, would encourage you to do so. There are always some great works of art.  

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #309: New Official Tangle Noom

Do not usually do this but a pressed for time. I have used this tangle on a number of things. Posting something a little different than the usual tile. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used Noom, Tierso, Knightsbridge, Merryweather 

Found out about these from someone else. They can be fun to make but do take time. Drew the tangles with Micron and did the color and highlighting with PrismaColor pencils.

Have not looked at any other things posted. Would encourage yo to go to I am the Diva to see some great art. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #308: " MacNCheese"

This week's challenge was really appropriate. The month of March has been stressful so far. Hoping that it calms down for the rest of the month. This chalenge really served two purposes. The MacNCheese part for me as I needed something that was less stressful and it allowed me to do a tile for someone else.  I like these challenges as it really allows me to get back to the basics. What I consider my MacNCheese tangle varies from time to time, but Shattuck has always been one. Cadent is also one that I use alot. I kept it simple here and did not do any embellishments. There are a lot of ways to vary this tangle. The touch of color was for the person I gave the tile to. Purple is there favorite color. I kept this simple also.   I used a Zendala tile for this really just because it was the first thing that I pulled out.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Shattuck, Cadent. Color and highlighting done with PrismaColor pencils.

Sorry for the quality of the photo, I usually take pictures with my digital camera and a tripod. I did not have these with me so took with my Ipad.

I have not had a chance to look at the other things posted on I am the .Diva . One other plus with challenges like this is that there can be quite a variety of tangles used. Is fun to see what people perceive to be their MacNCheese tangle.  If you have not been there all ready, click on the link above to see some great art.

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

Go Tangle !!

More eggs: Two different chalkboard styles

A couple of days ago I posted a plastic egg that I had done after seeing one done by Liz Drake. At the time I indicated that I would post more pictures after I had a chance to work on the two chalkboard style eggs. Was able to complete one of each. Here is what the eggs look like before any tangling.

The yellow and black ones are the chalkboard ones. The black come in packages of 12. The yellow come in a package of mixed colors. There are green, blue, lilac, and yellow. I used a variety of pens on the eggs. Here is the picture of the original one that I did on the white egg.

The tangles were drawn on this with a black 01 Micron. The color was done with PrismaColor pencils. I used a white PrismaColor to blend and tint. 

Here is a picture of the other two after I had finished tangling them. 

I did the black on first. This was done with Bistro chalk markers. They can be a little difficult to deal with as have to be careful to let them dry or they will smear or rub off. If you hold them too tightly, the color will also come off. Tried to keep the tangle simple and limited. This has a variation of Mumsy, or Arc flower, Diva Dance, and Knightsbridge.

The Yellow one was done a little differently.  The tangling was done with different colored ultra-fine  point Sharpies. One thing with Sharpies versus the Microns is that the Micron ink does not come off on your hand when you hold them. Kind of unavoidable when you are drawing on them.  When I work on some more I may use the colored Microns or the IdentiPens. I added the color with Tombow Irojiten colored pencils. They are similar to the PrismaColor pencils in that they are a wax base. I just do not have as many of them. I tried adding colord pencils to black ones but they do not show up. Did not try any of my other colored pencils. Think the same thing would occur.  The tangles are Cubine, Rain, Printemps, and a Jewel variation. 

They can be fun to do but they are a little labor intensive.  Will have to see how many of these I can get done before Easter. Will have to work hard.

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

Go Tangle !!

Something for Easter: Tangled egg

This is going to be hopefully a brief post. I have not done things at Easter because I could not find materials to work with that I was comfortable with. One of the nice thing about FB is that in groups you can find out about some very nice techniques and materials. That is where this came from. Was looking at my New Feed and saw a unique decorated egg done by Liz Drake. I really do not remember the page it was on. You can find out some information about her on her FB page Tangled World.

Anyway, these eggs are a plastic that you can use Microns on, as well as Sharpies, Have not tried IdentiPens but would think that these would work also. The color is added with PrismaColor pencils. Used the tinting technique using the white to blend and soften some of  the colors. There are plain white eggs, and two style chalkboard eggs. I have not had time to do anything with the latter yet. Will post more when I get to those.

Here is the first one that I did. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Tierso,Noom, Merryweather, Knightsbridge

Tangles drawn with Microns and Sharpies, Color done with PrismaColor pencils

Will go into more detail about this later. This has not been sealed with anything yet. Plan on using a spray glossy finish sealer. 

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

Go Tangle!! 

Diva Challenge #302: "UMT Hamadox by Diana Schreur CZT"

Since it is the first Challenge of the month it is a UMT ( Use my Tangle) challenge. The tangle chosen is what I think is referred to as a tangle tango or a tangleation. It combines two tangle into one. The two tangles are Hamail by Tina Akua and Paradox by Rick Roberts. It was named Hamadox. Some of you may not recognize her name but on her blog she is known as Didisch.

Not sure that I got the true flow of this tangle. Kept it simple for a couple of reasons. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Hamadox. The background is not an identified tangle. Just was a way to fill the back space. There are a couple that are similar. Shading done with B2 pencil.

I'm not sure how many people have posted so far. Would encourage you to visit I am the Diva often throughout the week to see what is posted. There are usually some great pieces.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #301: " Duo Tangle:Paradox vs Diva Dance

This week for the Diva Challenge as her inspiration she used a recent release called Kitchen Table Tangles which is a new video series from Zentangle® headquarters that I think will be available on their Mosaic app. They released the first one in their newsletter. It was Rick doing Paradox and Diva Dance and interlacing them. I watched it before I knew that this would be the focus of this week's challenge. I did not go back and watch it again, which may I should have done. In Rick's tile, he interwove these two tangles. It was interesting to watch but I did not study it.

When I saw that using these two tangles was the challenge, I wanted to use what Rick did as a starting point. By this I mean trying to interlace them.  This, for me is always a challenge but one that I enjoy seeing done. I have to admit that I am not one to use it much myself. I had a couple of ideas but decided to keep it simple on the first attempt,  Maybe later I will try to do something with more of a circular string. Part of my decision was based on the time factor as well, When I try to interlace things I have to think about it more. Even then sometimes it does not turn out all that well. Anyway, here is what I came up with, I used a Zendala tile for this one.  I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Paradox, Diva Dance

Shading/highlighting done with graphite pencil

The one thing that continues to be something I continue to work on is the shading. Not sure about this one. Not sure if I used too much or not. Tried to keep a minimal amount and blended with a blending stump. I think what gets in the way is the expectation that I have, even if that is not real specific.

If you have not visited The Diva's blog, would encourage you to do so throughout the week. There are usually new things added until the last day. This challenge should result in some interesting pieces. If you do not regularly participate, would encourage you to give it a try, even if you do not post your results on the blog. To get there, just click on the link above.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #300: " Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day"

I have participated in a number of Diva Challenges over the last five years. This is a repeating one as it is to increase awareness about a neurological disorder that her youngest son has. The challenge is to  use the Moebius Syndrome Foundation's logo and if you want, the color purple which is the their representative color. It is also significant in that is the 300th Diva Challenge. One usually learns different things when doing the challenges. Sometimes it is a new tangle, or technique. The one thing I learned in this challenge, after a number of times trying is a way to deconstruct the logo so I could use it as the string on the tile.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Printemps, Shattuck, Heartvine, Noom

Highlighting and color were done with Prismacolor pencils

I still need to work on using the colored pencils, The shading gradation did not turn out like I would have wished. I did use a layering effect to help with the smoothing and blending.  Overall I am pleased with the outcome.

I have not looked at any of the other submissions on I am the Diva. I hope to have some time to do so and would encourage any of you that have not all ready done so, to go and look at what is there. I would also encourage you to take the time to comment on the different art. It is greatly appreciated. You can click on the above link to go there directly.

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

Go Tangle

A respite from tangling: Crocheted "Messy Bun" Hat and Cowl

If you are use to seeing posts on the Zentangle® method or one of the tangling challenges that I have participated in, sorry to disappoint you. Over the last 4-5 years I have spent most of my time tangling, This has been either preparing for or offering classes as well as creating different things for the different market events that I participated in. Many of those were also a marketing tool for the classes. During that time I have done little with any of the needle craft that I have done before. The last couple of weeks I have cut back on the tangling and been working on a number of crocheting projects. I have enjoyed the break. Don't see that this will be a major thing but just taking a break and doing something else that I enjoy has been a nice respite.

I earlier posted pictures of a couple of pairs of fingerless mittens that I had done. Here are two other projects that I have been working on.

The hat is called a Messy bun or ponytail hat and the then there is the cowl.  The cowl uses the crocodile stitch that I used on the mittens. The hat is done with what I think is called a Jelly Bean stitch. The pattern that I used is one that I found  on Ravelry. It is called a Jellybun Beanie by Heidi Yates. I think her site is snappy-tot.com . Both of the items use basic stitches and are easy to do.  There were a few things in the hats directions that were a little unclear but I was able to figure them out. The cowl is a pattern from Leisure arts. 

Thanks for visiting.  Stay tuned as I will still be posting things on tangling. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.