Glass disc Christmas ornaments: 2.5" glass discs with Dura-lar® inserts

Well it is that time of year. Actually I am a little behind schedule to have many new things for the holiday season. Completed one of these and then took me quite a while to get anything else done. Doing these really makes it clear why the Zentangle® method is easier. Whenever try to do ZIAs, get into the issues that do not come up with the basic method. I obsess too much about color combinations. Oh well, I just have to remember to start and see where it takes me. 

These are glass discs and the inserts are 2.5" circles of Dura-lar®. The drawing was done with Microperms and the color was added with either Prismacolor or Faber-Castell polychromes. The polychromes seemed to cover a little more consistently but was pleased with the way that they all turned out. Do not have WIP pictures. The first is a finished one. 

Tangle is Stella with generic leaves.  Cut the circle just a smidge too small so this insert moves in side the disc.

Here are 3 more on Dura-lar Decided to complete all of them before I put them inside the discs. Was just a preference. I like them all but think my favorite is the one in the upper right. That one also gave me the most difficulty deciding what colors I wanted to use. That is what all the color marks on the side. Not sure how much it helped but did help decide to go ahead with certain colors and just let it happen. I also used the Prismacolor metallic silver and gold pencils in this one. I am not sure what the leafy purple tangle is called. I have a lot of variations in my journal but did not write down the name of the tangle. It is similar to Amarin by Debbie New but not sure. It is possible that it was one of those challenges that was to play with Flux and see what different variations could come up with. The basic structure is very similar to Ynix.  Unfortunately not writing down the names of tangles is something I  do too often.  Here are the 3 I came up with.

If you have not used Dura-lar before, it comes in sheets or a roll. I bought a pad of 9"x12" sheets. They will accept ink, pencil, and colored pencil. These are matte finish and can be drawn on both sides. I chose not to do that as you can pick up the image on both sides. I did not try it but it claims to erase easily.  On next ones may try to do some with my colored Microns. will have to be fewer tangles as do not have as many colors in those. Could also use my IdentiPens as the ink in those is similar but there are a few more colors. Not sure if I will get to them this year or not as I have a couple of other projects that I need to work on. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Combining tangling and Pyrography: Burned cross

 Trying to get a little more regular about posting things, but since I am out of the habit do not always think about it. I am working on inventory for a Winter Market that I will be participating in later this year. Here is an item that I recently finished. It combines two things that I like to do, tangling and wood burning. I do not do typical pyrography as I do not try do pictures. I would like to have more time to work on that but that will have to wait. I am also digressing.  I purchased the blank from a craft store. It is approximately 8" x 5". 

I use a Razer tip SS-D10 burner. I used a F9S pen for the words. It is listed as a pen for writing. This is the small size.  I used  an F14D Blunt Heel Knife to do the pattern. The small shading was done with a a F5S small spear. 

I thought about doing a little shading with the spear or another shader, on the Shattuck pattern but opted not to. 

I have a calligraphy pen that I have not tried yet. Before I try that will probably practice on some scrap wood to get the feel of it. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

First Post in a long while: Cheryl Moote's PAX dove

 I have woefully neglected my blog for quite some time.  I have also not done much tangling lately. this is the first thing I have done in quite some time. I had seen Cheryl Moote's PAX dove before but did not have time to do anything with it. Finally decided I needed to get back to some basic tangling. I ordered her template, which you can also get at mootepoints.com. There are 3 sizes. This is the smallest of the 3. I think it would make an interesting ornament. While it is 3-D, you can easily flatten it so it can be stored. 

I used Faber Castell Metallic Colored Ecopencils for most of the color. I also used Staedtler colored pencils for some of the colors. Did not do any blending. Would be something that I would probably do to finish it. The Tangles are made with an 01 Micron.  Here are a few pictures of what I came up with.

The above is to give you some idea of the size. 

Here is a front view

                                                                                    

Was trying to get both views

 

Here is the back of the wings

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

Go tangle !!

Another stretch of my comfort zone: Ventures into Edward's Crochet Imaginarium

If you are new to my blog, welcome. If you have been here before, you know that I have done knitting and crocheting for years.  Most of things I did were either afghans or things for the kids as they were growing up. That latter was a long time ago as they are all married and I have 7 grandchildren.  I tried some small things like the "No Fuss" Fish, but most of what I have done lately is limited to mittens, cowls, simple hats and such.  I was sent a link from someone, I blame my sister, of a fellow Zentangle® artist who did something for her grand children. It came from Kelly Lord's "Edward's Crochet Imaginarium".

This was a long journey as I started, and restarted, this numerous times.  I had to  rely on one of the Zentangle® method tenets of don't evaluate/judge but focus on the process. Boy was that hard with this one. That does not mean that I am satisfied with everything with this item but it did help me  try to keep some realistic expectations. Use what happened to learn. Perfection is not the goal and sometimes it is the enemy.

I just call this my Big Green Monster.  I thought that working on the larger size would be easier.  After trying it, I am not so sure.  Here is what resulted in my attempt.

The head and body measure about 14".  The eyes are not like the ones in the directions.  I tried but they turned out like they did.  I added the mouth as it I thought it looked weird without one. I have to work on how I put the stuffing in. Think I over stuffed the body and head. 

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

Go Tangle!! or create what ever art you enjoy.

Out of my comfort zone, Needing something different: Water color journey

Have really neglected my blog lately,  Will  not go into all the things that have been a distraction. Who would have thought that the first post back would be on something other than Zentangle®.  I have been struggling with not feeling creative with anything decided to pull out some old things that I had started and then stashed them away for a while.  In this case we are talking about years. If you have been at my blog before you know that other than the Zentangle® art, my art training ended in elementary school. I guess my journey into Zentangle inspired Art allowed me to venture out into other things. Some of the tenets of the Zentangle® method is that there are no mistakes, appreciate the process and don't judge. Thinking that anything else I would do was not good enough for a long time kept me from trying. I tried to go back to those tenets when I tried something new, whether is was  pyrography or painting.  I think I unknowingly started with one of the more difficult mediums.  At least that is what I have heard from other people that have more art experience than I do.  They seem to think that it is easier to work with acrylics.  I have not comparison as I have not pulled those out yet. I chose water color because of some paintings of some people that really fascinated me. I guess ignorance has it's place.

I guess I have rambled long enough. I do not remember when I first posted this. I did not want to spend a lot of time to look for the original. I was basically the background with a bare tree.  I pulled it  out and just decided to start adding some things and see what would happen.  Like anything that someone does they are aware of the things that did not go the way they planned. This is the case with me. One of the things that I continue to struggle with is the difference using a brush vs. a pen. Not sure how much time I will have to devote to it, but I do not want to give up on it.

Here is what I have come up with. Not sure if it is finished yet or not.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome.  I do not know what else I would want to add.  I am thinking that it is best to keep it simple.

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

Go Tangle!! or make whatever art you enjoy.

Pyrography: Using the Zentangle® method with other mediums

I enjoy tangling and I also enjoy trying new ways to use them.  I have experimented mostly with adding color and pyrography. I enjoy the latter but it is more of a challenge and takes more time to complete the work.  Recently, in preparation for an event, I have done a few more wood cuffs.  All the ones that I have done before have been grid tangles or variations of them.  I had wanted to try more organic tangles but was more apprehensive about it.  Was difficult to get away from that inner critic that would whisper, "what if you make a mistake?". It was not that I was uncomfortable with the tangle but using the burning pen is a lot different than using a Micron. To borrow a phrase from a well known athletic apparel firm, I had to tell my self just do it. Here is the result.

It is not the easiest piece to photograph.  I was pleased with the results.  I used the smallest pen I had which really did help with the control of the curves.  The shading is done with a shading tool.  I do not know that this tangle has a name. It is just one that I have come up with as a way to draw a flower. Sandy Stein Bartholomew I think has a similar one in one of her books. I do not think she named them either.  I think she referred to them as embellishments. 

I have a number of  these cuffs so hope I can get some more done. I also have some basswood plaques that I have not decided exactly what I want to do with them.  This gives me some flexibility, and confidence as will probably do some organic tangles with a phrase of something. Lettering is still something that I am working on.

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

Go Tangle !!

Getting things ready for a show: Framed ZIAs

There are two shows coming up that I am planning on entering some pieces.  Not sure if I will enter the same pieces in each show or not. One is a show that is a general show and there will be judging.  The other is a show that is having an exhibition on Zentangle® art.  There will be no judging of this.  The show is organized by a lady that took a class from me a number of years ago.  She is a retired art teacher and had been doing pattern drawing with her elementary students for years.  She was intrigued that someone had come up with a way to teach it.  When she came to the class she wore a cap that she had tangled on.  Her goal is to introduce different art forms to people.  Besides having a few pieces in this part of the show, I will be at the show one day and be demonstrating it.  Not sure what all I will do but may have some 2x2 tiles with gel pens available to let people try a few things.  Here are two of the newer pieces I have had framed that will be entered in either one or both of the shows.

Is a little hard to tell from the picture but the frame for the tip picture is similar to a shadow box.  It is not real deep. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Back after a lengthy hiatus: Some things that have been working on.

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything.  Life sometimes has a way of forcing you to deal with things.  Besides dealing with the death of a sibling also rotator cuff surgery and the rehab for that and working full time. The rehab will go on for a while but am doing well with it.  Just working on the range of motion behind my back now, and strength. Hopefully I will not be AWOL for a while.

I did get some things entered in our local art show this year.  received 2nd and 3rd place ribbons for my Paradox Turtle and Whale Tail. Sure that I posted pictures of these earlier but here they are again so you won't have to scroll through old posts.

I have continued to do some wood burning.  Would like to do a little more. Have done some as pendants an others as key fobs.  Here is one the is a pendant.  I have also done a few more crosses. Here are some examples of those.  Some have probably been posted before.  

Don't have pictures of some of the rectangle key fobs that have done, but you get the idea.

Most of my time recently was on preparing things for a class.  Have a group of ladies that have taken a number of classes from me and am always looking for new things to do.  Wanted to do some things with string theory so began looking at different ways to do strings. Was looking for some color.  Borrowed some things from my days in elementary school as well as from some of the postings on acrylic pours.  I used string and acrylic paint in different ways. On some I put the paint on the string and on others I put the paint on the paper.  Here are some of the examples where I put the paint on the string. 

These were both done on 9 x 12 paper.  I had the paint in a small paint bowl that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  Cut a long length of string and put in the paint. I did not thin the paint but this is something that could do.  On the second one it was still one string, but I had two bowls next to each other and put part of the string in each bowl.  After folding the paper in half, I unfolded it and randomly put the string on half of the paper.  I left two ends sticking out on different sides, refolded the paper and alternately pulled the strings until it was all out.  On the top one I used a piece of cardboard from an old sketch pad to press down on the paper as I pulled the strings. Think that is why there is so much coverage.  On the second one I just used my hand. 

One the next one I did similar process but instead of putting the paint on the string, I put it on the paper.  Here is the end result and I will explain the process after the picture.

There are separate pictures as I cut the paper apart before I took the picture.  On these I drizzled the paint on the paper directly from the squeeze bottle that they were in. I only put paint on half of the paper. It was the same size as the other.  before refolding I randomly placed string on the side with the paint and after refolding it, alternately pulled the string until it was all out.  

The last one I only used half of the sheet so is  9 x 6.  Here is how that turned out. 

The process on this was a little different. I again drizzled the paint on the paper.  Instead of using a long length of string, I used a shorter one.  I used a method that I had seen someone use on an acrylic pour to spread the paint.  I used my thumb to place one end of the string on the paper.  This became a pivot point and I moved a length of the string over the paint. I did not thin the paint but even if I had, need to watch how much paint is building up on the string and if it is too much, you just raise the string a little.  This created a little more texture but I also used a braided string. As you can see I did not spread the paint all over. You could.  As I was experimenting for a class I did not.  The advantage of this method is that you can see what is occurring and you can either change what you do with the string or add a little more paint.  This is the only one that I used white and I did add a little more in a few spots. 

Couple of things that I should mention.  Pulling the strings out can get messy so put down newspaper of a drop cloth under you paper so you do not have a lot of paint to clean off your table. You can also wear disposable latex gloves so it helps with clean up.  With the first two methods you are not sure what you are going to end up with.  I was not sure what I was going to tangle on them.  I started out just putting Tipple in some of the negative space. I stopped and kept looking at it and it finally apparent to me.  Of course now I cannot unsee it.  I have only had a chance to work on one. but here is what I did with the yellow one.

I am not aware of anyway I could have planned this.  It was a happy occurrence. Kind of reinforces the Zentangle® tenet that there are no mistakes just unplanned opportunities.  

If you got all the way through this lengthy post, I appreciate it.  Don't think that posts in the future will be this long. Unless I have another long AWOL, then it could happen.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Exploring different styles: Steampunk tangles - a whimsical tile

Life has a way of jumping up and getting your attention. That last two weeks  have been a good example of that for me.  I was struggling with a shoulder injury which unfortunately ended up  being a torn rotator cuff.  Was painful and interfering with sleep enough that decided to get it repaired.  Scheduled the surgery and began working out things to deal with the immediate issues of the recovery.  Could  not stay alone.  That was coming together and I even had a class planned 2 days before the surgery as it is on my dominant side and knew would not be doing much tangling for a while.  That is a part of this post as the tile was to demonstrate a  different way do a tile.  The real kicker came when abut a week before the surgery I got a call that my younger sister had unexpectly died.  that was enough of a shock but got thrown into having to deal with a lo as she was single s next of kin was our Mother, which I have POA for.  Thus, handling things fell on me.  My older sister has helped tremendously with this. But even with her help exhausted doesn't adequately describe how I am feeling most of the time.

As a result of the surgery, have not done much tangling. Could do some non-dominant hand tangling but have to do so much writing with my left hand the effort is more draining.  Miss not being able to tangle.  This is the last tile I did.  Is more whimsical.  Is a vehicle with some character at the helm.  Hope you like it.

Tangles used: Tailpipe, Huggins, Whirly Bird, Chalice, Lifter, Wingnut, Smoke Stax, Sphere Gear, Boilerplate, Steel,and Tipple. Tangles were deconstructed by Alice Hendon, Sandra Strait, and Christine Reyes.  

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

Go Tangle !! 

Exploring different styles: Steampunk

I have been interested in the Steampunk style of tangling but have not tried it before. I have to admit it was a little intimidating as I think that working in this style takes a little more planning than the traditional Zentangle® method. As some times happens to get me started on something new, I will plan to do a class on it.  This kind of makes me explore it more and spend some time with it.  I am still in the early stages of this and exploring different tangles.  I  know that Sandra Strait has done a  lot on Steampunk. For my initial work I used Alice Hendon's "Tanlge Starts Planner Into the Future".  It is a  journal/planner but it also has 100 different steampunk tangles included in this book.  I practiced some of them.  Here is what that looked like.

The tangles in the book are from Alice Hendon, Sandra Strait and Christina Reyes.  The ones that I used here are Roller, Beaded Pipez, Quadrant, and Chalice( clockwise from the second row). the upper left hand corner is a variation of a tangle from Zentangle, Huggins, and making in a steampunk style., or at least an attempt.

This was where most of my practice was and then I did a 4"x 4" tile using some of these and a variety of others. Here is the result of that. 

The background tangles are Steel, Barz, and Boxed up( across the tile from the left). The others are Helical, Smoke Stax Whistle, and Quadrant.  The middle row is Roller and the bottom are Spool and Quadrant.  The tangle connecting the two Quadrants is Rotory. The tangle connecting Spools is Beaded Pipez. 

This fun to do, even though it did stretch me alittle. Have some work to do to feel comfortable with some of the tangles but that is part of the fun.

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

Go Tangle !!   

Preparation for classes: Ratoon and Embedded Letters

This will be a short post.  I have been working on some tiles for a class that is coming up in a couple of weeks.  Both of these are my first attempts.  We will be working on Ratoon and Embedded letters.  We will also be working on Steam Punk Tangles.  I have not done any of those yet. Here is what I have done.

The Embedded Letters were fun to do.  I have not done Quandary for quite a while. Think I will do it a little more often. 

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

Go Tangle !!

More traditional Zentangle® art: Dingbatz and Dingsplatz

Have not done a lot of traditional tangling lately.  By this I mean a 3.5" square tile using only a black Micron and a graphite pencil.  Part of the reason for this is that every November and December I participate in a Winter Market. Keeps me busy trying to have some inventory and being at the event.  I have a class coming up in January and wanted to do something other than a project.  Decided to do a class on two techniques put out by HQ, Dingbatz and Dingsplatz.  I had seen them before but never tried them myself.  Came up with a few things before I put them on tiles.  Here are my first attempts on Dingbatz that I did in my journal.

This is the first one that I did.  It is small. A later picture will give you an indication of  its size.

This is the second one,  You can see the other next to it. It is closer to the size of a Zentangle® tile.

This gives you a little better idea of how the two compare.

I then switched to tiles so I can use them for prompts in the class and also to promote the class.  Here are the two tiles that I created.

The dingbatz is on top.  They are fun to do, especially if you like filling in all the spaces.  I have seen some that have more negative space.  May try that in the future.  Shading on these really makes a difference.

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

Go Tangle !!

More Pyrograpny Pendants: Icanthis, Tipple, and Ahh

I have been doing more burning lately on wood shapes.  I have done crosses and I also used round wood discs that are about 1.5".  I have a few more to do but I wanted to do an organic tangle.  I may have been a little ambitious.  I chose to do Icanthis.  It is definitely harder to burn than to draw with a pen. I am still very new to this medium.  Looking forward to trying more things. I remembered to do a short series of pictures to show how it progressed.

This last picture is the difference in the wood after I put the beeswax polish on it.

Tangles used: Icanthis,Tipple, Ah

The shading was done with a triangular shading tip.  Icanthis & Ahh was done with a tip called a spear. Don't remember the size, but it is small, The Tipple is done with  a 1.5 mm ball stylus.

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

More pyrography: Tangled crosses

I picked these up a couple of months ago but as often happens, life got in the way of doing anything with them.  I have done some before and enjoy doing them.  Some smaller ones I actually used a micron to draw patterns on them.  Did not want to do this this time.

 Some times the simplest patterns make for satisfying results.  These are wooden crosses that I got at a craft store. They are about 1.75" x 2.75"x ¼ ".  Not sure what the wood is. It does not say on the package.  Will explain a little more after the picture.

Cannot always do tangles in the way that would with a pen.  The tangle is like perf and used mostly as an embellishment. Some would say it is Tipple, but that tends to be larger. Ends up being a stippling effect.  I used a small stylus ball to do.  My burner is a Razertip.  I use a beeswax polish to finish.  It does darken the wood a little but I do not mind the effect of this.  I like the opposite effect. 

When finished will attach bales to the back and use a black waxed cotton cord  attached to that.  

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

Go Tangle !!  

Adventures in Pyrography: Tangled Turtle Cutting board

Have been working on this for some time and was finally able to finish it.  It sat idle for a long time as was working on completing a few other projects.  The tangles that I used also took a while to do. Bought the cutting board from Michael's a while back.  Some of you may have seen the cow that did earlier.  Used a Razertip  D-10 burner with medium fixed regular skew for the line work. The tipple and border outline was done with a 2.3 mm stylus ball and the shading in Gneiss was done with a triangular shader.

Here is the finished project. Sorry I did not take lot of pictures of the proceess.  Took this one early on so you can see what I started with.

Here is the way it ended.

Tangles used: Gneiss, Paradox, Tipple

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

Go Tamgle !!

Dual Challenge: Diva Challenge #369 - Orb-tastic & Anything Goes - Tangled Art for Everyone - Ode to Crescent Moon

Not sure that I will get this done ion tome to post in the Diva Challenge.   I wanted to do this mostly because I needed to do something that was more repetitive and for me relaxing. I did accomplish this but it took longer than what I expected. I use Tipple a lot but not so much Crescent Moon.  What I did on this was to think of different ways that I could use Crescent Moon.  Are probably more, but I got at least four done.  I used Tipple in the one version in a way that I usually do with Crescent Moon.  I tried to not be so exact with the orbs and even did some "under work" rather than each one having to be a complete orb.  As is fairly common, the shading of this was one of the bigger challenges.  Here is what I come up with.  I hope you enjoy it.

Used 01 Micron and 2H and 4B pencil for shading.

I have not had time to look at what others have done with this challenge.  If you have not either, click on this link and see some interesting uses of orbs.

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

Go Tangle !!

New project - No Fuss Fish by Eden Reborn

A family member gave me a link for this project. It is not like I had anything else to do. They were not as easy to make as what it might have seemed.  Probably one of the biggest challenges was using the invisible thread to suspend the finished items.  The design is by Tracy Braybrook of Eden Reborn.  You can see things in her etsy shop at https://www.eetsy.com/uk/shop/edenreborn.com. or her or @EdenReBorn Blog on Facebook.

Here is the finished project.

Not my usual post on Zentangle® projects.

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

Go Tangle !!

Alcohol ink wash for a background.

This was a class that I did some time ago that I finally finished the piece.  The class was on different backgrounds so was not as much about the tangles. The process is to wet the paper, and then put the ink on the page.  Then the fun begins.  You then just let the ink run over the page, turning it to spread it on the page in a random fashion.  I don't have a picture of what it looked like before I started tangling but here is what I think is the finished piece.

Most of the tangles are from Zentangle®.  The ones that are not are Birds on a Wire, Wist, Phicops,Fassett, Featherfall and Joy.  I am pretty sure that all of these are on Tangle Patterns.  

Am trying to decide about getting it framed.  That is always a challenge for me.  This is an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper.  

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

Go Tangle !!!

Beyond the Basics class: Tangled 3-D House

Just completed a class using Dorian Eng's tangled houses concept.  Was a fun enjoyable class.  Was a challenge getting them together but learned a few things that I will use if I do the class again.  Here are pictures of the different pieces to the house.

Only a picture of the gable that is in the front of the house.  The back is similar except  there are no flowers and I did the tangle Gneiss where the window is on this one.

Here are the tiles for the roof.  I used the tangle Shing.  

Here are the front and back.  The front is on the left.

These are the two sides.  

Here are pictures of the house put together.  

  

The one on the right is one of the student's houses.  This is the front.  I took a series of all sides.  Here they are.

One student had the tangling done but did not get it all constructed. She is a big Harry Potter fan.  She did a Slithering theme.  Here is the picture I took of what she had done in the class.

She sent me a picture of the finished house after class. She has Harry Potter lego figures in front and used an electric candle for the lighting.


Here are pictures that she sent me after she had completed it.

You can see the lego figures better in this picture.

She added tissue paper behind the window cut-outs for an additional "green glow".  Said she was looking for a darker green and may put that in it.

If you are interested in classes, click on my class tab on the banner on the top of my home page. There is information about scheduled classes there.  If have other questions, you can email me.

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

Go Tangle !!