Tangled Wood Cuff: shaded and polished

Finally finished the shading on the wood cuff that I was working on.  It is difficult to get a picture of the whole thing.  I used the burner for the shading.  It is a triangular shaped nib that is for shading.  I used the edge of it for the darker outline.  The first picture is the wood cuff after all the shading was done.

Here is the cuff after I put the beeswax wood polish on it.

It took some time to do the shading.  Would probably try some different things if I did it again.  But I am pleased with the way that it turned out.

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

Go Tangle !!

Update on the tangled cuff

Brief post just to show the progress so far. Decided to do the shading with the burner.  This is what I have so far, which is about ¼ of the cuff.  Takes a little time as will put down a little shading, then outline it, and then finish the shading.  The wood does get warm. Only slipped off the wood one time when I was working on the edge and caught my finger.  The first picture is from the original post and the second is with the shading that I have done so far.  Will post again when is completed.

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 !!

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 !!   

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 !!

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 !! 

Diva Challenge #265: "Stripes"

I have not been able to participate in many of the recent Diva Challenges. When I saw this week's, I thought that this was doable with the time I had. Unfortunately, it was not until the weekend. I finally did get it finished. I have not looked at many of the other posts. Most of what I have seen are ones that show up in my blog reader. This is a fun challenge as there is a lot of opportunity for variation. Usually the results are very interesting.

At one point I thought of doing something a little different, like Huggins. Decided I did not really have the time to do this so I went with a more traditional approach. I did at least vary it a little by making the stripes curvy. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used (top to bottom): Tipple, Munchin, Cubine, Shattuck, Keys(?), Tropicana, & 'Nzeppel.

Shading was done with HB and 2B pencils.

 Put the question mark as I am not sure what the name of this pattern is. I have seen it used and wanted to try something different. 

As I said, I have not seen many of the other posts. I am hoping to get a chance to look at as many as I can. Would recommend that you take the opportunity to visit I am the Diva and look at the creative things that people have posted. 

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 #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 #209: "Saint Patty's"

The Diva Challenge this week was a holiday theme in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Theme was to "green up" your tile. It was a toss up for me to use my Intense pencils or the Koi watercolor pens. I chose the later only in that I have not used them a lot and trying to experiment with them. I used them to lay down a wash. Was not really happy with the way that they blended but did not try a lot. I turned out okay. There are a couple of sections that turned out a little darker than I  would have liked but it turned out okay. Then came the challenge to use the wash as the string and decide how I was going to do it. I stuck with some old favorites for the tangles. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Antidots, 'Nzeppel, Shattuck, Zander, Paradox

Did not doe much shading on this one. The little I did was with the micron. The difference in the intensity is that I started using an older Micron which totally ran out of ink, Had to switch to a newer one.

I have not had a chance to look at what others have posted, but hope to be able to over the next couple of days. If you have not done so, would strongly recommend you go to I am the Diva and look at the great pieces of art that people have posted. Try it your self and post your work.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Square One : 'Nzeppel

The Square One focus tangle this week is 'Nzeppel. This is one of my favorite tangles. I wish I had a series of photos I could show that show the progression of how I do this tangle. The difference is more in how I finish this tangle. It is one that I have probably experimented with more than others. Originally, I did little shading. I remember Maria making the comment at CZT 10 that she liked the way this looked just drawn and did not think much about shading it. I tended to agree with her. Over the years though I have seen some creative and really great ways of shading this tangle. I think I began to see it differently as I began to see it less as an organic tangle and more like stone. This tile is another newer way of shading. It is darker than what I usually do. I have been getting bolder and I do like the way this looks. Don't know that it will be the only way I will shade this tangle as a lot of what I decide to do is just how it looks on the tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used : 'Nzeppel, Nymph ( a 'Nzeppel tangleation), Purk, and Betweed.

I have been busy with a number of things so have not had a lot of time to really look at many of the things posted so far. Hopefully can get to see a few more. What I have seen so far, I really like the variety.

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

Go Tangle !!

More projects: Bistro Mugs

Always looking for new things. This is not an original idea. I saw some that someone else had done. Not sure if these will end up as presents or they will be for sale at a show. Will have to wait and see. Only have this one done so far.

These are Bistro mugs that I bought at Meijers. I washed them first to get rid of any residue left on them for manufacturing and packaging. This seemed to help. used Identi-Pens and then set it by heating it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350º. The gray shading is Fabrico gray marker. It held up well. Other thing I did was wear gloves when I was doing this. Was a little concerned that would rub off, but more concerned the oils on my skin would interfere with the pen. I could not find a single pair of white cotton gloves so used a lightweight glove with rubber on the hands. This was great because I did not have to worry about the mug slipping. May try to use these gloves next year when I work on the glass ball ornaments.

I did not want to do the whole mug. I did different style ZIAs on each side. Not sure exactly what I will do on the others, but like the idea of having one side organic and the other more traditional tangling.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used. In the top it is a cross between Mumsy and Arc Flower with a few Zingers. I kept it pretty simple. The lower one has Cadent, Bunzo, Bales, and 'Nzeppel. 

These are all favorite tangles of mine. If I have time, will post pictures of the others I finish later. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #190: "Pink for Ardath"

This week's Diva Challenge is a tribute to the Diva's grandmother and all the other women that have had to deal with breast cancer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So the challenge is to use pink someway in your tile/ZIA.  Was not exactly sure what to do, but the first thing that I thought of was the pink ribbon that is the emblem for breast cancer.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: 'Nzeppel, Cubine, Joy

I do not remember the name of the tangle on the sides. I remember that it was a UMT Challenge a while ago. If anyone knows its name, let me know.

I used a combination of materials on this on. Used both a black and pink Micron. For the highlighting and shading I used a Cornell pink and a Tombow pink pencil. I like the color of he Cornell, but the wood kept breaking on the pencil so I switched. The Tombow is a nice color, but it is light. The Cornell's do not blend will so just left them. 

I have not looked at any of the other things posted for this week's challenge. I hope I have some time to do so. I have another tile started that I hope I can finish before the weekend. If you have not, would strongly recommend that you visit I am the Diva to look at all the different submissions on this challenge. You may even want to try your hand at it if you have been reluctant to do so thus far.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #182: "Stripes"

This week's Diva Challenge is to use stripes as a string. This was fun. It wasn't quite as easy I thought as I had to stop and think about a few tangles to use. Did not spend a lot of time but just browsed different tangles. I mostly used favorites for this. Not thrilled with the end result but it is okay. Is mostly the transitions between the different tangles. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Chainlea, Copada, Betweed, Shattuck, 'Nzeppel, Arckles, and Bales.

As I said above was not thrilled with it. Thought about a couple of things to try, including just shading between the different stripes. If I have time, may make copies and then experiment with a couple of things. 

Hopefully I will have some time to view all the different things that others have posted. I have only seen a few that have shown up in my reader. Would encourage you to visit I am the Diva to look at all the great works of art. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #176: "B.Y.O.B."

This week's challenge is another guest post/challenge. It is from Amy in Tennessee. The challenge was to bring your own beverage and use it in your art. I have to be honest. These types of challenges are not my favorite. I am not sure why I have a less than enthusiastic reaction to them. I could speculate, but I am not going to go there. But that is what a challenge is for, to push you out side your comfort zone. I decided to use my morning coffee like a wash. I drizzled some of my coffee on the tile, spread it a little by tipping the tile and then let it dry. This did not provide any great inspiration as to what I might do with the tile or tangles to use. Here is what the tile looked like before I did any tangling.

Was not sure what to do so I just started with some familiar and old favorite tangles. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

 Tangles used: 'Nzeppel, Cubine, Basquals ( variation), Cadent, Flux, and Zinger. The tangle in the lower left is unnamed. It is part of my experimentation with the basic "S" stroke. 

I have not looked at many of the other postings yet. Hope to be able to do so now, provided my internet service is working. I keep losing connection so it takes a lot longer to do anything. Can go to I Am the Diva by clicking on the blog name.

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

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #94 - Happy

Was not sure I was going to get any of the challenges done this week. It has been a very hectic week and not sure that things will change anytime in the near future. Was glad to see that Erin had returned to post the Zendala Dare. As is typical for the first dare of the month, she added the extra challenge of Happy. She suggested that people could use tangles that started with the letters in the word happy. I have to admit that after I started, I kind of forgot about the extra challenge. I did get one letter as I used Hollibaugh and I did use tangles that I enjoy, and I am happy that she will be able to post a Zendala Dare for at least a couple of months. I hope that this qualifies as meeting the criteria for the Dare. Here is what I came up with.  I hope that you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Knightsbridge, Flux, Zinger, Ennies, Hollibaugh, 'Nzeppel (variation)
I have a student that does 'Nzeppel freehand. I have never tried this before so decided to try it here. Did not turn out exactly like I pictured it but was pleased with it for a first try.

This is getting posted late enough that I am assuming that most anyone that sees this has all ready looked at the things posted on the Bright Owl. However if not, would suggest that you do so. I hope to look at some of them this evening. I have no idea even how many have participated this week. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #164: "Amanda (Earth) Day"

I was not exactly sure what to do with this week's Diva Challenge. My brain does not tend to work well on these types of challenges. After a little bit of thought I decided what I could do is finish the Organic Garden, ala Meredith Yuhas, that I had started. Was not sure if I was going to get it done or not. I had fun doing this. Still working on the highlighting and shading on the gray paper. Am pleased with the way that this turned out. I hope that you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Sanibelle, Dragonair, Mooka, Flux, Antidot, Poke Root, Poke Leaf, Scroll feather, Ahh, 'Nzeppel, Msst, Featherfall, Wist, Chainlea, Zinger, Angel Fish, & Fescu. 

  

I think I got the names of all the tangles that I used.

The highlighting and shading was done with a white chalk pencil, Prismacolor white wax pencil, and HB graphite pencil

I have to admit that I did sneak a peak at a couple of entries this week before I was finished with mine. Do not think that I was influenced by them. I hope to get a look at all the rest of the entries over the next several days. If you have not all ready done so would strongly recommend that you visit The Diva's blog and look at the other great posts.  

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 162: "String Theory - Initial String"

This week's Diva Challenge is another String Theory but this time it is to use your initials as a string. One of the hardest parts was deciding how to put the initials on the tile. Finally decided on a straightforward approach. I also decided to use an original Zentangle® tile after using a Renaissance tile the last couple of weeks. I chose a combination of seldom used and familiar tangles. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Drupe, 'Nzeppel, Paradox, and Whee.

'Nzeppel and Paradox are two tangles that I use frequently. The only change I made is that I usually do Paradox so that the fan shape is predominant. I chose to not do this and go for the twisted bar. Not sure what I think about it. Drupe is a neat tangle but not one I think of often. Whee could be looked at as a variation of Echoism. It is one that I came up with before I even knew what Echoism was. There are really a lot of different ways to finish this off. If you are really curious can see the step out on the My Tangles page of my blog. 

If you have not done so, would encourage you to go to I Am the Diva to look at what others have done. I did look at some before I did the last section of my tile. I all ready had decided what I was going to do, so was not influenced by what I saw. Is a little harder with this one, unless someone had the same initials. So far that has not been the case. 

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #156: "Curvy Gridlock"

This week's challenge came from a comment the Diva received about doing grid based tangles. The person indicated that they were not very good at grid based tangles because she could not draw a straight line. The Diva's response was, who says grids have to be straight. I agree. It is fun to vary them and see what variations you can come up with. Some are probably easier to do than others. So she challenged people to come up with uneven or curvy grids. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Florz(variation), Puf, and 'Nzeppel

When I was doing this I thought the grid where I did Puf was a little more curvy. Doing the other two curvy was easier. I chose to use tangles that I enjoy using. 'Nzeppel is one of my favorites. Florz is a simple tangle and I enjoy looking for different ways to vary it. Puf is fun to do and is quite a surprise at the end from the way it starts out(thanks Carol Ohl!). 

If  you have not visited I am the Diva, would encourage you to do so and look at the other great things that others have posted. 

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

Go Tangle !!    

Diva Challenge #155: " A Little White Space"

I think as an indication of how I have progressed/improved in my work, my reaction to this dare was, okay I can do that. It was a little confusing though as the title was a "Little White Space" and in the text of the Dare Laura wrote to try leaving a big open white space. Hmm! Which to do?  A little white space or a big open white space. I almost just used my piece from the Zendala Dare as I have typically tended to use white space a little more regularly, and comfortably, in zendalas. Not sure why, but may be the nature of the templates make it easier for me to just see it. I had enough time to do another one so I put in a big open white space in this one. For those of you who are regular visitors to my blog you are now going to read something that you have not seen here much before. One of the challenges in any Zentangle® or ZIA that I do is the shading. When I got done with this one I was pleased with the shading in general and I was very satisfied with the way the shading of the negative space turned out. Okay, all you folks can either get up off the floor, or close your mouth. You look silly with your mouth hanging open. I cannot say how often I will be making comments like that, but it is nice to see something come together. Well enough rambling. I appreciate those of you who have read all this. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Keeko, Knightsbridge, Hybrid, Shattuck, Bales, 'Nzeppel, & Beads

For the shading I used a variety of graphite pencils from HB to 6B. The gray on the bales is done with a Fabrico Dual point marker. 

For those of you who do not participate in the Zendala Dare I am also posting this weeks Zendala. This shows a little white space rather than a big space.

If you have not all ready done so, strongly encourage you to visit I Am the Diva and look at all the other great pieces that people have created. You won't be disappointed. If you have not before, you may also want to give it a try yourself.

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

Go Tangle !!