Diva Challenge #225: Guest Blogger Jen Crutchfield, CZT - Using color

The Diva is having guest bloggers over the summer as she is taking some time off this summer to spend more time with her family. This is the first week of a guest blogger and it is a fellow Indiana CZT. There are, I think, double the number of CZTs in the state from when I got my certification. I think the only area that does not have at least one is the northeast part of the state. But I digress.

The basic Zentangle® format is using black pen and a graphite pencil for shading. that is probably how most start but then they do venture out a little to try something with color. Usually, myself included, if the person does not have much (read any) art background using color is one of those things that causes a little increase in their anxiety. After 4 years of tangling I am more comfortable using color but it is still not something I am totally comfortable with doing. For this challenge I went back and visited one the techniques I first used to add color. This is Maria Browning's embossing technique that she included in her book, Time to Tangle with Color,  and also taught at  Tangle U.  I was not able to attend Tangle U but did talk with some people who did and I also found the brief explanation in her book. before when I used it I used a black tile. I have wanted to try it on other tiles to see how it worked but just have not done it. It seemed to fit well for this challenge. Enough rambling, here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used : Opsess, Shattuck, Bales

The color is done with Irojiten pencils. The colors are Lettuce Green, Lilac, & Sunset Orange.There is about three layers of each color.

The tangles are done using a Signo Uni-ball 207 Micro pen. I use these at work and when they have run out of ink, I have saved some to use for this purpose. It gives a finer line than the typical embossing tool. 

I have not seen a lot of other things posted yet for this challenge. I plan on going to I am the Diva to see the other pieces submitted. Would strongly encourage you to visit the site also and give the challenge a try, even if you do not decide to post what you do.

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

Go Tangle !!

Embossed/Impressed Technique: On Black Tiles

I was not fortunate enough to go to Tangle U but I knew a few folks who did. I heard about the session that Maria Browning did on using color on the black tiles. I also saw a couple of examples, some on line and some in person. I then realized ( read discovered)  that Maria had included an example and brief explanation of this technique in her Time to Tangle with Color book. I had tried it once before but was not pleased with the results. Not sure if it was my pencils or what I used to make the tangles. On the first one, I did not have an old ball point pen so I used the stylus from my PDA. I think that that was mostly the issue. It might have worked but I would have had to really push harder than I did. To protect the screen, it has a soft cover on the point. Well awhile ago I purchased an embossing tool and recently I just purchased some of the Tombow Irojiten pencils. They were on sale for $.99 each. And guess what came today. I had been working on the tile for a couple of days. but when the pencils came today it was a stronger motivation to finish the tile and experiment a little with the new pencils. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

I only used a portion of the pencils that I received. The colors I used were Straw Yellow, Sunset Orange (Shattuck), Vigorous Green ( Printemps), Cameo Pink (Triangle), Lightning Yellow (Bales), and Horizon Blue ( Paradox).  The only color that I was disappointed with the way that it turned out was the Straw Yellow. I did not use it a lot and it may just not be a good choice for the black tiles. Will withhold judgement on this color until I have a chance to experiment with it on other things. 

As I mentioned earlier, I think the hardness of the embossing tool made a difference in how it turned out. I must say thought that the Irojiten pencils were nice to work with. The color went on very smoothly, much more than my generic colored pencils I used before. It was much easier to get a smoother cover and layer it with a lighter touch than what I could achieve with my generic pencils. I guess the quality of the tools that you use can make a difference. 

I am doing a class this Saturday on this and other techniques on the black tiles. I am glad I had a chance to practice this again.

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

Go Tangle !!