Beyond the Basics class and a gift package

I am getting ready for a Beyond the Basics class tonight. Decided to use an idea that was adapted by Debbie Huntington to make Valentine Cards. She adapted it from a Video done by Zentangle® HQ during the 12 Days of Christmas videos that they do.  Here is what I did for mine.

Did this as part of a challenge using 4 tangles. It was a on a FB group that I am a participant. Can use to make your own card with a personal message or use as a frame for a picture.  This used the standard tiles.  Could use the a black tile instead of he Renaissance tile.  I kind of like this combination.  Tangles used are Tipple, Sand Swirl, O-curly, and Plume_ar.  Highlighting was done with a white charcoal pencil and a graphite pencil.  The letters were done with a stub nib fountain pen.

The other thing I mentioned is that I received a package from my sister, who is also a CZT.  She was planning on getting rid of some things and asked me if I wanted some things.  I was not really sure all what she was going to send so it was fun opening the package and seeing what was there. There were a couple of things that I do not remember her talking about.  Here are some pictures of the things I received.

I got some gray Copic markers and Tombow pencils On the top are 2 Sakura Pigma pens. I took a separate picture of them as they did not seem to be on the group picture. The one thing that did not show up and is between the Copic cool gray markers and pencils.  It is a fine line fountain pen.  I have always liked using fountain pens but have not used them for a while. She has presented me with a couple and I enjoy using them.  Sometimes it is a little tricky, depending on the paper as sometimes it will bleed. I have put a nice blue ink in this one and am looking forward to using it.  Not sure if I will use it to tangle or not.  

This was one of the unexpected items.  I have not found out from her where she got it.  It is a pencil case that is made of a reinforced craft paper. It has a sipper.  If could find some it looks like it would be neat class project as could tangle on the paper.  Will explore this a little more fully. 

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 !!

Diva Challenge #223:"Official Tangle - UMBLE"

This week's Diva Challenge uses  one of the tangles that is in the Zenthology, Umble. It was also the focus recently in the Zentangle® newsletter. I have not used it a lot. I think I first saw it in Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Alpha Tangle book. It is interesting as it uses the hollibaugh effect but the rest is pretty basic. This being the case I did want to change it up a little. Also did it on a Renaissance tile. Have been using mostly the original tiles as most of what I have been doing and posting has been on the Square One FB page and that is all you can use. I did remind me though that each tile takes pencils differently. The Renaissance tiles are a little thinner and do not necessarily do layering of colored pencils that well. Had some difficulties with the paper flaking. Did not cause major problems, but just had to be careful. This is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Intwine, Umble, 

Inside are Dew Drops. The shading/highlighting is done with lays of Irojiten colored pencils. The bottom layer is Lightning Yellow, the next is Bamboo, and the last is Maple Sugar. If I felt the paper would take another layer I would have tried a red tint to get closer to the brown micron but did not want to chance it. 

Have not looked at many of the other posts, only seen those that showed up on my blog reader. I had all ready started mine when I saw them so was all ready set on what I was going to do. If you have not all ready been to I am the Diva, would strongly recommend you do so and look at the great art submitted by all the other participants. Try it yourself and take a real plunge and post your own.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge #181: "Water"

For those who visit my blog regularly, you may have noticed a change. This was not intentional. I went into Blogger and was looking at some things. I clicked on something which I though was just going to show me what it looked like. Unfortunately it applied it to my blog. I had not backed up the settings and I did not see a restore button. I had to try to begin to reconstruct it from memory. I at least got some basic things back. You will probably see other things change as I try to adjust things.

Now on the the Diva Challenge. This week she based the challenge on her recent activities. She, along with her family, spent some time enjoying different activities on the water.  We were suppose to use "water" to inspire us in creating our tile. Well I went to one of my earliest resources. One of the first books that I purchased about Zentangle® was Sandy Bartholomew's Totally Tangled. She has a page in her book that shows a number of Japanese images that represent water. I chose one of them. I have not looked at others, except a few that showed up on my blog reader. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Swell, Squid, Sanibelle

This is quite different from what I usually do. I have been using a little more color but not like this. I used a combination of Irojiten and Derwent pencils. The water is a layering of Irojiten Horizon Blue, Hyacinth Blue and Derwent Sea blue. The last is the darker color. Sanabelle is a layering of Irojiten Straw Yellow, Bamboo, and Maple Sugar. On Squid I used Pigeon Gray for the orbs and Cameo Pink for the tentacle. 

I now hope to be able to spend some time viewing what others have done. As usual, I encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at all the great art. Take the time to comment, as most people appreciate this. If so inspired, take the challenge yourself. 

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #178: "Duotangle by the Letter!"

The Diva is back. This week's challenge is a duotangle. Unlike other duotangles where everyone used the same tangles we get to choose. The parameter though is that we are suppose to use tangles that begin with our initials. My initials are D W. I contemplated a few different tangles before I settled on the ones that I used. This tile is also a stretch for me. The last couple of challenges I stayed with basic Zentangle ® method using black with graphite shading.  I enjoy doing those, but challenges are suppose to challenge us. I chose to do this with color. I've done some similar things on cards that I made but this is not the norm for me. I was pleased with the results. I will add a few more comments under the picture. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Dragonair, Wells(freehand)

I used both my Inktense and Irojiten colored pencils on this. I am still working on this process. I did not burnish any of the color. If I have time I want to go back and do that. May post what that looks like when I do. On the other hand I also like the texture that this provides so I may decide not to. Comments/suggestions on this would be appreciated. 

I got a little carried away on the Well when I first started. In true Zentangle® fashion though had to decide how to remedy it. While not exactly what I was envisioning in my mind, it did turn out. I used Helen Williams of A Little Lime for the inspiration to do a free hand well and not do a grid. You can see her examples of different ways to do Well by clicking here. This will take you to her pattern page. You can scroll down to see what she did. She also has a duotangle on her home page of Well and Punzel. You can see that here.

Some day I hope to be able to be a little closer to her proficiency in doing such tangles and use of color. 

If you have not done so, would encourage you to visit I Am the Diva to look at what others have posted. I have only seen a few on my reader so am anxious to see all the different pieces.

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

Go Tangle!!

Diva Challenge # 177 : " Truffle by Caroline Broady, CZT" #2

While the first one I did was okay, did not think that I really did justice to the tangle. I also wanted to try a few new things so I made a second tile. This time I used a larger scale for Truffle and I did the work on a Renaissance zendala tile. Probably the biggest thing was that I wanted to do more with color. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Truffle, Maryhill, Scrawlz

Probably not the best choice but I used a combination of different colored pencils. I did want to see how smooth a finish I could get with my generic Loew-Cornell® pencils. I got these because they were inexpensive and could get a lot of different colors. They do not cover, or go on as smoothly as my Irojiten, Inktense or Prismacolor pencils. The white is the Prismacolor and the green on Scrawlz is the Irojiten.  I did learn that I have to be patient to get a richer color with the Loew-Cornell pencils. Needed many more layers. Over all I am pleased with the results and did accomplish what I wanted.

Want to try some more experimenting with different things. If I have time and get them done, will post them later. If you have not, make sure that you check out the other postings on I am the Diva. If so inclined, make a comment. I know that most enjoy hearing what you think of their work.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 176: " B.Y.O.B" - # 2

Won't go into any of the background on the challenge as this is my second tile. I decided to do another one as I was less than satisfied with my first. While I was not any more enthusiastic about the challenge, I was more pleased with the result. I chose to do the second one on a zendala tile and I made a much larger stain. I think this helped with deciding what I wanted to do, but it still took some time. Here is what the stain looked like before I started tangling.

Here is what I came up with. I kept it simple. I hope you enjoy it.

I usually take a couple of different pictures, using different setting of my completed tile.  I could not decide which one I liked the best so I put them both on here.

Tangles used: Phicops, Florz

I used a sepia marker to do Phicops. The shading was done with both Derwent  and Irotijen pencils. The Derwent was Baked Earth and I used Bamboo and Maple Syrup Irojiten pencils. I was pleased with the results of the shading. I thought about shading Florz but decided not to. Some of this was based on time, but also I liked the contrast that the simple black/white tangle provided.

Thanks for visiting. I know this one was submitted at the very end of the time. I appreciate any views on this one.  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 !!