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 !!

Completed cutting board: Burned tangled cow

After 20+ hours I finally finished the cutting board.  Most of the time was spent doing the shading/burning.  Did not realize would take that long.  Probably could have made the striping a little bigger.  That would have cut down on the number that I needed to shade.  Here are the pictures as it progressed.

I am not going to repost all the pictures from the original post but this is what it looked like in the begining. 

Here is the next step of tangling the hooves and creating the legs. Used the tangle Paradox for the hooves.  Only one more step but it was a large one. 

And here is the finished cutting board.  Thought about adding a bell to the collar but opted not to add this.  I am still a "newbie" when it comes to pyrography.   I still have a lot to learn. I could have spend a little more time preparing the wood. I thought I had it pretty smooth, but as was burning, there were a few rough spots.  Think it lead to some feathering, or over burns.  This was also probably due to not having the heat setting quite right. Have the same problem with water colors.  Get impatient.  Try to do things too quickly.  

Tangles used in this are: Tail-Shattuck: Horns-Fassett; Collar-Hybrid variation; Hooves-Paradox; Spot-Striping.  The end of the tail is just line work.  

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

Go Tangle !!  

Beyond the Basics class: Layered water color background

Do not post much about things that I do in a class but this was an interesting class.  I had introduced using a water color wash before but did not spend much time on adding layers.  Wanted to have them take their time putting down the water color before they tangled on the piece.  Am waiting to see the finished pieces as they were all so different.  One used a lot of small sections of color and used a lot of organic tangles, which is what she enjoys. With her permission may post a picture of it later.  I am showing the piece that I did.  I used larger sections of color and layered the same color on top. Did not try to layer different colors for muted or different effects.  Will post a series of pictures showing the piece as it progressed.  Really did not have a plan when I started. Picked a tangle and just let it develop.  Here is the results.

Thought I had a picture of just the water color but I guess that I did not .  I first did  what I am calling "Semi-crazy" Huggins.  Is not a regular grid but not too much "wonkiness".  I then put in Finery and then Puf.  

Next I added Inapod and then put Paradox around the outside.

I then added Zander in both sections. The next was the Flora variation and then added the Phicops and Zingers to finish it off.

I then added Mooka, Flux, and Tipple.  The Tipple was added and randomly.  Was looking at different orientations when I took this picture.

And here is the finished piece with the last section finished.   The paper is water color paper and is 6"x 8". 

The last tangle is Opsess, one that I did the step out for.

I have a couple of other projects I want to get to but want to do something like this again.  I would like to use smaller areas of color and try more blending like when doing the gems.  That is a time consuming process so not sure when I will get to it.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #358: UMT - "Pickpocket by Tomas Pedros"

Was not sure that I was going to get anything to post.  This week's challenge was a "Use my Tangle" and featured the tangle Pickpocket.  This tile had a couple of those "unplanned opportunities".  I almost decided just to give up, but opted not to.  Try to encourage my students to use what is there and make it their own.  So that is what I did.  The first "opportunity came up right away. I had seen the tangle before and did not look at the video and the stepout was a little hard to see.  What I did not take into account is that the orientation of the triangles was important to the tangle. If I do the tangle again I would change a few things. One I would start out making triangles rather than dots and trying to turn the dots into triangles.  I also did not notice that the tangle comes together by starting on the top of one dot and going to the bottom the next one.  I could also choose not to try to turn them into triangles and keep the circles which would make it less angular.  Either way, I think the key is going from top to bottom.  I did the small section and was not sure what to do.  After letting it set for a while decided to add a few of the tangles that I enjoy doing.  Is this my favorite tile? Probably not, but it is still unique and there are things that I like about it.  The second "opportunity" occurred when I started doing Featherfall.  I was rushing and just saw the 01 on the Micron.  As I was doing it, it not very good light, I thought that the ink looked different.  It almost looked like it might if the pigment separated and it was more of a blue.  Well after I decided to turn on a little more light and look at the pen, I found out I had grabbed a purple Micron rather than the black.  What to do?  At first I was just going to start using the black where I realized I had been using the purple.  I decided to go ahead and finish the Featherfall with the purple and then use black for the other tangle with which I combined it. That part was planned. Oh well, have to remind myself that I have to use the same principles that I try to instill in my students.  Here is what I came up with, I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Pickpocket, Flux, Zinger, Featherfall, Plume_ar, and Paradox

Shading done with HB pencil. As you can probably tell, I did not use a string in this tile,  It is separated into quadrants however.  

I have not had a chance to look at other things that people have done.  I have seen a few that have been posted elsewhere or have shown up in my "read" file.  Hope to look at some but have lots of other things to do.  If you have not come here from I am the Diva, would suggest that you to there and look at all the great art that has been submitted.  Just click on the link above. If you usually do not participate, give it a try, whether you post it or not.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge # 357: "Monotangle - Paradox time!"Par

This will be a short post as I am using my tablet. This week's challenge is to do a Monotangle of Paradox.  This got me on two levels. One, I love doing Paradox as to me it is very relaxing. It is one simple stroke. Second, I needed some relaxation.  I know the first reason will not resonate with a lot of people, but for me it is always true.  I also threw in a little of trying to do the Zen Buttons that have seen posted. Had not tried this before and shading is not my strong point. Was pleased with the result for a first attempt.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Picture is not great as I had to email from my phone. 

Have not had any time to look a what others have done.  Will try to look at things this week.

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

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 !!

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 #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 !!

Another adventure with Pyrography and tangling: Wood bracelet

Finally got enough courage to try a 3D item. I finished all the crosses not ready to tackle the candle plates yet. Wanted a little more practice before I attempted those. Overall I was pleased with the way this turned out. Here is the item that I finished. Will make a few comments after the pictures.

Kept it pretty simple using Paradox as the primary pattern. I like the contrast but did have some difficulty getting a consistent burn on the triangle sections. Could say that it had something to do with the wood but am guessing that it had more to do with me. On the other hand I kind of like the "marbled effect" with the uneven burn. These pictures are before I have done anything to seal or finish them. Will have to see what I will do. I like the Tung oil but it also darkens the wood. Will contact some of the other people I know and see what options there are.

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

Go Tangle !!

Mixing two techniques: Tangling and Pyrography

Have wanted to do more with combining these two before but have not had the materials or the time. I have some other materials but they are rounded. Figured was probably better to start with something that was flat. This, for me, takes more patience than just tangling with a Micron. I actually did do a couple of them with Microns first. The others are burned. The small ones are about 1.5 inches long and the larger ones are about 2.75 inches long.  Used Tung oil as a finish. I hope you enjoy them.

Decided to keep the tangles pretty simple and use ones that basically had straight lines. I did stray from this a little when I did Bales on one of the larger crosses. Figured that was a little more possible since it was a larger surface. Used a tipple effect on two of them. I like the one that is darker a little better. I think it is because of the contrast.

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

Go Tangle !!

Square One Focus Tangle: Hollibaugh

This week's focus tangle on the Square One FB page is Hollibaugh. This is an interesting tangle. It is usually one that I always teach in the Basic Class because of the drawing behind technique. Wanted to do something a little different with it.  Not sure when I did this before. Seems that maybe it was part of a challenge or maybe it was in response to a post in one of the FB pages. I like it because it adds a little flair to the tangle. Have been seeing Hollibaugh tangles that people have been doing at  Can-tangle. Not sure exactly what they were doing as there were just pictures with little information. Think that it is doing tangleations and trying to stretch tangles a little more. Because of the way that this is done was also able to include last week's focus tangle, Finery as I was not able to post a tile. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

 Tangles used: Hollibaugh, Paradox, Tipple, Finery, & Shattuck 

Shading done with 2B pencil

Have been a number of interesting things posted on the FB page. If you do not regularly follow this page, would encourage you to do so. You can see some great work and get some inspiriation about things to do. Is not really a site to post questions but can contact the poster in a private message with questions.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #219: :Straight Lines all the Tines...er, Times"

Interesting challenge from the Diva this week. Think the only reason I was able to get to it this quickly is that our office was closed today in honor of Memorial Day. Others from Europe have mentioned similar days in their countries. It is the day set aside in the US to honor those who died during wars/conflicts or while serving in the military. Could not really think of a theme for this to include in the tile.

Now back to the challenge. It is to use only straight lines. Did not think that it would be that hard and it really wasn't but I did have to deal with my wanting to put in some organic tangles. Was not so much that I do not like the line tangles, I realized that I usually put in a couple of organic tangles to balance it. In this tile it probably would have been where the Hollibaugh is used. also could not imagine doing only straight lines without using Paradox. I am sure that others will use it also. Other thing that I noticed after I had taken the picture is that I did not fill spaces quite as well as I thought I had. Oh well, was not a big enough issue to go back and redo and take another picture. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used : Paradox, Cubine, Hollibaugh, & Basquals

Shading done with HB pencil

Not even sure how many things have been posted yet on I am the Diva. Hope to have time throughout the week to look at the great pieces posted there. I would encourage you to go there often as well.

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: Sez

Got to this early in the week. Probably the only way I was going to get a tile done. This week's focus tile is SeZ. I am not sure that I have used this tangle before. I have put it with a few others. It is one that I am not sure how to shade. I did minimal shading on it.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Sez, Paradox, Cadent, Betweed

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

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #96

After a significant absence Erin at The Bright Owl has again started to post the Zendala Dare. She posted one last week, but I was unable to get anything done for that. Before I was pretty regular in posting Zendalas. I like doing them but after not doing them with template for a while, it took a little time getting used to doing them again.

This is an interesting template. I do not remember one quite like this before. There were probably a number of directions one could go with this. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Paradox, Betweed, Stripes. Fasset, & Zander

Shading was done with #2 pencil. 

I have only seen Erin's Zendala. Hope to look at a few of the others. If you are not familiar with the Zendala Dare, go to The Bright Owl and look at what others have done. Give it a try yourself.

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

Go Tangle !!

Square One: Huggjns

The focus tangle on Square One this week is Huggins. I do not use this a lot. Am more likely to use Cadent. For some reason, getting the lines in the right direction is more challenging on this one. I have to concentrate more on that then just the stroke. The rest of the tile came together rather easily, after some early brain freezes about what to do. Once I started it flowed fairly well. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Huggins, Flux, Paradox, Striping,  Mak-Rah-Mee, Purk, Rope, & Zander

Shading was done with a #2 pencil and stippling. 

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

Go Tangle !!  

First Pyrography Attempt

Not too long ago I received a surprise package from my sister. I had tried my hand at wood burning a couple of years ago. I had some wood boxes that I was doing for the oldest granddaughters. I do not think I had even started tangling then. I had a simple tool that I had purchased at Hobby Lobby. My sister has been burning for a while. She originally started on gourds. After she stopped doing gourds, she transferred this to her tangling work. She has done some really stunning pieces. If you want to look at some good burning, can see some examples at her blog Tinkered Art Studio. She has pictures in her Galleries. She has things in every one except her Zentangle® Gallery. Well, what was in the package was her older Razertip burner with about 5 different pens. I had been wanting to try different things but with the holidays and a couple of venues where I was selling, I did not have a chance to try them out. I finally just decided to do go ahead and do it. Although I probably should have been working on things to file my taxes. It is nothing special, but it is a start. Hope to get to some other things later. Really need to get some information/instruction on this.

Here is what I did. You cannot tell from the picture but this piece of wood is about the size of a business card. It is not very thick. I stuck to very simple tangles. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Paradox, Msst, Ahh

I guess the word is apropos since I was not sure how this was going to turn out.

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

Go Tangle !! 

Diva Challenge #195: "Turning Old into New"

This week's Diva Challenge is courtesy of Sandy Hunter, whose blog is tanglebucket.blogspot.com. I first became aware of here blog through my sister. Sandy had developed some tangles but she also had a knack for combining two tangles into one pattern. She labeled this as her tangle remix. Was interesting. I cannot say that I tried to do too many, but I think I did try a few. They were fun but my brain does not think that way. This week's Challenge is to take favorite, or go to tangles and do them differently. If you picked a grid based tangle, do it free form and if you picked a free form tangle, use it a grid. I did the best I could with this. Not sure I was totally successful with this with both of the tangles that I chose. One tangle I chose was cadent. I use this a lot and like it. I usually use it in a structured way. It is not really grid based as I would define it, but I usually use it much like a grid. The other tangle I chose was Antidots. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it. Oh yeah, I used a Renaissance tile as that was the only tile that I had in the kit that I usually carry.

Tangles used: Cadent, Antidots

The shading was done with a white Prismacolor pencil and a Zenstone.

I did not get last week's Challenge, "Embracing the Yuck", done in time to post it. Am including it in this post only as it was some work. This is the second challenge I did using the non-dominant hand. I had started it and felt like I needed to finish. I have to admit that I did not really enjoy doing this. My idea was to start out with Knightsbridge to get a little practice. After I started it, there was such a large time gap before I could continue that it was not of much help. Here it is. I hope that somebody enjoys it.

Tangles used: Knightsbridge, Tripoli, Betweed, Ixorus, Paradox

I have not looked at many entries from either week's challenge. Not sure now much I will be able to look at #194 but definitely want to look at what people have done in this week's Challenge. Encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at what others have done. Would also encourage you to try it yourself, even if you do not post it. Would encourage you to post it though if at all possible.

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

Go Tangle !!