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. 

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 !!

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 !!!

Mistaken Diva challenge: Bales sampler

I looked at the Diva Challenge and for some reason rather than remembering that it was a monotangle of Puf, I thought it was a monotangle of Bales.  Of course I did not go back and check until I had completed my tile. Oh well.  I like Bales as I see it as a base tangle.  You do the basic grid and then you an experiment with a lot of things.  There are a couple of tangles like this. Cadent is another one that comes to mind.  It is too late to complete another tile for the Challenge so am just posting this on my blog and will also post it in a couple of FB groups.  Here is what I came up with.  Hope you enjoy it.

The outer round is Puf , then is the way that I usually do Bales and then the last two are just variations. Shading done with HB pencil

Thanks for visiting.  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and 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 #360: "Duotangle Shattuck vs Tripoli"

This week' challenge is a duotangle which featured two tangles that I enjoy doing.  Shattuck was one of the first tangles that I learned and Tripoli was released shortly before I became a CZT.  Although I use to use Tripoli a lot, I realized when I started doing it, I have not used it much lately. The things I have been doing lately have been more organic. I used a Renaissance tile as it was what I had with me at the time.  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Shattuck, Tripoli, 

Highlights done with white Gelly Roll.

I never to much shading or highlighting on Tripoli,  I just let the different patterns develop.  I have not had a chance to look at what others have submitted. If you have not either, would highly recommend that you to to I am the Diva and look at the other pieces submitted.

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 !!!

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 !! 

Diva Challenge #346: Duo Tangle - Phicops vs Huggins

First post of the New Year and it is the first Zentangle® related post in months.  There has been a lot going on in my life. Won't go into the details.  Nothing major in terms of illness but just things that result in a good deal of stress and are time consuming.

When I saw the first challenge of the New Year, thought I could knock something out quickly. Well, it took longer and it probably got more complicated than it needed to be.  It did give me some much needed tangling time however.  There was no stipulation that had to use the standard Huggins, so as somewhat apropos, I chose to use "Crazy Huggins".  Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

I chose to use a combination of stippling and graphite for the shading.  Maybe got a little carried away with the stippling.  As I was doing this, had some thoughts of adding some color but chose to stay with the basic black pen and graphite shading.  Liked the way that the shading turned out in the Phicops.  

I had some difficulty deciding which orientation I wanted to use and decided that there was no reason I could not post both.  Interesting how it changes how you look at it when you just rotate the tile a little.  I also chose to put the square orientation as I could get a better close up of the tile.  Here is what it looks like with it oriented on the point. 

I have not had a chance to look at any other things that have been submitted. I am sure that there are some really fantastic pieces of art.  If you have not done so, would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and look at what others have posted.

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

Go Tangle !!

Diva Challenge # 336: "Striping - Monotangle"

Have not been able to participate in a lot of challenges lately.  Had some time but then realized that I only had Bijou tiles.  Oh well, just did two in a little different style. Am away from my laptop so am doing this on my tablet. Hope I can get things posted. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it. (Had to wait until I got to my laptop as was not able to figure out how to load things on my computer.)

This is a more traditional use of Striping.  

Here, I tried some thing a little different.  Did not exactly turn out the way that I was thinking but still kind of interesting.

  This is from one of the challenges that I did not get finished.  Felt some need to finish it but also had some time to tangle and did not have any blank full size tiles.  Did not use the typical hexagon shape, but most have 6 sides. 

 All the shading was done with HB pencil. 

I have not looked at any of the other things posted on I am the Diva. If you have not either, encourage you to look at what others have done. Are always  interesting pieces.  Just click on the link above to go there directly.

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

Go Tangle !!