Twofer.
In last Friday's post , I talked a little bit about project I was working on, and I showed you the first piece.
Here it is again, with two more tiles I’ve completed. Both of these have the same tangle on them, Emingle. I liked the contrast of this tangle with the first piece. But it didn’t occur to me how long it would take to draw that many little lines on two entire tiles. I finally finished these yesterday!
Guess what I am making!
I have been kind of “stuck” since about the beginning of the year. I got through figuring out how to handle black tiles, but then I couldn’t seem to get going on anything else I wanted to accomplish. Suddenly, about a week ago, something in the stars changed and I started making Zenbuttons, something I’ve wanted to do for some time. Now, I’m giving you a sneak peek at another project I wanted to try. I’ll be working on this next week. It will take a while because it requires tangling on several tiles to complete the project!
Amanda asked me, the other day about Indy-Rella. I told her I hadn’t used it very much because I always end up drawing it so tiny. She did it on a white tile, using black ink, making the elements rather large, which inspired me to try this. I started with the white pen. But I still didn’t get mine as larger as hers. So I thought it might be fun to add different color inks that would make it look like they were fading out on the tile.
Today’s Zenbutton is brought to you by the season: Spring!
Here, the weather can’t make up it’s mind. One day we’re handed Spring, another Summer and then we’re back in Winter. I have to check the weather report before I can get dressed!
So, I decided that I wanted to encourage Mother Nature and gift her with a Zenbutton that embodied flowers and leaves and the happy spring colors of warm pinks and yellow greens. It was fun looking through my tangles to select the ones that would work for this tile. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did making it!
Yes, another Zenbutton! Last Valentine’s day I really wanted to participate in the Valentangle challenge. I ended up admiring everyone else’s work, but didn’t get anything of my own done. So, now that I’m on a Zenbutton kick, I did the challenge from February 5th! I did use four circles rather than 3. And I went with “hearts and flowers”, in as much as Toodles looks a bit like a heart, and I used actual heart shapes on the innermost ring. I thought the spirals looked a bit like roses, specially with the addition of the tiny black triangles, which reminded me of leaves.
While I was working on yesterday’s tile, I was thinking that I would like to try this technique on a tan tile, with a Southwestern, Native American pottery theme.
I gave it a shot here. I’m not totally enthralled with it because I feel like the entire tile reads too “brown,” without enough light contrast. I will probably give this another try over the weekend. That said, I do like the tile for what it is!
I had so much fun creating yesterday’s Zenbutton I decided that I wanted to do more of them in different styles. So, for this one, I’m using Marguerite Samama’s Delft Delights style.
If you need instructions in this style, they are available from AcadiaLaserCreations on Etsy.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a blue Pigma Micron pen and a cobalt Copic Multiliner. Shading done with colored and graphite pencils. Highlights done with white colored pencil and Sakurka Gelly Roll pen.
This tile uses a basic technique referred to as a Zenbutton. CZT Marguerite Samama is credited as the inventor of this technique. She was experimenting with methods for using Fragments in different ways when she discovered it.
You can watch an instructional video, created by Melinda Barlow, CZT, here , to see the basic technique.
I’ve been thinking about trying it for a few days. Yesterday, I sat down and went for it. For my first attempt, I’m very happy with the results. I will definitely add this to my tangle enhancing techniques!
Textural.
She was selecting the contents based on the feeling of the objects. This trip was for a world where the beings did not “see” things the way most did. They had no eyes. Instead, everything was based on texture and sound. So touching each item, with her eyes closed became very important.
Zentangle drawn on Strathmore Vellum Bristol using a black, Micron pen. Shading done with graphite pencil.
I look at this tile and I see many things. From a layer of stones arranged as the floor of a patio to stretched out Cat’s Cradles or perhaps a section of lace. Maybe I’m looking at some sort of atomic level structure under the microscope. Who knows what it is?
Crazy N’Zepple works as a fill for sections in a design or as a full design in it’s own right. It’s easy to do and the end results are always surprising. I love to use it as a warmup when I’m not sure what I want to do. Give it a try, and let it surprise you, too!
Jumble.
Others always wondered at how so much cargo could come out of such a tiny ship. They just didn’t understand. She’d captured so many universes in her travels. And now she could store infinite amounts in each one. All she had to do is make sure they traveled together!
It has always fascinated me how shading opens up, raises, or pushes back sections of tangles on a tile. Here, this crazy combination took on all kinds of dimension just from shading various edges. Don’t skip shading your tiles. It’s as interesting and meditative as the drawing!
This Zentangle is brought to you today by Thomàs Pádro . He has named this one Pickpocket. I’ve actually done a slight variation here. Instead of straight lines, I’ve chosen to curve mine a bit. I think it softens the design, making it a little less rigid and a little more feminine. I also chose to make it appear as if two different kind of materials were woven together by adding the grey auras to every other section instead of all of them.
Squashed together.
This is a tangle that, until yesterday, I really didn’t like very much. When I pulled it from the tangle jar, I just kind of plopped it into my tile as a type of medallion, because I really didn’t know what to do with it. Then I watched this video from Helen Williams. Her blog is A Little Lime, and has lots of interesting tangle related information! .
Her method is so much more fun and makes a much more interesting finished image. Here, the gourds are used as more of an organic fill, rather than a center piece. The concept could also be incorporated into a standard Zentangle with other tangles mixed in. I’ll have to give that a try in the future!
Armed.
As she looked into the tank, she could see that these creatures had some kind of appendages that sort of sproinged out of their bodies. They ranged in all sizes from teeny tiny to so large she couldn’t even see the body in the murk. It looked as if the smaller ones became entwined in the larger as they grew. But wouldn’t these prisoners become a burden over time?
Aquarium.
Even though there was little free liquid on this planet, it was the home to the Celestial Aquarium. Her crew had just brought in a new specimen for display. As they completed the delivery, she decided to take advantage of the situation and walked off to see all the creatures from this part of the cosmos for herself. Some were so odd, she didn’t even recognize them as life forms. She enjoyed guessing which thing in the tank was actually alive.
Paths.
She walked through the garden, following the path to gate. Nothing was in bloom yet, although she could see the buds just starting in some places. Some of the bushes were pruned into interesting shapes, mirroring the owners logos. The larger plantings were still wild and unkempt, not yet ready for the party.
I always find it amusing when a tangle that I use a lot comes out of the jar. Today, it was Printemps. It’s one of my go-to fillers. I almost threw it back in, but I didn’t because it provided a counterpoint to the straight lines of some of the other designs.
Tradition.
We all enjoy learning new things, pushing boundaries and growing in our art. But we shouldn’t forget where we came from in the process.
To keep with the original tradition of Zentangle, I have used the die and legend that came with my new Zentangle Kit to select the tangles that I used for this tile. I chose them one at a time, filling in a section before rolling for the next. I went around clockwise, starting with Bales. I think it’s fascinating how everything fits together and looks good without having to think much or labor over what to use where. That is what makes this type of tangling a very meditative experience.
Cargo.
The hold was full. There were so many interesting, unique things she was bringing back from all the planetary markets. Her favorite, though was the star-egg. They told her when it hatched, a new universe would be born! It would be such an exciting thing to see. She was planning on putting on an exhibition and charging people to view it.
Some times, the craziest combination of tangles comes out of the tangle jar. Just looking at them, I see no way to make them all fit togther. But one of the amazing things about tangling is that, when you’re done, everything still looks great! Tangles are just like merchandise… It’s how you pile them up in the cargo hold that makes them interesting!
I love creating Zentangles that offer optical illusions. This tile, for example is actually just Cadent with a square in the middle of it. But after the echo lines are drawn around the inside of each, you can’t tell where one begins and the other ends! And those simple white squares are magically lifted right up towards you in the design. Shading just further enhances the effect.
This concept came from a video recently added to the Zentangle Mosaic app. In the video, Rick used a random scattering of dots for the corners of his initial Cadent reticula. Then he created the central diamonds or squares by going from the center of one line to the center of the adjacent line. As a result, his design had irregular shapes, which was also interesting. I happen to find regular, repeating patterns calming, so I chose to make mine very “regular”. Either way, this concept makes for a really fun Zentangle.
Bones.
Their culture was built on the bones of their ancestors. The believed these relics spoke to them, leading them towards the future without forgetting their past.
This is another tile celebrating and exploring fragments. This is B2 from the Zentangle Primer. I ended up not putting the second set of lines inside each shape and just let the color define the areas. I chose to stop because it looked so much like a grid of bones. I just wanted to let it be.