I'm always on the lookout for new artsy ideas that can be incorporated into my Zentangle work. A while ago my daughter found something on Pinterest that she thought I might like... using tissue paper to color a canvas. I've used many different methods for making colored tiles, including watercolor paint, Ranger distress ink pads, dylusion sprays, alcohol inks... and the list goes on and on. But I've never tried tissue paper.
So I decided to give it a whirl. You don't use regular tissue paper for this, but instead use bleeding tissue paper. Just as the name implies, the color bleeds onto the surface below it. And onto your fingers, so be advised to wear a pair of gloves if you want to try this, unless you like colorful fingers. The directions showed applying this technique to canvas, but not being a big fan of tangling on canvas, I wanted to see if it would work on watercolor paper. And it did...beautifully! (I used Strathmore 140 lb. paper.) I ended up with several good tiles, and a couple of not so good ones that I tossed.
I forgot to get a picture of this first tile before tangling, but here's the completed tile. I wrapped my pattern Cruze around the outside and then filled it with the new pattern Arukas. I wish my Cruze didn't try to run off the top of the tile, but it had a mind of its own.
For the next tiles, I remembered to get pictures before putting pen to paper. I scanned the tiles, which does not always depict the colors exactly the way they look in person, so I adjusted them a little in Lightroom to make them as close to reality as possible. That's why the colors in the before and after pictures might not match exactly. This first one is probably my favorite one of all that I made.
Since I loved the colors here so much, I wanted them to really shine through and chose a couple of light and airy patterns, Tofube by Damy, and Lichen by Jennifer Hohensteiner, which I think go very well together.
Next I tried one of the Zendala tiles I had cut. I like the way this one turned out, except for the yellow spot, the result of one of my fingertips that still had color from another tile, touching it.
Luckily, after tangling, that yellow spot was disguised at least a little bit. For this one I decided to use a stencil I have from Acadia Laser Creations. It was hard to get a good picture of the stencil since it's made from clear plastic, but this gives you the idea.
And here's how it turned out. I used the pattern Hi-Cs by Anita Roby-Lavery. It's normally a grid pattern but I did what I call "taking a pattern out of the grid" to give it a totally different look.Then I filled the outside sections with Knightsbridge and finished it off with some line work.
If you'd like to try the tissue paper method for making colored tiles, you can find the tutorial that I used here. I found the tissue paper on Amazon. It's a lot of tissue paper that will last me a lifetime! I have several more tiles that I made, so when I get around to tangling them I'll post them another time. If you decide to try it, I'd love to see your tiles!
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