"Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul." W. Somerset Maugham
Hooray! The day has finally arrived when I can officially introduce my new tiles to you. You may have noticed over the last couple of months that I have been sharing a lot of my work on colored tiles. I've been developing this new line of tiles for a long time, and I'd hoped to have these ready a while ago, but life kind of got in the way! The tiles are now in my Etsy shop, but let me tell you a little about them. Warning: This will be a long post with lots of pictures.
I love playing with alcohol inks. I'm not very good at creating anything realistic with them, but boy do they make great backgrounds for tangling. I start with alcohol inks on yupo paper, play with them, manipulate them, and let them do their own thing. Beautiful designs emerge for tangling. I scan them and print them on Bristol vellum paper and cut them into 4 inch tiles, as well as Zendala tiles. But then I decided to take it one step further. I began editing the backgrounds in Photoshop and wow! Amazing special effects were created - waves, spirals, pond ripples, geometrics, zig-zags, etc. The possibilities are endless, and addictive too! So, after many, many hours of playing, I have created hundreds of new tiles to add to my Etsy shop.
So let me share a few more with you now.
Before...
And after...
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And after...
Before...
And after...
Zendala before...
Zendala after...
Then I designed some with geometric shapes, but since these were so different than the others I decided to make them a separate group and listing in my shop.
Before...
After...
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After...
But that's not all! I decided to also make these designs into digital papers for crafters to use in so many different ways: scrapbooking, invitations, origami, and on and on. Here are some samples of the papers...
And just when you thought I was finished... No! I also made these into lined papers for writing and journaling. Some examples here...
NOW I'm finished. That's all I've done....square tiles, zendala tiles, geometric tiles, digital papers, and lined digital papers. If you'd like to check them out in my Etsy shop, go here. (Where you will also find my pre-strung pathway tiles!) You'll be able to see many more of the tile designs in my shop photos, although not nearly all of the designs I have.
If you have tangling friends and family, or other crafty friends and family, or writing friends and family, I would be most grateful if you'd pass my shop information on to them.
And of course, if you decide to try any of these for yourself, I would LOVE to see what you do with them!
"One sure-fire way to stay creative: force yourself to learn something new." Harvey MacKay
The Diva's challenge this week is to use the new pattern from Zentangle headquarters, Waybop. When I first saw this tangle, I have to admit that I didn't much like it, so I didn 't bother to try it. After seeing so many people posting their Waybop creations on Facebook, I decided, for the Diva, I would give it a go.
The first one I did on one of my colored tiles... here's the picture of the tile before rounding the corners.
I started with Waybop, Henna Drum and some lines. Then, using a gray pen, I added Printemps inside the Waybop. I've recently started using the gray pen as a way to add more subtle designs. The finishing touches were shading with graphite and pastel pencil, and white gel pen for some extra interest.
Waybop wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, so I decided to go ahead and do one more, this time on gray-toned paper from Strathmore. Also included are Pais, Purk, and Hollibaugh.
And of course some shading and white highlights, which always make a drawing on gray paper better, whether or not you like it to begin with.
I like Waybop more than I expected to, but it's not yet high on my list of favorites. Maybe after more practice, maybe not!
"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without." Cecil B. Demille
I recently posted a blog (here) about tangling on an embossed tile. I really loved the way it turned out, and based on the reactions I got from my readers, so did you. So I decided to try another one.
I picked out another of my colored tiles, this one with several different colors in it. Not surprisingly, I forgot to take a picture before doing the embossing, but you can get the idea of what it looked like from this picture after embossing. The design is somewhat similar to the last one I did with all the swirls, but not the same.
As in my last tile, the first thing I did was outline all the embossing with pen. A few little slips of the pen, but not too bad.
Next I added some tangling.
And then shaded with my dependable pastel pencils.
Here's a closeup to better show the puffiness of the embossing.
I really enjoy this process and wish that I had more embossing folders that would work well with tangling. Most of the designs I have don't have enough space for adding tangles. So I may need to use the same ones again, just with different backgrounds and different patterns. Actually, it would be interesting to see how different I can make them, even though they have the same embossed design. I'll be back to show you if I decide to give it a try.
"Be the most brilliant color in the box." Unknown
A quick post to share my tile for the Diva's challenge this week - to use the tangle pattern Hamadox by Diana Schreur. Hamadox, which I was using for the first time, is a combination of Hamail and Paradox, and fun to draw.
I began with another one of my alcohol inked backgrounds (these tiles are almost ready to be added to my Etsy shop!), but this time a Zendala tile.
I drew my Hamadox, choosing to use 3/4 of the complete pattern that normally goes all the way around in a circular shape. And I added a simple background grid.
Then I shaded using graphite and added a few dots with white gel pen.
And when I finished I realized that I used a tile with the same coloring as my last Diva post. Oh well... I guess I like these colors!
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
Albert Einstein
I recently completed a tile where I used my Sizzix die cut machine to emboss a border around the outside edge, and then I tangled inside. Here is that tile.
After completing that one I wanted to find other ways to incorporate using my die cut machine (which otherwise sits around collecting dust) in my tangling. So I took one of my colored tiles (which I see now is similar coloring to the one I had done previously!)...
... used an embossing folder to cover the whole tile with this swirly design...
... and then outlined all of the embossing with black pen.
Then I tangled some areas with Printemps and Crescent Moon. I stuck to just two patterns so it wouldn't be too busy, and for the same reason, only tangled some parts. It was hard to know when to stop, but here is when I did...
Then I went back in and added just a little shading around the Printemps with pastel pencil.
I don't think the above pictures allow you to get a good feel for the embossing, so I tried a closeup where I think you can see the puffiness better.
I really enjoyed the whole process and the way it looks in the end. If you have the means to do the embossing, you might want to try this idea yourself.
"Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life."
Vincent Van Gogh
I haven't participated in the Diva's challenge for a while. But I had to jump in this week after seeing the challenge - to draw a duotangle (uses only two patterns) with Paradox and Diva Dance, two of my favorite tangles.
Since I'm up to my ears in colored tiles getting ready for the launch of my new tiles on Etsy, I decided to go ahead and use one of those tiles. So here is the tile before I put my pen to it.
I started with a triangle and filled it with Paradox. Then I decided to have a little Diva Dance line up next to it, and from there it all fell into place... triangle, fill with Paradox, Diva Dance, repeat.
I added some shading with graphite and I was finished.
I love the colors in this and am so happy with the way it turned out. My end result is not always as nice as my vision of it, but this one didn't disappoint.
