Colored Tile Tangling and Sale

"Sometimes all you need is a little splash of colour."    Unknown

It was one year ago that I introduced my new line of colored tiles in my Etsy shop. These tiles were handmade using alcohol inks, and then many, but not all, were digitally enhanced to create all kinds of interesting effects. To celebrate the anniversary, I've decided to offer a discount on the purchase of any colored tiles for a limited time. You can get a coupon code at the end of my blog, but first I have lots of photos to share.

Here is some tangling I did on one of my pre-strung colored Zendala tiles. These tiles are not digitally enhanced... they come out looking like this just by using the inks with plastic wrap. First the tile before tangling.

 

These tiles are great for tangling inside the pathways formed by the inks, outside the pathways, or both! Here I added Florz inside the paths.

 

Then I decided to add some Diva Dance in a few of the open areas.

Finally, I did some pencil shading.

Next I took one of my square colored tiles, without pathways. Here is the before.

I chose the pattern Toodles, which I had not used previously. Not bad for my first time. I added some Printemps around the outside of Toodles, and then shaded using pastel pencils. One reason I love my pastel pencils so much is that no matter what color I'm trying to match, I always seem to have the perfect pencil. I couldn't believe how the pencil was almost an exact match to the ink color in the tile.
 

Next I went back to another Zendala, this time without the pathways... or I guess I could say this has pathways of another kind.

On this one I used the patterns Maryhill, Opally, Flux, and Tipple. 
 

Then I used a pastel pencil (an exact match again) to add red shading, as well as a graphite pencil for some additional shading. This was a really fun tile to create with a few of my favorite patterns.
 

I decided to add one more tile, another square one.

Here I used the patterns Knightsbridge, Sunbeam (from my e-book Step Out in Style), Tipple, N'zeppel, and Flukes. No pastel pencil shading here, just graphite.

These tiles give you an idea of the variety of tiles that are in my shop, but here are some other pictures to show you even more.

Square colored tiles:

Colored Zendala tiles:
 

Colored geometric tiles: 

Colored pre-strung (pathway) tiles:
 

Gray square pre-strung (pathway) tiles:

Gray Zendala pre-strung (pathway) tiles:  

I hope you'll check these out in my Etsy shop and help me celebrate my anniversary. If you use the code ANN10 when you check out, you will get 10% off your order, good through March 11th. 

Here's to happy times tangling with color!

Black and White and Red All Over

"To see in color is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul."        Andri Cauldwell

 
In my last blog post I mentioned a project I was working on which had slowed down the progress I am making on my Zenduo adventure. Well, it's finally finished and I'm back to share the process photos along with the final project.

We recently moved to a new house and I wanted to tangle something to hang on one of the walls. I bought a frame that is meant to hold 10 individual photos. My plan was to design a string that would run through all 10 spaces and then tangle 10 4x6 pieces that would form a cohesive whole. I liked the idea of the 10 separate parts so if I messed up one it wouldn't mean I needed to start the whole thing over. Amazingly enough I did not need to redo any of them!  

I decided to tangle on white Stonehenge paper. The decorating scheme in my house is black and white and gray, with red accents. The style is modern, which is probably evident from the colors. Goes great with Zentangle! So in the same way, my tangling would be black on white, gray (graphite) shading, and red accents. 

I cut out 10 pieces of the Stonehenge and laid them out the way the frame was designed. I had to tape them together so I could draw the string. Here are a few pictures of the string.

I tangled Gewurtz in the "pathway", and then some Sand Swirl and Munchin. I chose tangles that I not only liked, but felt very comfortable with so there was less chance of messing up.

Then I added Fassett, N'zeppel, and Tipple. I probably should mention that I did all my tangling with my new Micron PN pens, which I love. They have a sturdier plastic nib with the same great ink.

I continued with Beelight not in a grid, Printemps, and some more Fassett.

I completed the tangling with Diva Dance, Huggins, and some more Munchin and Tipple. I was waiting to add the red accents until after all the tangling, but I had to use it on the Diva Dance as I went along.

 
Then I went back and added some more red accents using a red Identipen since I found that to be a truer red than the Micron red pen.

And then the rest of the red that I wanted. The only section that I left without red accents was the N'zeppel.

Next was the task of shading, which took quite a bit of time. And finally...

That wasn't a great photo, so a couple of close-up shots so you can see it a little better, especially the shading.

Unfortunately you can't see the red at all in the Sand Swirl in that picture. I also took a photo at an angle so you can see that the frame is actually 3-D.

And after all that, I figured I should show you what it looks like on my wall. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and think it fits in very well with the rest of my decor. I was so relieved after all that work!

Now back to my other project...Zenduos.

 

Crazy 'Nzeppel

"No one can drive us crazy unless we give them the keys."    
 Douglas Horton

The Diva's challenge this week is to use the pattern Crazy 'Nzeppel. It's a variation of plain old 'Nzeppel which is a grid based tangle. The crazy variety is based on random lines rather than a grid. I've always called it Random 'Nzeppel and am not really sure when it got the crazy label. 

Anyway, I used one of my colored tiles as shown here.

I started by tangling 'Nzeppel, then added Clob and a few bits of Tipple.

At this point I wasn't too sure that I liked it, but ah! The magic of shading!

Now I like it much better. I could have done the shading in color to go with the colored tile. And I probably would have, except for the fact that I don't have my preferred supplies for color shading (pastel pencils) with me right now. So I went with plain old graphite, which worked out pretty well.

Dingbatz Unleashed

"Unsuccessful people are busy being busy. Successful people are busy being productive."     Kevin Abdulrahman

 I'm back after a very long and busy month. In that time we packed, moved out of our house and into storage, traveled to Fl, back to NC for a couple of weeks, back to SC to move out of storage into our new home, unpacked and organized... and I'm exhausted! Needless to say there wasn't much time for tangling in all that, and I didn't always have access to my Zentangle supplies. But I'm finally back to a little bit of normalcy, which means finally some tangling time.

A while ago dingbatz were introduced in the world of Zentangle. I hope you've heard about/seen them, because I can't explain them well as I don't know that I fully understand them. Here is the first one that I attempted... a small frame-like thing divided into sections by a tangle pattern that extends outside the frame. For my first try it wasn't too bad, but I felt something didn't look right. Then I figured it out... my Mooka that creates the sections all goes under the frame, and I think some should go above and some below.  Oh well.

Next I tried one on a colored tile (which I sell in my Etsy shop, although the tiles won't be available for about 2 more weeks until everything gets settled in here). Here's the tile before tangling.

And here is my dingbatz. Unfortunately it wasn't until after I did this one that the over/under bit occurred to me.
 

Then I added some shading.

It's okay, but still not exciting me. So on to another one. This time I used Hollibaugh to divide it into sections, and remembered to make some of it go under the frame and some of it over. I added lots of auras which are always fun.

 Then I shaded, added a little more black, and an outside border.

I like this one better than the others, although I think the style kind of got further away from the "traditional" dingbatz that I've seen everyone creating. But that's okay, because I should have my own style, right?

So, back to the drawing board! Here I used some large Flux to create the sections. Definitely my own style again!

 

  
Added shading to some of it with graphite.

And added color to the rest of it with pastel pencils.

This one is definitely my favorite. Whether or not it embodies the original intent of dingbatz... I just don't know!

 

New Color Tiles

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams."   Paul Gauguin

I'm very excited about the new line of tiles I'm introducing. About six months ago I started selling what I call my pre-strung pathway tiles. They are made with alcohol inks which form pathways for tangling, or tangling between, or tangling over, whichever you prefer. They were so well received by all of you, that I started thinking about making more tiles with alcohol inks, but different from the others. And thus were born these tiles that I am introducing now.

The difference is that my new tiles don't have pathways. They just having interesting colors and designs that meander and mix and flow all over the place. You can use the designs that the inks make to define the spaces you want to tangle, or you can just tangle over the whole background however you want. The unpredictable nature of the inks is what gives such an interesting look to the tiles. 

Here is my first example of a tile.  

 I decided to outline some of it first.

And then fill that area with tangles (N'zeppel, Diva Dance, and Btl Joos.) I used some pastel pencils for shading to add extra color. It's kind of a weird and wacky piece.

Here's the next tile I chose. I love the combination of pink, purple, and teal in this one.

I let the colors serve as an overall background this time, and tangled some Garlic Cloves, Pais, and Tipple. I love the way it turned out (all those soothing lines!) and thought that it looked best turned like this.

I used pastel pencils (of course) to add shading and give it a more 3D look. I matched the shading to the color in the background, using pink, purple, and teal. A touch of highlighting was added with white in the centers of the petals.

The next tile has a more textured look to it.

When I saw the tile turned sideways, it reminded my of the ocean (good imagination), so I thought of the pattern Sea Wave.

I added some Henna Drum flowers to it.

And then added shading, again, with pastel pencils.

Love this one too. The great colors and textures on the tiles make it almost impossible to end up with something I really don't like.

I was going to end my post there, but I did another tile that I really like, so I'm adding it here. Untangled tile...

Tangled with Sand Swirl, Meer, Florz, and Maryhill.

The shading didn't show up in this picture as well as I would have liked, but here it is...

I've had so much fun playing with the alcohol inks and coming up with these new tiles. Although they look very different than my pathway tiles, the thing that is the same about them is the process: designed with alcohol inks on yupo, then printed on bristol vellum paper and cut into 4 inch tiles. I love the slightly larger size of the tiles compared to traditional Zentangle tiles, and I love the vellum surface for tangling with Microns and shading with most anything. 

If you'd like to take a look at more of these tiles, or the pre-strung pathway tiles, you can check them out in my Etsy shop here. They are available in both square tiles and Zendalas. As an introductory offer, if you order any of these new tiles between now and January 18th, you can use the code NEWCOLOR to get 10% off. I'll be back soon with a post showing you some of my new tangled Zendalas. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!