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!

Tangling With Courage

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."     Nelson Mandela

A while back a good friend of mine gave me this (African?) drum as a gift. Here's a side view.

And here it is from the top. As soon as I saw it, it screamed out to me to be tangled. But I'm always nervous about tangling on these kinds of things where, if I mess up, I've ruined it. Unlike a piece of paper that I can toss in the garbage and start over if I want.

So it remained untangled... until recently when I brought it up to my new summer place in the mountains. It fits in so nicely with my more rustic decor up here. But it was still screaming out to be tangled. So I gathered up all my courage and decided to go ahead... so hard! 

Because it's round, a Zendala just seemed like the natural thing to do. I didn't want anything too intricate... that would only give me more opportunity to mess up and regret my decision... so I chose a fairly simple design. I wasn't sure if it would work to transfer it onto the drum skin with graphite, but I gave it a try. It worked but was very light and hard to see, so the first thing I did was darken it a bit by going over all the lines with pencil. 

Notice that the drum is sitting in a box that fit very tightly around it. That was to hold the drum still since the bottom is narrow and not totally flat. The box worked really well to keep it steady.

The next uncertainty was how the pen would perform on the slightly textured/rough surface of the drum. I used an Identipen, and to my surprise it drew very nicely, even on the roughest of the spots.

Some line work and some Paradox. So far so good! I really wanted to stop there, before it went wrong, but I knew I couldn't. I continued with some patterns that I felt confident about, first adding a border of Gewurtz.

Then I wanted to add something in those last sections, but it needed to be kind of light and airy, so I decided on Florz.

I didn't add any shading on this, partly because I had no idea what would work for shading, but also because I like the stark contrast and boldness of it just the way it is.

Here it is in what I thought was going to be it's resting place, but after some rearranging of my decor, it is now sitting on a different wooden shelf.

I really love the way this turned out and am so glad I gathered the courage to finally do this project.

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!

Off the Beaten Pathway

"The imagination is the golden pathway to everywhere."      
 Terence McKenna

I'm back to share some more of the tangling I did on my recent cruise. If you missed my first blog from the cruise, about patterns and my tangling, check it out here. In addition to the official Zentangle pre-strung tiles I shared last time, I brought along some of my own colored pre-strung tiles to work on. Here are the before and after photos of the first one.

 Patterns used: Diva Dance and a tangleation of Beelight

For the tangling I used Micron pens in purple and pink, along with a white gelly roll pen.

The next one I chose was in a totally different color family.

Patterns used: Elements of Florz and Printemps

This one combined brown and black pens, as well as the white gelly roll. A brown pastel pencil was used to fill in the Printemps swirls.

Then I picked one of my gray tiles and did lots of line work to fill in the pathways. My lines are not as smooth as they could be, but luckily when you hold the tile out and look at it, it looks okay (just don't look too closely!)

If you haven't tried my pre-strung colored and gray tiles yet, you can check them out in my etsy shop. They're a lot of fun to use to fill in the pathways or the backgrounds. I only introduced these tiles in July, and so many of you have purchased them and told me how much you love them. Thanks to all of you who have given them a whirl!

There's still more tangling from my cruise to share, so I'll be back soon!

Cruise Tangling

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."    Andre Gide

I just returned home from a three week vacation. We cruised northern Europe and then stayed a few days in Bruges, Belgium at the end. I've been on cruise ships before, and I've traveled around Europe before, and both the ships and the cities I've visited have always been chock full of patterns to inspire any tangler. Well, this cruise ship and these European destinations were no different. First I will share photos of some of the patterns I encountered.

 I can't remember what this is, but it reminds me of a Knightsbridge tangleation:

  Some carpet doing the Diva Dance:

  Tile flooring:

Colorful design inspiration on a store window:

 This was the wall in one of the restaurants. I have a feeling this is already a named pattern, but I can't think of what it is. And if it's not, it should be!

 The pattern on a sofa in our hotel in Bruges:

A lampshade:

Tile design on the ground in a plaza in Bruges:

 

 

Munchin-like carpet:

Tippled glass lamp shade:

Hollibaugh etched glass in the pool area on the ship:

 Tipple all lined up. Can't remember where this was taken:

Carpet on the ship:

More Hollibaugh on the ship's carpet:

More Diva Dance on a metal sculpture of a cello:

How would you like some of this carpet in your home?

More carpet designs. This reminds me of a combination of N'zeppel and Printemps:

 Some zendala inspiration from a lace curtain:

From the number of photos I took (more than 2200), you wouldn't think there would be time for much else. However, I also did a bit of tangling while traveling, mostly on the days we were at sea without stopping at a port. I'll share just a little of what I did here, and will roll out some of my other pieces in additional blog posts over the next week or two. I had brought along a few pre-strung official Zentangle tiles, and I'll start with those. 

 Patterns used: Cubine, Dex, Florz, and Paradox

 Patterns used: Knightsbridge, Sand Swirl, Navaho, Brit, Munchin, Baton, and Betweed.

 

 Patterns used: Hollibaugh, Hibred, Ginili, and some lines

I'm not in love with any of these tiles, but they're okay and they did provide some good relaxation. And, after all, isn't that what Zentangle is really all about? I enjoy using the pre-strung tiles so that no thinking is involved. No debating about how to draw the string, which, although it seems like it should be such an easy thing, often gets me hung up. If you haven't tried the pre-strung tiles yet, or are in need of some more, you can find them in my Etsy shop here. 

I'll be back with another post soon to share some more of my cruise tangling. Hope you'll be back too!