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!

The Path to Nowhere

Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.       Herbie Hancock

Who loves Zendalas? (Most of you, I hope!) Who's seen my colored pre-strung tiles? (Again, most of you, I hope!) If not, you can read all about them here.

Today I'm here to share some of those pre-strung tiles that I've made into Zendalas. I love working on round tiles, but not always drawing the typical, symmetrical designs found on many Zendalas. As you will see below, these are anything but typical! I am showing the 'before' and 'after' tiles. Note that in the first one, the before is not exactly the same as the after tile, as I forgot to take a picture before tangling, but the tile has the same coloring as the after.

Patterns used: Flowtus and Indyrella

Shaded with pastel pencils

On the first tile I tangled between the pathways, but on the next one I tiled inside the pathways.

Pattern used: Garlic Cloves

I expect to have the tiles in my Etsy shop in a couple of weeks. Now it's time to get back to work... there are lots more Zendala tiles awaiting me.

Reflections of an Alcoholic

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."    Claude Monet

It's been about 3 months since my last post about tangling on alcohol ink. You can see that post here if you missed it. I still had several colored "tiles" all inked and waiting to be tangled. Here's the first one I decided to use this time around.

Since there were obvious circular shapes on this, I thought I would tangle each of those circles. As I was working it began to take on the look of flowers, so I went in that direction. I added stems and ended up with this little flower garden.

Patterns used: Arc Flower, Floral, Garlic Cloves/Bloom, Dandi, Betweed, Steffi, and some lines.

Then I picked another "tile" with circular shapes, figuring I'd stick to a theme. I particularly love the colors in this one.

Again I tangled in the circular shapes, but did not turn this one into flowers.

Patterns used: Z-trik, Crescent Moon, Sand Swirl, Printemps, and some lines.

I loved the colors, loved the flow of my Microperm pen on the Yupo paper, and am pretty happy with the results. This is not the last you will see of my alcohol ink creations, because I still have even more inky "tiles" all ready for tangling whenever I feel the urge.