Stacked and tangled postcards announcing our new address. The top one features sunup sundown, cubine, finery, bunzo and vitruvius. The second one I kept simple and just used flux and bublz.
DH and I arrived in Virginia on Saturday afternoon. The moving truck is here and I’m waiting for them to bring things up to the apartment as I type. It has not been a pleasant experience, sadly. Communication was very poor and is really at the root of everything else that has me disappointed.
That said, I’ve started tangling a few postcards with our new address on them. Letterforms seems to call out for stacking. I strung the postcards while a passenger and have been picking away at the tangling of them since we arrived. I think it will be a fun way to share our new address with a few of our friends and family.
With the arrival of stuff I’ll be unpacking when I’m not working so I’ll likely be pretty quiet again for a while.
My Sunday Smackdown #9 zendala on a standard 3.5″ square tile made from Fabriano Uno paper. I used Purlbox and Hurry and I’m not sure what exactly to call the third pattern.
I actually had finished this tile in time for posting for the Sunday Smackdown #9, but then got distracted by more Gelli printing fun at Cate’s 🙂
I kept it pretty simple and clean, using only three patterns, though I’m not quite sure what to call the petal-shaped one as that is really just a technique employed in lot of the patterns. Can anyone help me out on it?
I couldn’t resist an artsy shot of my zendala.
Inspired by my IG feed I took an artsy shot this time around and I really liked it so I thought I’d share the close-up look at it 🙂 It does really show the detail in how I shaded.
The finished “Be Brave and Keep Going” page in my Wall Notebook featuring a lot of tangles!
Then, speaking of procrastination, this has been done for probably a full month I think, but I never took a proper picture of it. The bricks had me employing a bunch of stacking of tangles, though I’m pretty sure it doesn’t quite meet the criteria for the Stack and Tangled FB group. That’s okay though because the same two people have just launch today a Journaled and Tangled group that this will fit in!
Well, Saturday was a BIG day at my house. Yes, my house that has been a total disaster area since I started packing. Thanks to all the help from my sister during her visit I was able to mostly reclaim my dining table. So, nearly a month after my birthday Cate and I finally got together to make messy art!
Getting ready to dive into Gelli Printing, a form of monoprinting, my dining room table was covered in all manner of acrylic paints and texture making things.
The plan was to monoprint using the Gelli Arts plate that Cate had ordered. Before her arrival I dusted off what art supplies I could get my hands on that would be useful, then she brought her big box o’fun as we called it and the dining room table was nearly buried in fun things!
We decided to do some printing, then have a later lunch at Panera when we hoped they might be a little less busy for a Saturday and then stop into Jerry’s Artarama afterwards for any additional supplies we found we would like for our continued afternoon printing. It was a great plan and we even snuck in cupcakes between lunch and Jerry’s 🙂 One of the additional purchases at Jerry’s was another Gelli plate, LOL! We got the Zendala-sized round plate, though I haven’t yet tried to print direct to one of the Zendala tiles. If you have done so I’d like to hear how it went for you in the comments!
Here, Cate is prepping the 4″ round Gelli Plate for printing.
Taking a break was a fantastic plan because it allowed the morning’s prints to dry so we could layer another print on top which is really where the results start getting fun. Much of the afternoon printing was layering.
We split up the finished pages between us, but not by who pulled the print necessarily. Partly because in some cases we each did a layer or one person directed the other, but also so we can create collaborative finished pieces, even across the miles once I’ve moved. Below are all but two of the sheets I kept.
We divvied up the prints before Cate headed home, each of us taking a couple made by the other so we can have some collaborative finished pieces, even across the miles. That makes me think we should plan on maybe quarterly or something exchanging some backgrounds via mail 🙂
I cut two the other sheets into 10 ATCs each (artist trading cards, 2.5 X 3.5″ baseball card sized pieces). I was very meh about them and in my experience, cutting something up that isn’t interesting as a whole often makes for really interesting small pieces. It also gives me a much smaller canvas to tangle on which is more realistic for my life at the moment.
Here are my Dylusions backgrounds. I love the colors, but some practice may be in order.
In Cate’s box o’fun she also brought her treasure trove of Dylusions Spray Inks. Talk about a messy art adventure! I spread out a large lawn and leaf garbage bag on the floor and had to kennel Brandon to make these sheets. I was kind of rushed to play with them quick before Cate needed to head home, but I can see this being something to explore further in the future. The colors are amazingly vivid. I definitely need some practice though before I’m getting zentangle-friendly backgrounds like Alice!
My first Gelli Print ATC that I tangled on yesterday in a stack of course 🙂 From the lower left is Diva Dance, 4MOM with 1/2 Cruffle, ParasailZ, Bublz, and Hako, all enhanced with some Prismacolor pencils and while charcoal pencil.
After cutting my ATCs yesterday morning I had to jump right in and start to tangle on one while I enjoyed my mid-morning coffee break. I think the biggest challenge with these is going to be the white borders I inevitably end up with because the Gelli plate is not sized for edge-to-edge printing on a sheet of cardstock (which makes sense). I think I embraced that well in this one though, coloring in part of Hako with colored pencils that matched the monoprinting to tie that area in with the rest of the piece. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that you can get Prismacolor colored pencil to lay in overtop of the printing a bit as well as the white charcoal pencil. I think that really made the Bublz pattern.
This was the first time in quite a while I went into my tangling without much of a plan. I started with ParasailZ in the white arc and then just worked in each direction as I felt moved to do so. That arc made it feel like a perfect place to do more tangled stacking. Since I’m obsessed with stacks I went with it. It was nice to have the “flow” back again. I wish I knew why I had lost it and how to get it back when it disappears.
My second, Gelli print ATC started at Zwei Bruder Brewing while waiting for my friend Simmon to join me for a pint. This one features Wud, XYP, Shattuck, Trimond (no s), and Intwine with a bunch of Tipple for the really skinny stacks and to tie it all together.
Because I’m apparently prone to obsessions, LOL, I started in on another ATC cut from the other print last evening while I waited for my friend, Simmon, to join me for a pint at Zwei Bruder before going to my knit night. I didn’t get too far and finished up the rest this morning. The comb marks on this one also screamed out for stacking to me so I went with it. I think part of the reason stacking appeals to me so much is that I love the ribbon/border tangle patterns and hadn’t really worked out how to put them into a random string. Stacking lets me explore them to my heart’s content. Though I’m unsure as of yet if this is truly stacking or not according to the Facebook group since the copper areas in general are not tangled.
I did learn with this ATC that graphite doesn’t really want to play with the monoprints. So if I’m going to regularly go down this path I think I may want a gray marker or 6. I figure I’ll go with ChartPak as I can easily source them open stock, but they have 6 or more darknesses in both warm and cool tones. Where do I start if I want to only invest in say 3 or 4 max? All cool tones is kind of my inclination from the little bit of watercolor I learned over a decade ago, but would I maybe need warm depending on the color I’m working on top of? And, will ChartPak lay in over the acrylic of the monoprints and will it still blend with the colorless blender? Do any of you have an light you can shed on this topic? I’d be very appreciative!
Sunday Smackdown #8 – using at least 4 colors (non-background) in a tangle. From upper left I used Coral Seeds, Oksie (variant), a tangleation of 4MOM and Kuke, Inapod, something I did on my own and something kind of like Buttercup which I then colored in with Prismacolor colored pencils and a ChartPak colorless blender.
Well, I finally did it and finally got around to post it — my Sunday Smackdown #8. Because I’m obsessed with stacks, I first tangled the patterns in a diagonal stack with the standard micron on one of my DIY Fabriano Uno tiles (still 3.5″ square). Then instead of shading I dusted off my set of Prismacolor pencils and a ChartPak blender (it’s a bit juicier than the Prismacolor colorless blender) and got to work.
This was my first time using a solvent blender with colored pencils. I kind of liked it, but will need more practice. I should brush up a bit on color blending to figure out how to do a bit better job at the shading on the spheres. I’m not quite happy with my color distribution.
This was most definitely a challenge, Cate! I certainly learned some things along the way. Plus, it was nice to have some color after a solid week of rain as though Colorado had suddenly become part of the Pacific Northwest. Once life settles down I think I’ll be revisiting this technique. For now though, I think I crave the simplicity of black and white or Renaissance. Though maybe if I still had a good set of markers I’d feel differently, but blending the colored pencils takes a lot of time.
I’m a little late on the whole Sunday Smackdown thing this week. Actually, I’m so in my head with all the moving stuff I’m not even clear on who should be issuing the challenge or what type it “should” be. But, while I’m the one posting, let’s consider this one to be indirectly issued by Cate, okay?
You see, when she picked me up to attend Sue‘s wonderfully generous Illuminated Letters workshop on Saturday (more on that later in the week/month) she had a birthday goodie bag for me. In it were two books meant for journaling and doodling in – The Skywriting Journal and The Walls Notebook. I had first seen glimpses of The Walls Notebook in Alice‘s Instagram feed. When I did some digging to figure out what this mysterious “wall book” was that she kept talking about I ended up at Amazon and noticed there were other themed books as well.
Tangling in my Skywriting Journal from Cate using n’zeppel, sandswirl and flitter. I’m not sure if it is done yet or a WIP. What say you?
It was such a surprise to get both books (plus some other miscellaneous goodies)! The workshop was so inspiring plus the lure of new toys and I came home and tangled some more! This time in the Skywriting Journal. I’m procrastinating on working on my letter because I don’t currently have a good place for “quality” tangling. The dining room table is covered in glassware of various types and my desk in yarn and sewing supplies – both for sorting/packing/donating. All of my tangling has been happening in bed, the one room that doesn’t look like it has been hit by a hurricane.
“Be Brave and Keep Going” stacked with printemps, bic, box it up, vectorwec and my own random chevron in my Wall Notebook. This is definitely a work in progress. Not certain what to do with the block letters yet – fill in solid (black or color) or tangle or a combo?
Then yesterday I saw that the Stacked and Tangled informal challenge was to use words. Words and stacked tangles seemed natural for the brick walls of The Walls Notebook. My friend, Amanda, gave me a necklace for my birthday that is a perfect mantra for this trip around the sun that is full of new challenges – Be Brave and Keep Going. It seemed like a perfect coming together of elements.
It’s a work in progress. The sky one may be as well, I’m not yet sure. One thing is for certain – tangling in books is fun! And I may just end up doing that to some encyclopedia pages as the wonderfully creative and energetic gals at the workshop on Saturday spoke of after I mentioned having a not quite complete set of my grandparent’s encyclopedias and being uncertain whether to move them.
So, please join me in the fun and do some book tangling this week! Use a journal like I’ve done or an old book. We’re not strict around here, so feel free to collage a book page onto a tile and then tangle over the page. It doesn’t have to remain in the book. Share your book tangle links in the comments below so we can see what you’ve done!
Hormones and trying to pack your husband’s possessions don’t mix well. I was a holy hot mess last weekend and I’m still struggling with residual exhaustion and interrupted sleep patterns (I’ve been up since 3am this morning). I had a nice boost to the spirits yesterday when my sister made arrangements to come help me for a few days soon and one of our good friends had me over to cook dinner together and play a game. I have to say we made a great cooking team and he sent me home with leftovers! I’m also looking forward to some acupuncture on Monday that I hope will help with some of my muscle issues and thus the sleep. I just keep repeating a new mantra another friend gave me for my birthday in the form of a necklace that is going to hold very true for this coming year – “Be Brave and Keep Going!”
Somehow, Cate, you hit a magical Sunday Smackdown for me this week. A challenge, but not daunting. Totally accessible! I’m totally amazed because pretty much everything right now is daunting. In fact, I may give the challenge another go this evening. Or, I may fall down the stacked tangle rabbit hole. Maybe I’ll combine them both like I did with this one. We’ll see…
My Sunday Smackdown #6 tile on a 3.5″ square of Fabriano Artistico featuring paradox, tipz and pearls in a pattern as a string. Can you name the string pattern?
For those who may be a bit confused about what constitutes a stacked tangle, this one counts because I shaded the patterns so that paradox falls to the back and it looks like tipz and the pearls grouping are vertically layered on top. The lighting is a little poor, but in person I think the stacking pops a bit more.
So, can you name what pattern I used for my string? Maybe the photo below will help?
My pattern as string – yew-dee!
Do you have any tiles you’ve made with a pattern as your string? Please share a link in the comments below! We’d love to see them!
Zentangle 2015-096, a study of Roscoe with some accidental orbs on a Strathmore Toned Tan Artist Tile.
Ever since the Renaissance tile class with Sue I’ve been a woman obsessed. There is just something about working on the mid-tone papers, be they the usual tan of the official Zentangle Renaissance tiles or the Strathmore Toned Tan or Tone Gray. It seems as soon as you put white to them something magical happens and everything pops. I just love it.
My three Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils for shading Renaissance tiles.
All of that said, I’ve not been overly enamored of shading the primarily brown tangles with graphite in all situations. So this week in the couple tiles I took time to make I played with using some colored pastel pencils in place of plain graphite. I picked up three Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils from my local art supply store in 283 (Burnt Sienna), 192 (Indian Red) and 225 (Dark Red). I haven’t really used the dark red because I haven’t yet played with adding in some red ink on my Renaissance tiles just yet. But you’ll see both of the other colors in each of the two tiles of this post.
Zentangle 2015-097, my second stacked tangle where I practiced some of the patterns from Sue’s Border Patrol class plus a few others.
Have you played around with shading with other colors on Renaissance tiles? What medium did you use, pastels, colored pencils, markers?
BTW, Alice Hendon of The Creator’s Leaf along with Jane Eileen of See Jane Run started a Facebook group dedicated to Stacked Tangles called Zentangle: Stacked and Tangled. I highly recommend checking it out! Note the first tile in this post is not stacked, but the second is.
Without an Eraser 