Zentangle's Project Pack 14

Take time for yourself. Chill out. Breathe. Recompose.

Mental health awareness is the inspiration and theme of this project pack, and how art and Zentangle can be beneficial to well-being. Included in the pack is a booklet - in which we did our drawing - of quotations about making art. Also, a medium gray Moonlight pen and a metallic green pen!

DAY ONE

Noom (aka Noom Repus) and ribbons.

DAY TWO

Striping (I did Striping with a twist), Sampson, Tipple, and a loopy little edge.

DAY THREE

Paradox, Hollis, and Moon Pies.
Plus an illuminated letter, and a tiny pink heart.
You can see here some of the supplies in the project pack.

DAY FOUR

Verdigogh variations and Springkle. I added Paizel, Opus and Icantoo.

DAY FIVE

Gradual variations of the tangle Well.

DAY SIX

Purk and Vega and various border tangles.
(There is no evidence that Einstein ever said this,
but he did comment about imagination.)

Tangles: Coaster, Icantoo, Prestwood, Purk, Seljuk, Sprouts, Unyun

DAY SEVEN

Dingsplatz, coffering, and more. (Balloons!)

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Dingsplatz, Knightsbridge, Pearlz, Purk

DAY EIGHT

On the final page, an invitation to draw our own conclusions.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Rayga, Seljuk, Sprouts,

DAY NINE

A Tripoli inkwell and a Fescu plume. I added the scroll.

AND MORE!
We didn't fill all the pages in the nine days, and I still have one page left.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Aquafleur, Pepperish, and stripes

I love Fengle for its proclivity to do what it wants, wander all over the place, 
and break the rules like an artist.

Tangles: Beadlines, Black Pearlz, BTL Joos, Crescent Moon, Damsel Leaf,
Fengle, Fescu, Icantoo, Moon Pie, Paisley Boa, Rayga, Tipple, Trifle, Zonked

Strircles, and then some

Today let's take a trip down another tangle rabbit hole. This time it's Zentangle's tangle Strircles, a combination of stripes and circles.

I tend to think of the circles as relatively evenly spaced, but why not cluster them in one area and draw them sparsely in another? The tile below was stained with a hibiscus teabag first. I wanted white stripes at the outer edges to enhance the fade-out look, and I added Beadlines to the outer lines for a little interest.

Or, how about double circles? A Cheerios version. 😁

Of course, scale always makes a difference. Try drawing Strircles much larger, then add interest to the dark half-circles or stripes, or both.

But what about Oopses?!? I find it remarkably easy to accidentally fill the 'wrong' space. Opportunity knocks! I often opt for a gray tone of thin pen lines. As with any Oops, do it again a few times and it looks intentional. 😉

Tangles: Ayame, Beadlines, Black Pearlz, Pearlz, Strircles

I had done a blind contour drawing of my glasses sitting on my desk, and that's what I used for this next tile. Lots of oops possibilities here because the lines and circles did not meet in a regular fashion.

We had bought some brie cheese and I noticed that the bottom of the container was made of very thin wood. Respecting some stripes in the wood, I drew several lines with a clear Glaze pen, stained parts of it with diluted ink, then tangled on it. I used Sakura's Moonlight pens as they are nicely opaque, although I had to do two or three layers because the wood is quite porous.

Have fun exploring Strircles!

Crescent Moon, and then some - lines and centers

Tangles: Crescent Moon, Windfarm and Rounding

My first 'Crescent Moon, and then some' post a week ago, was all about the 'bugs'. 

Today we'll play with the lines and the centers.

THE LINES

Instead of a simple series of lines around the 'moons' try something different. 

Alternate black and white stripes, or leave a highlight, both shown below. I'm showing two types of highlights, Maria's "sparkle" of a broken line, and rough-edged black.

You can gradate the separation of the lines, starting close together and gradually adding more space between them. This is a gray tile that I had stained with a hibiscus teabag. It also shows Crescent Moon moving outward instead of inward.

Tangles: Crescent Moon, Pearlz, Within, and Auras

Three more possibilities are shown on the gray tile below.

--  Leave more space between the lines and fill some of the spaces with perfs, or a series of lines, or whatever strikes your fancy. (top)
--  Connect the lines alternating as you would drawing Hibred. (right side)

--  When the lines begin to meet at the base, continue to draw down to the base instead of Aura-ing. (bottom)

THE CENTERS

Classic Crescent Moon has a black center, but there's so much more you can do!

• Continue a tangle that's outside Crescent Moon (see the tile at the top of this post).
• Fill with a single (Archimedian) spiral.
• Fill with another tangle. For starters try Tipple, Knightsbridge, Printemps, or Tidings. 
• Continue the Aura lines all the way to the center.
• Simply leave it white. Maybe add shading inside the last Aura. 
• Carefully leave some white dots (or add them with white pen afterwards) to create the look of a night sky.
• Fill it black, let it dry, and tangle in white ink.
• If the 'moons' end up with a large space, let the center flow out.
•  vcnbbvv bffv (that's my 6-month old granddaughter helping me type) 😊
• What more can you think of?

Tangles: Beadlines, Crescent Moon, Knightsbridge,
Unfortunately the graphite is really interfering
with the black ink in this photo.

AND... I've just updated the "moons" post with another possibility - Mars' moons! Go to the top of this post for the link.

Teabag stains

Recently I noticed a hibiscus teabag in the kitchen sink and was struck with the beautiful, rich red of the water seeping from it. I decided to try staining some paper and saved a few more teabags. It's curious how the pink/purple shows up so well on gray paper, but not at all on white or tan. Still, the grays are lovely.

Here's the first tile I did with the first small batch of stained tiles. I've used some of the teabags three or four times and they're still staining very nicely.

Tangles: Ayame, Finery, Mooka elements

I added some white vinegar to the water in which I dipped the teabags, but I'm still rather concerned about fading. Most of these stained items will likely become ATCs or bookmarks - things which will generally not be exposed to light. The ATC below is at the lower left in the selection of stains above.

Three zentangle-tile-sized pieces.

Henrike Bratz, a CZT in north Germany near Denmark, contacted me on Instagram about the colors not showing on some papers. She advised me to put a dab of lemon juice on my finger and touch that to the dried stain. It worked beautifully, as you can see below. Apparently the acidity of the lemon juice is what's needed.

Here are two tiles done for Hanny Nura's Full Moon Mosaic on Instagram. The first uses the tile in the lower right above.

Finally, every time I looked at this next tile I saw a little crab. So that's what it is.

Zentangle's Project Pack #08

There's always something new coming out of ZTHQ! I quite enjoy these project packs and I always learn something (usually several somethings). This particular pack introduces five of Sakura's new Moonlight pens, with lovely opaque ink.

DAY ONE
On a black Apprentice tile, Munchin with orbs.

DAY TWO
A black Apprentice tile and a white 3Z tile, with a little trick!

Tangles: Hollibaugh, Tripoli, Well, plus dots

DAY THREE
On a white 3Z tile, we made little "jellyfish" starting with Tripoli's triangles, then shaded.

DAY FOUR
On a white, pre-strung zendala tile, we filled the spaces with three tangles.

Tangles: Bunzo, Printemps, and Knightsbridge

DAY FIVE
On a black, pre-strung zendala tile, we filled the spaces randomly with six particular tangles, then added graphite shading and white chalk highlights.

DAY SIX
We divided a white, pre-strung zendala tile in half using Mi2, then filled one half in black and white, the other half in  color.

Tnangles: Knightsbridge, Mi3, Shattuck

 DAY SEVEN
On a black Apprentice tile we created some large-petaled flowers and filled the petals many different ways, then added leaves and more.

DAY EIGHT
These are my first two of six Renaissance 3Z tiles which will all have similar tangling.

Tangles: Well, and lots of Auras