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

Tangle-a-Day calendar - tools and more pages

No, don't worry, I'm not going to post every calendar page this year! But I do want to tell you a bit about what tools I'm using, and some plans, and show some recent pages. Like this one:

Hollyhock is from CZT Jason Lau. 
Chebucto and Skye are from yours truly.

What I've been using, mainly, for the tangling is three sizes of Tombow's Mono pens. They are really nice to draw with and I've used them for a few other things. This is an ideal type of project because these pens are not lightfast. I'll also use Sakura's microns and I have a Sharpie pen (fine tip) that I want to try.

I wanted to add color to some random pages to give me a surprise 'something new to deal with'. I did one page using Sakura's Koi Coloring Brush pens. I have really liked the colors and the way they blend so nicely, but was disappointed here. It must be the paper. The Koi brush pens are also not lightfast so I don't use them for anything that might end up hanging on a wall.

Sakura's Koi Coloring Brush pens usually blend beautifully, but not on this paper.

I also tried some Winsor and Newton Water Colour Markers. They tend not to blend as well as I'd like in any case, and this was no different.

I had better luck with both Inktense and Aquatone water-soluble pencils.

A rainbow of Aquatone pencils.

Cool tones in Inktense pencils.

We'll have to wait until those pages appear to see what will happen with them!

Here's another recently completed page:

Tuscadero is from CZT Lara Williams.
Umble is an 'official' tangle from Zentangle.
Y-Not was deconstructed by Molly Hollibaugh.

Faking a leaky pen

I while ago I had my first encounter with a leaky Micron pen. It turned out rather well (see this post) and I wanted to do more in that vein, but I had trouble making the pen leak adequately for my needs. :)

I have some Staedtler Calligraph Duo pens which have both a broad and a narrow end, and found that I could use this calligraphy pen in a rather sloppy manner and get a very similar effect to the leaky pen.

Below, you can see the heavier black of the calligraphy pen, mainly around the edges. The 'messy' marks are an interesting counterpoint to the delicacy of zentangle tangles.

Tangles thus far: Dex, Dust Bunny, Florz, Flukes,
Knightsbridge, Palrevo, Pearlz, Printemps, Zewm

Here is a lotus on a zendala tile. The 'fake leaky pen' work is mainly in the background behind the petals. I've 'neatened up' quite a few of the rough edges.

"Lotus Spin" (c) Margaret Bremner 2014
Tangles: Pearlz, Shattuck, Tortuca variation, Unyun

I also have a red pen of the same sort so I tried that too. I quite like this little piece and called it "Red Square".  :)  I mounted it on canvas, painted the border and sides red, and it found a new home at a recent exhibition.

"Red Square" (c) Margaret Bremner 2014
Tangles: Black Pearlz, Diva Dance, Finery, Flukes, Lamar,
Pearlz, Printemps, Shattuck, Tagh, Zewm

The Staedtler pens also come in blue and green, so I may have more fun in store!