How "Ancient Spirals" came to be

"Ancient Spirals" was created on paper I had eco-dyed some time ago. (Click on "eco-dyeing" in my subjects list on the right to see more about this technique.) It is also inspired by a compositional method I learned during a class from Lynn Mead through TangleU.

It began with a sheet of paper I'd eco-dyed a while ago.
In pencil, I divided it into 2" squares, leaving a thin border.
Using the eco-dyed marks as guides, I added some arcs to create partial circles.

I had noticed spirals in some places and decided to pursue that imagery.
In pencil I indicated the spirals and some shells and leaves, then
 added a bit of color with Inktense and Graphitint water-soluable pencils.

I began adding details with fine-nib pens: a leaf, a few spirals.
A whole quarter finished.
What are those scallops at the bottom? Feathers? Leaves?

More Inktense. More Graphitint. More tangles.
More leaves. More spirals. More details.
Blue seems to be running diagonally.

Almost finished.
Some of the eco-dye patterning is so beautiful
I want to leave it without any additions.
Colored pencil for final shading.

Aaand... done!  Albeit a bit fuzzy in this photo.

Here's a short video of the progression:

Zentangle's Project Pack #13

Transitions...   water-soluable graphite...   clear Glaze ink...   resists...   

DAY ONE - I liked Maria's results in the demonstrated tile, but mine looked dull and dark. So I did two others, 'inspired by'.

DAY TWO - A 3D look using a particular fragment and clear Glaze ink resist.

DAY THREE - I couldn't help but see a sunflower as this progressed. Then, of course, I had to try one in color. I like the black-and-white one better!

I had two Phi tiles with hibiscus teabag stains. One looked liked another sunflower, the other looked rose-like.

DAY FOUR - Crazy Cadent with clear Glaze resist and graphite wash. I did gathered corners in some of my Cadent.

DAY FIVE - Using the Glaze pen in sections of Aquafleur, and the water-soluable graphite elsewhere. I tried another one - 'inspired by' - on a tan, hibiscus-teabag-stained tile.

DAY SIX - Mooka transitioning to Springkle transitioning to Bunzo, beginning with a graphite wash of lines.

DAY SEVEN - Ing in thick lines of clear Glaze, then washed in graphite. Rick went in an interesting direction, "erasing" micron lines from the Glaze, but I had seen another direction, and wanted to try nestling rows of Ing.

DAY EIGHT - Lots of possibilities shown for using the water-soluable graphite to create strings from which to be inspired! Here are some of my results:

A slightly-curvy square grid became Cubine and Dex and a few Pearlz.

A dripped orb became Arukas and Within with hints of a tangle whose name I can't recall!

A spiral string filled with the spiral tangle Ohana.

A series of wet graphite rows called for Romanancy, and a row of Rayga. 

A partial orb with drips got turned upside down to make different drips.

Project Pack 11 - Phi ratios

When I returned home after three weeks away, Project Pack 11 was waiting for me! I quickly opened it to see what treasures lay inside. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Phi-dimension tiles! I love sacred geometry. I even have some golden mean rulers.

Having been away, I found myself rather inundated with Things To Do and wasn't able to enjoy this immediately. But eventually I had a great time!

Day One: Dividing the tile according to phi ratios and drawing Pokeroot (I used Pokeleaf).

Tangle: Pokeleaf

Day Two: Drawing the tangle Gourdgeous along one of the phi lines. In Canada we call this a "goord" while in the US it's a "gord". I've realized that the name of this tangle is "gorgeous", not "goordjus"! 😜

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Gourdgeous, Krli-Qs

Day Three: Drawing on the back of the tile, following pre-strung the nautilus spiral using Crescent Moon. I got inspired and drew a Gourdgeous nautilus spiral on the "back" of this tile, actually the intended "front".

Day Four: Drawing a Hollis-inspired, droplet-ended Mooka, then adding color with colored chalk pencils. I added a border of Doodah. On one of the phi intersections I added the tangle Within in gold.

Tangles: Doodah, Within, Auras, and
a droplet mash-up of Mooka and Hollis

Day Five: Ing, along one of the phi lines, filling the triangles in various ways, then adding color. It's interesting how it  ended up in the center of the tile anyway. I like Ing a lot, so I did two. 😊 In the first, two phi intersections are indicated by the Black Pearlz; in the second, by the Pearlz rings.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Ing, Pearlz, Auras, elements of Tripoli,
and Archimedian spirals

Day Six: Drawing a square around one of the phi intersections and creating a square grid around it.  Then, filling alternately with Cubine and a variation of Well, sort of.

Day Seven: A diagonal line passing through two of the phi intersections, then subdividing the tile into smaller and smaller phi squares. In the leftover spaces in the center I kept seeing rectangles, so I drew the lines and added random Jalousie.

Day Eight: Molygon, and more, centered on one of the phi intersections. I couldn't not see a flower here so I added Icantoo.

Stay tuned for more Phi explorations!

Three more Book pages

Here are a few more pages from my Book - not a journal, not a sketchbook, but full of wonderful things!

Years ago I did a whole series of work using leaf prints. I wanted to include that idea in my Book. Another thing I've occasionally enjoyed is micrography so I found a quotation I like that mentions leaves.

As a tea lover from 'way back, I decided to do a page of tea labels. I've added a couple of small things since I took this photo.

On this page I used a broken copper bracelet as a template for the spirals. The corners are cut off the page showing the black edge from the following page.

What to do with a broken bracelet?

I had a thin copper bangle that had an accident and broke, curving in on itself a little. It struck me that it could be bent into a spiral so I got out the pliers and went at it. I quite like the irregularity of it. What a nice, arty shape to work with!

I centered it on an eco-dyed tile (3.5") and traced it. Then I traced four more behind, and added Pearlz, Doodah, and colored pencil shading.

Tangles: Doodah, Pearlz

I'd been playing with Well, Well, Who, but without the 'who' and liked the impression of old, carved, floral ceiling medallions. On another eco-dyed paper (this one 4") I used the spiral as the center of a medallion.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Crescent Moon, Hollyhock, Printemps
and a hint of MySwing

Experimenting in earnest now. I wanted to try it on a zendala tile. Originally I thought to place eight spirals around but something kept telling me to do six. It's good to listen to your intuition! I discovered that with six, I could nicely join the outside end of one spiral with the inside end of the next. This gave me a single line that spirals in and out and into the next one.

If six combined nicely, what about two?

Tangle in the background: Dreamdex

Maybe on black paper?

Tangles: just Printemps

And here's my last one, the spiral hanging from an Auraknot, eco-dyed paper and copper colored ink.

At some point I may include the actual metal spiral. I'd done something like that before, but with a found metal spiral rather than one I made. You can see it in this post.

Project Pack #6: Part 2

Zentangle recently released its sixth project pack and I've been having a lot of fun with it. (For Part One, go here.)

DAY 4:
Molly shows Munchin and Paradox, and transitioning between them. I included two other tangles based on triangles and some of them flowed onto the next page.

Tangles on this page: Fassett, Munchin, Paradox, Sqaro

DAY 5:
Julie draws weighted Printemps and her variation 'melting Mooka' with other tangles as fills. I didn't try the melting Mooka until later but it's quite fun, and - as someone else said - has an Art Deco look. A couple of mine got a bit rebellious at the end!

Tangles: Camelia, 'Nzeppel, weighted Printemps

Tangles: Black Pearlz, melting Mooka, Shattuck, Tipple

DAY 6:
Maria draws ING with some wonderful additions. I love the spiral fills! On the page beside it I did my variation curvING

Tangles: Ing, Pearlz

Tangles: curvING, Crescent Moon (layered), Printemps,

DAY 7:
Molly draws Indyrella. It's not a tangle I've done often but I enjoyed this.

Tangles: Indyrella, hints of Msst

There's more to come!

Project Pack #6: Part 1

Zentangle recently released its sixth project pack and I thoroughly enjoyed it! (In fact, I haven't finished yet.) The pack includes the various pens and other tools you'll use as well as a charming little 'journal' to work in. Each journal page, while mainly white paper, has a black ink "spill" to work with. The video lessons are available on YouTube. To order your own project pack, go here.

This project honors the 'no mistakes' philosophy of Zentangle. From the Zentangle website:

The "No Mistakes" philosophy has been an integral part of the Zentangle Method since it’s beginning. "No Mistakes" is a mantra we use in our Zentangle practice that allows us to see every line as an opportunity... Whether intentional or not, with this perspective, one can learn to see beauty and potential in whatever mark we make and whatever path our artistic journey takes. 

This seems like an appropriate time to share the first page of my little journal, although it was done after several other pages were completed.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Pearlz, Striping with a twist, Sprouts, Zonked, and Auras

DAY 1
Maria draws Mooka and Crescent Moon; I used Icantoo and Paizel - organic forms flowing over the border between white and black.

Tangles: Icantoo, Paizel, Printemps

DAY 2
Rick draws Arukas, again flowing back and forth between black and white. I chose to use the curvy lines of the black ink 'stain' rather than straight lines. And I had a perfect opportunity to include a yin-yang symbol!

Tangles: Arukas, Black Pearlz, Msst

DAY 3
Martha draws Pearlz with Rounding between each pearl, such a lovely variation. She also does Ennies in a spiral over the black and the white sections. For some reason, I did these on different pages.

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Morse, Pearlz

Tangles: Black Pearlz, Ennies, Sprouts

Stay tuned over the next little while for more of my journal pages.