9th anniversary give-away!

As promised yesterday, for the 9th anniversary of my blog I'm having

An anniversary give-away!!!

1

"Revealed"

This is drawn on a blank zendala tile 

and includes a tiny sparkly gem at the center.

2

"24 Carat Mandala"
Created on one of Zentangle's pre-strung zendalas 

at the first zenAgain gathering, in 2016.

It's real 24-carat gold leaf!

3

"Moon Mandala"

Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.
At the center is a pencil drawing of a full moon.
The Glaze ink masks it somewhat in the photo.

4

"Tropical Mandala"

Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.
It includes a bit of collage and scalloped edges.
The central 'petals' are clear Stardust (sparkle) ink.

5

"Paradox Mandala"

Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.
Paradox is one of many favorite tangles.

6

"Triad Star"

Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.
A slightly angled photo to show the
white-on-white Printemps on the white points.

7

"Sunflower Mandala"

Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile. 

8

"Rainbow Passage"
Lots of color!
A zenbutton in rainbow colors on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.
The center is black glazed and there are 27 tiny gems.

9
"Femininity Star"
Created on a pre-strung, 9-pointed, zendala tile.

A triangle with the point at the bottom
is sometimes a symbol of the feminine.

THE DETAILS

• This give-away will run for nine days, from right now until midnight (end of day) October 26. 
• You can only win one piece of art. Nothing is framed or mounted; that's up to you.
• If you win, I'll e-mail you for your postal address and pop it in the mail to you.

How can you enter the giveaway? Simple! Rafflecopter will assist.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK!

Spundalaz, the results

These are the zendala tiles that resulted from my attempt to begin some spundalaz. (If you missed that post, check here.) They are not what I had envisioned!

However, waste not want not.

The first one I completed is the top left tile. It ended up a lot more blue and I'm happy with it.

Next was the middle bottom tile. I like what looks like a crescent moon, and I particularly like it on the oatmeal paper I used behind it!

Then came a very green one (top right). I refer to it as the Irish one.

I'm least happy with this one. I'd begun Xyp in one ring, didn't like it, turned it into triangles. That was alright. I also didn't mind the multi-colors that got into it. There was something too low-key about it, so I added metal leaf. That was too high-key. I covered parts of the metal with black Identipen, which helped.

I almost didn't finish the fifth one (lower left). See how it's off-center? It was too weird. I had started with Dex around the perimeter, but it didn't go evenly and there was a .5 cm space left. Sheesh. Breathe. No mistakes, just opportunities. Hmmm. What if there were a crack in it? All I can do is quote Leonard Cohen, "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

I lightened the edges of the crack. There's also Glaze ink in the outer ring's black squares.

An angled view.

Another angled view.

A close-up view.

If you're unfamiliar with the song, here is Leonard Cohen performing it.

Zenbuttons (and Spundalaz)

Cute as a button, and a delightful way to go around in circles and create a type of mandala!

I first saw this type of idea from Chris Titus, a CZT in the United States and major organizer of the Square One groups on Facebook. Her idea involved using a paint-spinner gadget to create concentric color streaks that could be developed into tangled mandalas. She calls them spundalaz. More on that in a future post.

Marguerite Samama, a CZT in the Netherlands, has a zenbuttons tutorial on tanglepatterns.com, here. As I don't have a paint-spinner gadget, Marguerite's tutorial inspired me to try the zenbuttons.

Zendala tiles seemed like the right thing to use. Here's my first try:

Tangles: All Boxed Up, Lanie variations, Puff, Tipple, Tripoli, Well 

I'm not very happy with it as the white highlights don't show up well. I think my black ink was still a bit damp and the white pencil smeared it slightly, leaving gray instead of white.

The second try turned out better. There's a little more dimension to the rings but still not enough for my liking.

Tangles: Boucle, Jalousie, Lanie variations

I came across a pre-strung zendala tile I'd begun a long time ago. It hadn't held my interest, but I didn't throw it out. I wondered if I could adapt it into a zenbutton so I divided it into concentric circles and completed the tangling. Here it is the way I'd left it, and with my ink drawing done.

Tangle: Ginili adaptation

I altered the color of the perimeter ring as it was too bright. There's much more satisfactory dimension in this one. I'm improving!

I had a wonderful eco-dyed tile, a gift from Chris Titus some time ago. The rusty circle was so lovely as-is I didn't know what I could add to improve it. Aha! Zenbutton! Here's the tile, with the concentric rings I drew to begin.

And here's the result:

I'm pretty happy with it, although sufficient dimensionality is still an issue I think.