Danger, Danger, Will Robinson!

I did something last night that I've been afraid to tackle for a while. I tangled on my new white jean jacket. I was so thrilled when I found it in the store. It has the style I wanted, it fits perfectly, and it was on SALE! The perfect trifecta! And since it is white and I like to have fun yet professional clothes that are good for teaching my zentangle class, it was in my bag in a flash.

I knew I wanted to tangle it, but I was nervous. It is so perfect I didn't want to mess it up! What if it didn't come out the way I wanted it! But after a push from the Diva to try something 'dangerous', I got out my pen and went to it. I used the Pentel Gel Roller for fabric. 

The internet provided inspiration for the design as I took bits and pieces from different sites to put this together. At some point I'll work on tangling a couple of panels in the front of the jacket too. I haven't decide whether I want to add shading yet. I rather like the black and white.

alphabet soup - J

The Alphabet Soup challenge is one I issued to myself. The goal is to use tangle patterns that are not official tangle patterns, but to use only ones that start with the designated letter of the alphabet. I realized as I looked through my collection of tangles that this was a project that could certainly be done. 

This tile gave me a chance to try out a number of tangles that I really haven't used before. 

Jalousie - Phine

Jay - Molossus

Japan diamond - Laura Liu

Jax - Vera Giesbredt

Jems - Margaret Bremner

Joust - Elaine Benefatto

Anyone is welcome to join me in this challenge. Post it wherever you like - I don't have a linky machine. If you don't have a blog or a facebook page just email me a picture and I'll post it here.

Double trouble - String 13

This tile uses string #13 from Tanglepatterns.com. Jill Dobis contributed this string.  I'm calling it 'Double trouble' because all the tangle patterns used in it have double letters.

Jitterz - Shauna

Jetties - Official zentangle tangle 

Jilli - Sue Jacobs (that's me!)

It's good to get back to the basics of Zentangle. - A 3 1/2 tile, simple strings, black pen and pencil only, no erasing, and non representational. Pure zentangle can provide such a wonderful means to relax.

pink ribbon zendala

The pink ribbon is featured here to remember that this month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My godmother passed from breast cancer several years ago. She was a wonderful lady. 

This piece uses the Zendala template # 77 that can be found on the site of 'the bright owl' - See the links section on the right hand column to go to that site.

I did the tangles with a black Pigma Micron pen and then added the colors with Prismacolor colored pencils. My tangle pattern 'Coil' worked well for the pink ribbon. If you're looking for extra help on that tangle, visit my video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoFyte1EdDU

Fengle/Quandry Duotangle

What's a Duotangle? Simply, it's a tile that's completed using only two tangle patterns. Here the two patterns are Fengle and Quandry. These are both official Zentangle patterns and instructions for them can be found  following these links; Fengle and  Quandry.

I used the basic square paper tile and then picked up my colored Pigma Micron pens. Some shading was added with the appropriately colored Prismacolor colored pencil.

String #12

This tile uses string #12 from the files at tangle patterns.com. It was added to the site by Barbara Finwall.  The tangle patterns are all ones whose names start with 'Fi'. 

monotangle - pointillism style

This tile contains only one tangle pattern. It's called Featherfall and Carole Ohl has steps over on her blog at http://openseedarts.blogspot.com/2010/11/featherfall.html

It's a tangle that has always intrigued me. So when the Diva challeged us to do a tile as a monotangle AND to do it pointillism style!, I decided to try it with this. Click the picture to see the detail.

I used my blue and green Sakura Micron Pigma pens in the 05 size. It was fun using the two colors on a feather. It almost gave me a peacock feather feel.

Galileo - new tangle pattern

Galileo is a new tangle pattern I've developed. It is based on a design I saw on one of my shirts. (The picture of the fabric is at the end of this post.) My husband looked at it and said it reminded him of stars and a spiral galaxy so I choose Galileo as the name.

Steps for Galileo;

1 - Draw pointed petal shapes in a grid pattern. Alternate the angle that you place them. Imagine a clock face and place one pointing to 1 and 7. The next shape points to 2 and 8. Look closely at the steps.

2 - Put a small circle in the middle of alternating sets of four petal shapes.

3 - Draw curved lines from the tip of the outside of each petal shape to the circle in the middle. You may find it easier to draw all the lines that go in one direction first, then rotate your tile and do the next set, and so on.

4 - Draw an inner curved line from the petal shapes to the middle. Start this inner line in a bit from the tip.

Add details and shading as desired.

You can add small elements in  the space between as desired.

There are lots of possibilities for tangleations

A close up of the steps

An ATC (artists trading card) that I did on a colored background with a white pen.

The shirt fabric that inspired this tangle pattern

Days of Wine and Warrenville

This tile uses string #11 that can be found on tanglepatterns.com. It was posted by Yamit Fridman who is from Israel. Since Yamit posted it, all the tangles used are ones that have names that begin with the letter 'Y'. When I really started drawing the string on I realized it reminded me of wine glasses. A purple Micron pen and purple pencil shading then seemed the appropriate way to go with this.

The tangles used are;

Y-Ful Power
Yang
Yew-Dee
Yinlinx
Yoga

These are the tiles that came out of my presentation at the Warrenville Public Library last night. Beautiful work and some wonderful tangleations. Click on the picture to enlarge it for a closer look.

8s Parte Dos

The challenge from the Diva this week is to use a tangle pattern called '8s Parte Dos'. It's a tangle that really requires extra concentration. And true to my usual form, I made it extra tricky for myself by doing it as a monotangle zendala. I made a few mistakes - especially around the edges - but in Zentangle, there are no mistakes so I'm accepting it as it is and enjoying it. I started using the sphere template from Margaret Bremner but I modified it a bit.

I used one of my colored tiles and a black Micron pen. Then I shaded with a purple colored pencil and added a few highlights with a yellow pencil.

Random act of zentangle and glamping roundup

At night the glampers put little lights around their campers. We had a fire going in the middle and we all enjoyed each other's company.

The next morning all was quiet when I went to the main house to get my tea. The morning fog seemed magical. Almost everyone else was still in bed.

This is one of the the random acts of zentangle I left in the house.

The farm house is known as the Janney house on Patterson Farm. It's in Yardley, PA. The Artists of Yardley use it for workshops and other art related events. It is surrounded by farmland that will remain open space for the community. It was wonderful being there. As campers, we did 'dry camping' meaning we did not have water or electrical hookups. Everything we brought in, we brought out. We participated in their fundraising event on Saturday by opening up our vintage campers for tours.

 This was my bed. On the ledge alongside it, I could stand up the tiles I had done and also the tiles I had brought to display in my class. I left two of the tiles pictured here in the house that hosted our camping. (That's called a random act of Zentangle) They had a fundraiser festival while we were there so there were lots of people that came through and I have no idea who picked them up. I hope they enjoy them!

We had a little kitchenette. My sister-in-law did the tile work recently. The rest is all vintage from 1971. The other bed is hers. Notice the beautiful quilts on the bed that she made!!! 

My sister-in-law relaxing outside the camper - and yes, she made the bunting displayed behind her. It was so cute with big buttons for tires.

The pictures below are the interiors of some of the other campers. It was amazing to see what they had done. The interiors were usually quite small but they had made them so cozy!

While the vintage campers were the main attraction, we also had ladies in tents, motor coaches and even beds in the back of their SUVs. A couple of people stayed in nearby hotels too. It was a welcoming and fun group. If you want more info on the group visit http://www.sistersonthefly.com/home/sisters-on-the-fly

Glamping continued

More ladies have arrived with their campers. It's such fun to see how each one is outfitted. I ran a zentangle quick class this morning.  They are excited to learn Zentangle - AND, know that it is portable enough to fit in their compact campers.

Glamping

A new experience for me.  Glamping! Meeting a great group. Several of them have vintage campers that they have decorated beautifully. I'm here with my sister-in-law with her vintage camper. More pictures to come later this week.