NFluxel

I was working on slider cards this week, the coloring went smoothly, but I struggled with the slider mechanism and proper placement. And I needed to get them in the mail.  It took me a few days to complete them.  While I was working on those, I had this week's Diva Challenge in the back of my mind, which was a duo tangle of 'NZeppel vs Flux.  I love the challenge of duo tangles as I try to somehow combine the tangles if I can.

The trick to 'NZeppel is to think of that fill shape as a balloon expanding to fit the grid.  I knew with the duo tangle that I wanted to try having the fill shape be Flux.  But what I had in my mind was a more structured grid.  

When I finally got those Halloween slider cards done and in the mail I sat down to give the duo tangle a try.  This is what poured out of me instead.  And it did just pour out.  Those moments when the Zentangle takes control and you just follow along, are the best!  The contrast between struggling with the cards and then the duo tangle just happening was amazing.  Here is my first attempt in my bullet journal.

 I thought I'd share the process with you in case you wanted to play along!  This should get you started...

Add some Flux along the edge.  I suggest starting fairly large.

Rotate your tile 180 degrees and add the strings.  I did mine in ink, but you could choose to do it in pencil like a typical string.  As you draw the lines, think of the take off and land technique and have the lines follow the flow from the Flux shape.  Note, I like to pull my lines down which is why I rotated the tile.  Situate the tile to whatever is most comfortable for you. 

Add another row of Flux and then mirror its shape.  Have the Flux fill the space by trying to touch both the string and the neighboring Flux.  Notice the Flux shapes themselves are creating their own grid.

Continue rotating your tile and adding the Flux shapes.

Add more Flux shapes wherever there is room.

You can venture away from the string if you'd like, just try to keep the Flux in tight against its neighbors (remember the trick to 'NZeppel).  Remember to keep rotating your tile and keep filling in with Flux.  I really like adding in a little Tipple here and there too.  And coloring in the remaining bits adds dimension.  Maybe some rounding here and there.

Whether you give my version of the duo tangle a try, or create your own, be sure to check out the other versions on either The Diva's blog or on the Mosaic app.  

Have a great week!

Thanks for your comments, they make my day!

The Great Pumpkin

I'm considering a slider card for my holiday card this year.  I thought trying one out for Halloween for the grandkids would be a good warm up.  These 3 took me forever! (Ok, several days). Figuring out the slider mechanism and where it needed to be positioned was the most time consuming.  Charlie Brown and Linus stamp by Stampabilities, Cat and Skeleton by Inkadinkado. Stitched hillside die by Lawn Fawn and Pumpkins and Vine die by Sizzix.  FYI, Lawn Fawn makes slider dies and I have a set ordered.  That should make my next slider cards both easier and more precise.  This set I hand cut.   The bricks were fun coloring with Copic markers, as were the other characters.  The blue sky was done with distress ink.

Check back in a couple days for a Zentangle update!  

Happy Halloween!

Picturesque Notes

While stepping through the Zentangle® Primer, I found myself going back and forth between it and the first book, The Book of Zentangle, and taking notes.  After taking notes the standard way in my bullet journal and realizing I'd like to keep my drawings with them too, I decided to devote an art journal to the task. This one is one of my favorites, a hand.book by Global Art Materials.  After all, I hope to have more visual notes or drawings than words, so I thought the nice drawing paper would be ideal.  Of course, you could opt for one of the nice journals from Zentangle too, they just aren't in my budget at the moment.

While we were on vacation last week, camping, I started working on a title page.  We had a nice, sunny fall day at Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon.  An ideal time to sit outside and draw.  I started with the faux calligraphy then added Poke Leaf.  I knew it would add dimension to the page.  While I was considering which tangle to use for the background, my eye kept going to Maria's Umble heart tile on their cover.  It is a gorgeous tile.  Then somehow, I just knew my take on her inspiring tile needed to be on my page.  

As soon as I got to this point, I knew I wanted to add at least a touch of color.  I had brought my travel watercolor book, but I had forgotten a brush!  Like most things do with Zentangle, it worked out well regardless.

A view from the campground of the Snake river.  Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail before the trail turned north through more rugged country.

We wound our way up and around to Lake Roosevelt in Washington.  Somewhere along the way, I picked up some inexpensive brushes.  We had one gorgeous afternoon at a National Parks Campground before a full day of rain hit.  Here is the sunset view from our campsite!  Even during the gloomy rain the next day, we had a nice view.  

While we were holed up in the camper, I finished the page.  Watercolor, shading, and I added white gel pen around the letters where they were over the background.  (I saw this little trick done by Sandy Allnock on one of her YouTube videos.  Not sure which video it was, but I'll link you to one of her nice videos here. She's quite talented and offers lots of tips as you watch her work.)

So, that's all the further I got with my "notebook". While I feel like I should be further along, I know Bijou understands!

Notice I added a page for an upcoming Shading class.  Check it out if you're interested!

I appreciate your comments! Have a great week!

Back to Primer

Time to get back to my Zentangle Primer Vol. 1.  I'm still in the first lesson!  Here is my Exercise 2 (#zp1x2) tile using two of the basic tangles combined to create a tangleation.  Mine is a combination of Printemps and Hollibaugh on a Bijou tile.

And, I can't lie, I skipped ahead to Reticula and Fragments long enough for this R-E1 Reticula variation (based on my journal entry that follows) with fragments E4, E25 and leaflet variation.

I had been messing around with a wrought iron catalogue that my husband brought home for me and I thought I could turn it into the Reticula.  I actually did this tile last month while on vacation, and gave it away to a nice couple we met while camping.  

My journal playing with wrought iron shapes -- this is how the string for the tile above came to be

And another tile that somehow I failed to post.  A bijou of Trigue and El Prado, trying out some shades of gray along with typical black on the white tile.

I hope to have a shading class page up soon.  It will basically be a repeat of my earlier shading class. If you're interested, keep an eye out for a new page with information, including photos of the previous class.  

Cards!

October is a busy card month for me as lots of friends and relatives of mine have birthdays, anniversaries or both!  Lucky for me, last Saturday was World Card Making Day!  I had had a stressful day prior, so a day of art therapy making cards was just what I needed.  So I "got my pagan on" (inside joke to some of my friends/students!) and lost time creating.  I had fun playing around with stamps and backgrounds.  Guess how many finished cards I ended up with that day?  ...ZERO!  But I had lots of bits of cards, just waiting to happen!

This week I finished up a few of the bits.

Stamped images by Paper Parachute, colored with Copic markers.

Stamped and heat embossed image by Inkadinkado, background is Brushos (concentrated watercolor crystals) on scrap watercolor paper.

Repeated stamping, image by Inkadinkado. (The envelope shows the single stamp)

A second Brushos background card using the same stamps as earlier but since this card was less vibrant with little contrast, I added Polychromos colored pencils to add some details and shading.

And just a peek at the interior of the card.  A small punch created this 3D cutout that is about the size of a nickel.  Punch by EK Success.

This spinner card was my first attempt.  I loved the northern lights look of the Brushos background.  Stamped and heat embossed images are by Paper Parachute.  I learned that the circle needs or be further away from the edge of the card or the spinning mechanism (made using two pennies!) sometimes gets off track there.  I definitely will be trying this one again....maybe incorporating some tangling?  Check out this YouTube for instructions on making a spinner card.  

So, 5 cards down and

??(Way too many to count) left to go!  I feel the need for some de-stressing with tangling now!

Have a great week!