Category Archives: Zentangle

Zen-Untangled Week (Catch Up week 4b)

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , ,

Last week I mentioned that I was probably going to do one of the strings from the catch up week after week 4 so that I could work on tangling every day rather than a lot in one day. ;) Well, I decided that was a really good idea.

Alice did provide seven strings. I think the intention was to ensure that those that were already caught up would have something to do each day. ;) I looked through the seven strings provided and picked one. I wish that I’d have scanned it before I began tangling but atlas, I did not. :) But here is the scan of my tangled tile marked with the string.Here is the scanned tile without the string marked.

I used Pepper, Hurry, Echoism, and Ynix and I still don’t know how to pronounce that last one. ;)

We actually had a bit of sunshine yesterday and I got the tangling done while it was out, so I was able to get a picture in natural light.

The cats were quite interested in what I was doing.

I then took it back inside to do some shading. Here is the scan of the shaded tile.

It always looks so much better smaller, so that you can see fewer of the imperfections.

Here are the pictures I took outside. I had to wait a bit for some clouds to pass and of course, the cats were still interested.

I really liked running Ynix up the right side border. It looks a bit more shaded in person. :) I’m really pleased with how this one turned out. Echoism was a bit small in the bottom section, so the inner aura didn’t turn out very good, but I think it contrasted nicely with the opposite blackening on the other part.

At first I thought the upper loop on the tile was too big to use for the center of Pepper but I think it turned out quite nicely. I’m not sure what I think of the middle loop with Hurry in it. I tried to do some under shadow with it. Overall, I like how this one turned out.

I just realized that the Echoism and Ynix sections kind of resemble a cat. :D With Ynix being the tail. =))

Next week I’ll be back with week 7 of the Zen-Untangled Project. :) I’m familiar with most of the tangles for week 7 but I’m not sure how many of them I already have stepouts made for.

Well, I’m going to run for now. Thanks for stopping by. I hope these inspired you in some way.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Drupe and Its Look-Alikes

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , , , , ,

I think I should have used the catch-up week strings  last week. This week’s tangles, although some are very similar which I will get to in a moment, were mostly ones for which I didn’t have step-outs done already. Alice puts up the new week’s tangles and string on Saturday, so even if I did one every day, I wouldn’t have all of them done by Tuesday night to write up my blog post.

So I think next week I may do the string catch-up week and share that here next week, so that I just get in the habit of tangling every day. We shall see. ;)

This week’s tangles are Tagh, Ibex, Facade, Drupe, Dyon, Xircus, and Fracas. I’ve tangled Tagh before but didn’t make a step-out for it.

Here’s a tile I did last year using Tagh. Oh! I think a local CZT, Pam Newman, taught me this one while she still had monthly gatherings. I should probably set up a time to visit her again. :)

Facade looks like a blend of Nipa and Hollibaugh to me. I really like it even though I don’t do it real well.

On my tile, I used wider Hollibaugh lines and I have to admit that the thinner lines are easier to put the orbs behind.

I didn’t shade Ibex on my stepout, as I was getting a bit tired of all my tangling in one day but I had to press on, so shading got shorted. :)

Then comes Drupe. This is the one that I did have drawn already and I haven’t scanned it or taken a picture of it though . . . sorry about that. But here is a link to the step-out online.

Then there is Dyon which is so similar to Drupe. It seems that the only difference is the lack of some straight lines in each section between the arched lines.Then there is Fracas which uses the same combined x and + as the base that both Drupe and Dyon uses. The lines on each section for this one are arced the opposite way from the previous tangles and then blacken every other band.

I like this one . . . it kind of reminds me of a spider web. I think this is my favorite.

Then the last one is Xircus which I’d never heard of before but I really like it. Because it has a lot of repetitive lines.

I think Drupe, Dyon, and Fracas are just tangleations of each other but they were probably named before they came up with the word tangleation and before there were SOOOO many tangles.

Here’s my tile before I did the shading.

Here is the same unshaded tile but the picture was taken outside on a very overcast day. And then here it is again shaded; first the scan and then the outside picture.

I chose to put one section of each of those four similar tangles on the bottom left. I also did some extra shading on the spirals of Ibex. I like how the tile ended up. I think I enjoy Xircus more than the other similar tangles.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know which is your favorite of the four (Drupe, Dyon, Fracas, or Xircus) tangles, down in the comments.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Zen-Untangled Week 5

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , , , ,

So this is week five of the Zen-Untangled project. This week’s tangles were Mooka, Fescu, Doodah, Moonpie, Zinger, Springkle, and Hollis. Of these I have drawn Fescu and Mooka several times. I’ve learned Doodah last year and used it that once. I’ve used Zinger before, or at least what I knew to be Zinger.

Hollis and Moonpie are new to me. I do believe they are fairly new tangles, so I don’t feel too bad. ;) I have seen Hollis but I have never seen anyone label Moonpie before. I had no idea it existed. It is very easy to do and I love the contrasts built into it.

That leaves Springkle. I have to tell you that this tangle looks so much like Zinger that I really don’t quite know the difference between them, except for the “stem” part. It really seems to me that one is a tangleation of the other or simply a variation and that both are tangleations of Fescu. The start of both seem very similar to Fescu. But . . . they have their own names straight from “Zentangle headquarters” so I guess they are their own things. :)

The basic Springkle reminds me of Cupcake from pattern-collections, which is a favorite of mine. :) I love the flow of the top, but  I digress.

Stardust pens Cupcake Flower ~ Lifeofjoy.meI decided to look online for some more samples of Springkle and found one done by Linda over on Time for Tangling. I really loved the variation on the blue tile, although hers is a little bit different from the official stepout (but I did watch the video she linked to where she learned how to tangle it).

The string for the week is basically an X. She drew hers without dot and border but I wanted the boundary of the borders, so I included them. :)

Here is the scan of my tile before shading.

I forgot to take a picture of it before shading. Here is the scan after shading, which shows the imperfects more.. I didn’t get very aggressive with the shading this week as I was running low on time with so many stepouts to do. (I had to do 5 of them this week. :p .)

This is truly one of those times when I’m not sure which way I like it best. I like it corner to corner so Fescu and Springkle are standing but then Mooka is upside-down. I guess this is my preferred view. ;)

I did take a few pictures but the flash isn’t very nice to it either. ;) What are your thoughts on Springkle, Zinger, and Fescu?

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Locar, Pepper, and Nipa

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle

This is catch-up week on the Zen-Untangled 2020 project over on Tangle All Around facebook group. She did offer up seven new strings to play with any of the tangles so far. I however, am just finishing up with week four. I’m having to do most of the stepouts this week even though I am familiar with most of the tangles.

Well, Nipa and Pepper are two I love and actually have stepouts already done for them. Verdigogh is one that I have printed out from my beginnings of Zentangle and Molygon is not a favorite of mine but I know its steps. Ellish is one I’m familiar with but don’t prefer either but have made a stepout for it because I did start tangling with it in church one week and realized that I didn’t exactly know the steps from memory. ;) So Bumper and Locar, which are very similar to each other, are the others that I needed to do the stepouts for. I did get those two drawn but not shaded yet.

I only did the stepout for Locar but not the sample on the front of my ATC card. Thus I have not shared it here.

I used the week four string that Alice provided. Here is the scan of my unshaded tile.

Then I added some graphite shading.

Here is the picture of the finished tile. It was after dark, so I had to take it inside. It is kinder than the scan. ;)

It amazes me how the tile can look so different from different angles.

Actually Locar and Bumper are very similar to Verdigogh to me and Verdigogh is one that I always have had trouble with.

Well, I gotta run . . . thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Zen-Untangled Week 3

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , , , , ,

Officially this is week 4 of Zen-Untangled on the facebook group Tangle All Around but I’m just finishing up week 3. ;) Between this and Show Me Your Skills lettering class, I’m behind on one or the other each week. I guess I should show some of that here too. Well, maybe I’ll do that next week. It is the final week of the beginning lettering class. I have decided to continue on though, so between the two, I’ve got a daily activity for the next several months. :)

This week’s tangles are Flux (both Rick and Maria’s versions), Cubine, Frondous, Ynix, Ixorus, Hollibaugh, and Echoism. I already have ATC stepouts for both versions of Flux, Cubine, Ixorus, Echoism, and Hollibagh. Consequently I only had to make stepout ATC for Frondous and Ynix (I sure would like to know how to pronounce those . . . I pronounced Printemps like it looks until I heard Rick pronounce it on a project pack video. :) )

Here are the fronts of my ATC for the two new-to-me tangles.

This one is Frondous.

And this one is Ynix. (Please tell me how to pronounce it!)

This week’s string was a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner through a medium circle in the middle and once again, I forgot to scan it before I started.

I did “cheat” a little bid and used my helix to make the circle in the middle. ;) I decided that Ixorus would work great in the circle. I actually thought that Frondous, Ynix, and Flux would all be a bit larger but when I drew them, they came out on the small side. It worked out though because I was able to get all seven tangles plus the variation of Flux on this one tile. Echoism isn’t very visible though. I really like that tangle because it flows so well.

At any rate, here is the scanned tile before shading.

In hindsight, I probably should have started Ynix a little further inside the border instead of centered on the border. But, I think it balanced out okay. Here it is in natural light.

I started to do some curvy Hollibaugh (actually did two lines) and decided I wanted the rest to be straight lines.

Here is the finished tile scanned.

The natural light had set by the time I finished shading the tile, so I took it inside with the best lighting (and unfortunately a flash) I could get inside.

I’m still learning how to shade Frondous and Ynix. Have you seen these tangles before? How do you shade them?

Well, I’ll run for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Zen-Untangled Week 2: Centipede and Snail

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , , , , ,

This week the new-to-me tangles in the second week of the Zen-Untangled 2020 project were Snail and Centipede. Since I’ve been around the Zentangle community online since October 2009, I was already familiar with Hurry, Dex, Ahh (with Therefore) and Tipple. Although I have to say that Dex worked better for me this time around than ever before.

I had a major hiccup with snail. It looks like such a simple tangle and really it is simple but when I started to tangle it I drew it from inside and spiral out but it ended up looking more like Printemps. Thus I figured it was supposed to be drawn from outside and spiraled in, which was later confirmed on the group. :)

That little spiral down in the bottom right corner is the one where I started in and spiraled out.

The string for this week is a simple one with a pair of lines diagonally from corner to corner. I forgot to get a picture before I started tangling it though.

Here is the scan of my tile.

I made a couple tangle variations ;). I didn’t et the auras around Snail right. I initially thought I’d use the straight line variation but . . . didn’t end up doing that. :o The other mistake “variation” I did was with Hurry. I should have known better but I forgot that I was supposed to do 3 lines on each side of my initial 3 lines, whereas I only did one line on each side. :(

The seven tangles used in this tile are Ahh, Therefore, Centepede, Snail, Tipple, Hurry, and Dex. Here is a picture the tile before shading. (It was already dark so there was no way to take a picture out in natural light. :( )

And here it is after shading (first the scan and then the picture).

And this is the picture.

Yes, I had to add some eyes on my centipede. :)

One more view of the finished tile.

I love shading. It makes a world of difference. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Florz, Eye-Wa, IX, and Avreal Tile

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, , ,

I’m participating in the Zen-Untangled project and thought I’d share the tile I did for week one which was a partial week. I haven’t started on week two yet but I’m looking forward to it.

Week one’s tangles are Florz, Eye-Wa, IX, and Avreal. We were to use a “z” string for our tile this week.

I tried to do something different from what I would normally do and not what I’d seen others do. I started with Avreal down the long diagonal. Then I went with IX along the bottom and filled Florz in behind all that I’d already drawn. I finished it off with a very small Eye-Wa in the last section.

Here’s my tile before shading.

I didn’t remember to take a picture after I finished tangling but before shading though. So here is my tile after I shaded it.

Once again, I think it looks better a bit smaller. ;)

Here’s the picture I took. Of course, it was after dark when I decided to take the picture, so I took it inside.

I appreciate you stopping by. I hope I’ve inspired you.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Basic Tipple, Crescent Moon, and Static Tile

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle

Wow! 2020! That just amazes me. At any rate, on to the tangling. :)

Between Christmas and New Year I decided to do a simple tile with hopes of trying out my new Lindy’s Magicals on it. But I loved the lineart so much that I didn’t want to risk messing it up and decided to just shade it as usual. (I played with my magicals on a different, quickly drawn tile of flux and cupcake, I think it was.) I’m so glad I didn’t do it on this tile because there is definitely a learning curve with these things.

I got out my One Zentangle A Day book and just  opened to day one and used the tangles suggested there: Static, Tipple, and Crescent Moon.

Here is a scan of my tile before shading.

I seriously do not know which way I prefer this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did some of the lines of Static further apart so that I could try and add some nice color on them but as I said, I changed my mind.

Here is the finished scanned tile.

I took one in natural light too but I’m in a bit of a hurry and so I need to run. I’ll try to remember to add it on here later.

I hope you have a wonderful new year full of great creativity.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Striped and Orbed Cadent

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle, ,

Well, I’m late getting this post up because I was very tired after getting back home from my nephew’s wedding and just didn’t get my tile drawn until this morning.

I also have to admit that I almost ditched this prompt from Today’s Tangles: Keeping it Classic, #TTKICPROMPT121619, because it started out really badly. I actually started it twice because I was using the Micron PN pen and it just wasn’t working for me. It was all scratchy and not a pleasant experience at the time.

This one was actually the second try, where I’d flipped the tile over and started again. Ugh!

The lines were so scratchy, so I got out my graphic liner and tried to make the lines better and hated it. So I put it up and got out the standard 01 Micron and started over again. I did not hold much hope for this prompt, which was based on the Project Pack 07 Day 8, because I was off to such a rough start all three times.

I decided that my filler was going to be simple orbs and striping. Again, not holding much hope for this tile because my orbs were not smooth, at all!

Here is my tile after I finished tangling.

Here is a picture I took of it before I actually had any sunlight. ;)

Oh yeah, it looks so much better at an angle but still very choppy.

But the miracle of shading . . . here is the scanned tile after shading.

But look at the photos of it shaded!

And then I noticed that the sun was shining nicely, so I took it outside and got a shot or two. ;)

So this just proves that you shouldn’t give up on a tile, even when it isn’t looking like it is going to be any good at all. ;) I think it turned out quite nicely. I also liked that I shaded it as sections rather than individual orbs and boxes. :)

I also think that adding a bit of shading on the outside added some nice depth.

Well, I hope you have a great week before Christmas and take some time to de-stress with some tangling. :)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Tagh Monotangle

Wonder Wednesday, Zentangle

This week I followed the prompt from Today’s Tangles: Keeping it Classic (TTKICPROMPT120919) but since it’s Christmas time, I decided to keep it very simple. I went with one tangle, Tagh and tangled in the center instead of the four sections made by the suggested string.

Here is my tile before shading.

Here is a picture in natural light.

At first I just shaded it but then I realized I needed to add a bit of drama so I blackened in the other part of the tile. Here is the scan of the finished tile.

And here is the natural light picture, albeit waning light. ;)

Well I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season, I am. :)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº