"Stained" Tutorial

After posting my coffee stained piece I was asked to do a tutorial on rubber cement resist.  I really love that people love learning new things and this one is so much fun and rewarding.

First off, let me say I am staining with left over coffee. You can color your piece with just about anything as long as the paper you are using will stand up to a bit of water.  So you can you use watercolors of any type, paint, tea, wine, even turmeric made into a paste and brushed on.

I have two pieces here. One is a Zentangle® Tile and the other larger on is a piece of Canson watercolor cold press 140 lb paper.

*First step is to get the rubber cement onto the paper.  This can be accomplished by dripping the rubber cement from the brush onto the paper.  I have found if you remove the brush from the tin and immediately turn the brush upside down to sort of collect the cement onto the brush you will have a good amount to drip or *trail* onto your paper. You can also brush it on for larger negative spaces or use other appliances like a chopstick, fork, smaller painting brush etc. Once it is on the paper, let it dry completely.

*Now you are ready to color or stain your paper. I have used a little left over coffee and a paint brush to apply.  Brush evenly over paper. The paper may tend to curl.  Manipulate the paper, bend side to side or end to end or simply rotate the paper to get the stain where you want it. Some areas will have a heavier stain than others.

You can even go back once it has dried a bit and add some more color to areas you would like darker.

*When this has dried completely you are ready to remove the rubber cement. You should be slow and deliberate with this step as paper is fragile and can rip. Although, it can add a "distressed" look to your piece if you desire. Two ways of going about this. One is to rub the cement off, although I have experienced more tears this way. The other is to start and edge and slowly pull the rubber cement off the tile.

Here the dried papers and then the papers minus the rubber cement.

You can choose to use the negative space as a string or the space where you tangle or, as I did earlier, just tangle over the top.

I will be back to post what I have done with these in a couple of days or so. Tangle on!

Inspiration

I was inspired to try some new techniques out this week and the inspiration came from some left over iced coffee in the bottom of a jug.

My husband and I invited some friends to visit us in Maine for a weekend to celebrate birthdays, catch up with one another and engage in some shenanigans.  All was accomplished!  One of our guests owns the  1369 Coffee House in Inman Square Cambridge MA, awarded the Best of Boston Coffee House 2013 (among other past awards), and he brought his very delicious iced coffee with him!  It comes in this incredible jug:

We imbibed all weekend but there was a bit left in the bottom of the jug so.................

The techniques I wanted to try out were rubber cement resist, coffee staining, tangled numbers, and framing or bordering.  I have managed to get them all into this project which highlights 1369 Coffee House.  I took about 10 hours, off and on, and I find the end result worth it.

I may have to start a "Stained" series. Hmmmm

Framed

So it has been said, by Maria (Thomas) I believe, that if you can tangle you can border.  Well sure, that makes sense except, when I go to "border" something this voice way in the back of my head says, "are you sure you know how to do that?" I thought I had silenced that voice but, no, it is still there.

Today it was again rainy and quiet so I thought I would take borders/frames on.  I am starting simply by drawing just two parallel straight lines and filling them in.  It was a nice exercise and I like how the page looks now that it is full.  I will continue with this on other pages and see if I can't just quite that little voice down a little bit more.

Meer, Purk, Sheenwaz, Vega, Chainlea, Snail, Tripoli

Weekly Challenge #130: Henna Drum

I love this tangle given to us by none other than the very talented Jane Mackugler.  You can find her step outs to this pattern HERE.

I have used this tangle many times before and it is always a pleasure to draw.  Today I went "string free" and just put pen to paper. It was a cool morning and I drew while bread was baking in the oven. There is nothing better then bread in the oven, dog at your feet and a pen in your hand with a blank piece of paper waiting to be transformed. Well, there are some other things but, today this will do just fine.

Henna Drum, Printemps, Copada

Tangle Card Challenge #4 - Kaleido

Sandra Steen Bartholomew has a new tangle this week for her Tangle Card Contest and I think she might have had me in mind when she decided to give us a simpler tangle to work with this week.

This is the Tangle Card with Kaleido stepped out.

  

She suggests that the pattern made after drawing the "grid" can be used as a string and the spaces can be filled with tangles.  Well that intrigued me and off I went.  

I started with a circle to pay homage to a kaleidoscope, although I am not really sure what Sandra named it after but, it reminded me of one. My straight lines I used vertically (just because I could) and my curvy any-which-way lines kind of crossed the straight ones.  I should have taken a before picture, sorry. I filled in the Printemps with sepia .005 Micron and was going to leave the alternate spaces white but, then looking at it, a black pattern was asking to be drawn. The end result reminds me of fine Japanese paper.

I could not find the black pattern named anywhere but I have the same pattern on my soy sauce dishes used for sushi:

If anyone out there has a name for it please let me know!

Weekly Challenge #129: String Theory v. XXV: Tanglel Patterns String#004

This weeks challenge from the Diva is to use a sting that has been contributed to the tangle patterns web site.  The string chosen was #4 by Sue Agnew and it looks like this:

          

For some reason I didn't connect with this string.  It's not the strings fault but, things happen that way sometimes.  My first tile looks like this:

'Nzeppel, Munchin

I did not really like the results but, I do keep every tile.  I wanted to try something organic and did a quick sketch in my daily sketch book.  The string is turned on it's side and does not follow it closely.

I think I am ready for a new week of challenges and contests!

Poke Root, Skein, Leaf, Black Pearlz

Tangle Card Challenge #3 - Ballenchain

This weeks contest tangle from Sandra Steen Bartholomew is Ballenchain.  See how she came to name this quilting pattern turned tangle here. And here is the Tangle Card:

   

I actually sighed when I saw this tangle this morning because I have been avoiding it for what I thought was it's complexity and it's busyness. So, up early anyway, I brought out my sketch book to give it a try.  Talk about busyness!  I tried out many ideas, all of which came from Sandy's books Totally Tangled and Yoga For Your Brain. The Tangle Card Packs will be an easy, totable way to have these tangles at your finger tips.

Here is what I played with this morning.  I will post my contest entry later.

Ballenchain, Buoy, ButNZ, Buttercup, Dingbat Heaven designs,(page 26

Totally Tangled, Lacy, Treasure, Omega, Chic

Anyone can enter this contest just post your tangle to https://www.facebook.com/BeezInk. Have fun!

With all my excitement about this wonderful tangle I managed to leave myself very little time to tangle an entry for this weeks contest.  To top it off, I was a bit cocky when I did sit down to do it, thinking I knew this tangle and didn't need to step outs in front of me.  Oh how those tangle cards would have come in handy!

Anyway, I managed to place a square on every intersection instead of every other and started to connect them.  When things started connecting oddly I realized what I had done.  Oh well,best laid plans and all, I just went with it.  No mistakes right, just a new tangleation.

Here is what I ended up with.  I did not add much to it because there is already so much gong on. Still pretty to look at.

Weekly Challenge #128: Two-Pencil String

The Challenge this week from the Diva was to make a string with two pencils instead of one.  After drawing several strings in the "ribbon fashion" and not being moved by any of them I put a block eraser in-between the pencils to give me a bit more room to tangle and drew straight lines crossing each other.

I am feeling a bit over whelmed this week so I think the straight lines appealed to me.  Everything in order....kind of.

Newell and Prestwood

Tangle Card Challenge #2 - Annee

As a "non" artist it is very helpful for me to get prompts from others for ideas of what to draw.  It makes me stretch and try new things and hopefully discover something new about my "art" and myself.

Sandy Bartholomew's Tangle Card Challenge is one of those wonderful prompts with the added excitement of possibly winning one of her very cool new Tangle Card Packs.

"Annee" is a tangle which I have loved for some time but, has become lost in the very full sea of tangles out there so I am very happy to have been reminded of this fun tangle.

Here is what her Tangle card looks like, front and back:




So I had some fun with her tangles Annee and Lilah Bean:

Weekly Challenge #127: "DuoTangle v. VII: Cirquital/Opus"

This weeks challenge was to use the tangles Cirquital and Opus. I was sure there would be many circles in this weeks challenge so I chose to use a different shape and see what came about.  I do think I like the results.

"Y.A.F. Yet Another Flower

This is a tangle created by the very talented Sandy Steen Bartholomew author of many books. This is her author page from Amazon, and here is a link to her blog about her newest product, Tangle Cards, being released in September.

Sandy, being creative and generous has created a contest to win one of her tangle card packs. This is what her tangle card looks like and the first tangle (from Yoga for your Brain) in the contest:

 Ta Da! Here is my entry, fingers crossed!

Challenge #126 Stencils as Strings

Challenge #126 Stencils as Strings

I have used stencils by Ed Roth before to use as a beginning as a tile. Here are #1, #2, and #3. I really enjoy this use of stencils and have found it to be rewarding although I never seem to know what to do with the eye space, especially on human type stencils.  Anyway, This time I just used a stencil that is a simple shape:

I used it in the direction shown, then did a mirror image and added just two "leaves" on each side.

I used brown and black micron pens, Faber-Castell cold grey IV Brush and brown colored pencil

Challenge #125 Use My Tangle: Birdie Feet

Challenge #125 Use My Tangle: Birdie Feet

This weeks challenge is to use the very simple tangle called birdie feet.  I was inspired by Johanna Basford and her new book Secret Garden.  In this wonderful book Johanna has drawn several mazes using flowers, vine, and leaves.  I thought "Birdie Fee" might just make the perfect track for a maze of my own.  I think it worked out well.

My husband informs me, from his vast wealth of knowledge, that if you pick one wall and follow it through the whole maze you will always find your way out.  I never knew that and it really works.  That family that got stuck in the corn maze back in 2011 could have used that little bit of information!

Birdie Feet, Sparkle

New Tangle "Fiore"

A new tangle was introduced by Tanglepatterns.com from Jana Rogers and she calls it Fiore. You can look at her step outs here on the tangle patterns web site.

The fun thing about new tangles is you can then play with them and give them your own twist.  These "twists" are called tanglations.  I had some fun playing with Fiore and here are the step outs for a tangleation that found it's way out of my pen!

I started Fiore with pointed ends to the four "legs" of the tangle:

 From here I have found two ways to go about getting to the final pattern.  The first one I think is the easiest and more in the Zentangle mindfulness of one stroke at a time. After the first stroke turn your paper to the right to position it for your next stroke, turning again for the third and fourth strokes. This involves a lot of turning, but there is a flow to it.

click to enlarge

The second is a two stroke at a time solution. Opposite sides drawn at same time. First line is from pointed end to larger end and the next is from larger end to pointed one.  

click to enlarge

Here is one thing you want to avoid.  Try to be aware to not draw two lines that are similar next to each other.  You want them to over lap. (number 4 should have come before number 3)

And, of course, a variation:

One more thing that I discovered about myself is I have a difficult time drawing same sized smaller boxes centered in a larger box.  I have an easier time drawing circles the same size in the center and did this in pencil, then in pen, drew a box around the circle.

I hope this helps those who want to know.  Have fun shading and getting your tangleation on!

Challenge #124 "We are Calgary"

There are several natural disasters that I am aware of at this time and I am sure there are many that I am not.  Everyone will, at one time or another, need to lean on someone else for support.  These hearts were drawn with thoughts of Calgary and India, where waters have flooded and Colorado where fires are out of control.  Help where you can.  Every little bit adds to the healing.

Holey, Printemps. Color is colored pencil.

Stress Free

A wonderful friend of mine gave me a "One Sketch A Day" book for my birthday in March.  I only recently started to "sketch" in it because I have a slight fear of journals. Now that I have started and had some bad days along with good days, sketching wise, I feel a little less intimidated about drawing in a book.  This may be the kick starter I was looking for!

I started this rainy morning in bed with Sandy Steen Bartholomew's Totally Tangled book.  I have had this book for several years, but it is one I go back to over and over because it is packed with ideas and I always seem to come away from it with something new.  She also uses color beautifully and I after drawing a couple tangles (I was catching up on days missed in my one-a-day) I decided to bring out my inexpensive colored pencils and see where it lead.  It lead to a stress free morning and thought I would share.

After I was finished coloring I still had three Tripoli left empty.  I opened The Art of Zentangle, a fairly newer purchase, to Margaret Bremner's section on Zentangle Mandalas.  Margaret is a very talented artist and her work is beautiful. I am very fond of the way she uses black Pearlz and the balance of black and white.  You see in the lower drawing I was playing with her ideas.

Challenge #123 Can you Zentangle without using existing patterns?

I think the answer is YES!

I laid down my frame and string and with inspiration from a scrap drawing my son had left behind I had a go at it.  Thank you Dylan!

I was relaxed, not thinking to much about where the line was  going and totally enjoyed myself.  Is that not Zentangle?

Challenge #122 Grid (un)-Locked

I am remembering back to Certification, close to the last day and a tangle was introduced based on a grid and I thought to my self "OMG, not another grid tangle"!

Well, I will tell you this exercise has totally changed my way of thinking.  As soon as it was mentioned on the Zentangle blog I started a grid on scratch paper and had a go.  The grid keeps getting larger as I think of things.  I wish I had started it in my journal.

When I finally sat down to do a tile I still had the grid on my mind.  An uninteresting string, but I do like the way it came out.

And another one.  So much fun!

Challenge #121 Birds on a Wire

I am entering this challenge "under the wire".  Sorry, could not resist.  Here it is Saturday afternoon and the deadline for entrees is Saturday night. I heave spent this week attending functions, seeing friends, raising a glass or two and splitting my time between Boston and Maine.  I found time this morning to create a tile for this weeks challenge tangle brought to us by Mary Kissel, CZT - and you can see her step outs on her blog here.

At first sight this tangle was not pleasing to my eye, but I think I just did not like being restricted to using it as a repeating pattern on a line, just not right now.  Lately I have been experimenting with stacking and thought I would try birds in a stack instead.

The tile has a lot going on, stacking, organic garden, birds in various forms, but I had fun creating it and I hope you enjoy a bit of unconventionality! 

Bumper, Chainlea, Cat-kin, Birds on a Wire, Henna Drum, Vigne

Challenge #120 Tangleation Nation; Bales

How much fun to think of just one tangle and expand on it.  Well, I put tangles inside of tangles.  Is it still a tangleation?  No rules in Zentangle, but maybe not quite what the Diva had in mind.  I still had  fun with this and it has also helped me find some direction on a ZIA I have been thinking about doing. I will post on that later.

Even though the growing grass and unplanted garden are screaming at me to pay attention to them, I was able to block that out of my mind and eye long enough to complete two tiles. Different from each other, but both were fun and relaxing.

Bales, Yincut

Bales, Buttercup

A New Frontier

Yes, I have gone to see the new Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, with my husband.  I am not a trekkie, but sometimes we do things for others to make them happy.  I enjoyed the movie even if my mind was wondering to things I enjoy more.

My "new frontier" is watercolor.  Watercolor with Tombow markers to be more exact.  I took a class with Marie Browning and have been fascinated ever since.  I tried out the markers on this Lotus flower that will be a gift for a friend and I was thrilled with how it came out.  I was a bit leary to tangle over it, but with help from some amazing Zentangle teachers/friends I found my way to finish this flower.  I did not want to distract from the colors to much, but in my world everything should be tangled.  I do like the outcome.

Challenge #119 "Ebony and Ivory"

Black and white.  Basics, right?  This challenge was such and eyeopener for me.  I had never thought to make a tile in which black space and white space were evenly distributed.  This challenge came from the Zentangle blog and the lovely Diva.  Thank you for combining forces. Along the way I have seen many new possibilities which I will need to play with in the coming days or weeks.

I completed a tile that I had started a while back, but had lost focus in.  It was sitting on my desk in front of me when this challenge came along.  I knew where I had to take it. Here is my Ebony and Ivory.  So much fun.

Schway,Verve, Tri Cube, Yincut, Black Micron, White Sakura Gelly Roll

I neglected to shade the original piece, so I have shaded and reposted.  I am not sure if it has made that much of a difference, but now I feel it is completed. :)

Challenge #118 Kuke

The challenge from the Diva this week is to use Katy Abbot's tangle "Kuke".  You can see her post here and instructions for her "cool" tangle.

My first tile was a literal interpretation of her discovery (cucumber on the floor) so it is Kuke on Florz. Haha! I used a tile I had colored with background techniques from Marie Brownings  Time To Tangle with Colors book this past weekend. This is a salty-splash background using TomBow markers and the colors were just right for a Kuke.

Kuke and Florz

Since the "Y" in the string reminded me of a Tripoli Tangleation I used a black tile and Pentel Slicci pens in silver and blue to finish a second tile.  The Slicci pens are very smooth and a pleasure to work with.  

Tripoli with Kuke, Fescu

The Wonderful World Wide Web! 

On a recent You Tube search for the use of TomBow Makers I came across a blog called The Rainbow Elephant.  I was inspired by her post on Repeat Pattern Stacks.  I started playing with stacking patterns, but fell in love with stone and rock stacks.  Anticipating the gardening season in Maine I soon combined Meredith Yuhas PhD. Organic Garden techniques with the stacked patterns.  I do love the results.

Try this stacking technique with any tangle.  The more off center the better!

Flux, Cat-Kin, Henna Drum, Zinger, Fescu, Vigne

Challenge #117 "Schway"

Schway is such a big bold tangle I left it on it's own and filled with Verve.

A little something for my son on his 24th birthday.  Happy Birthday Dylan!

Unryu fine paper 25"x18", brown and black micron, Copada, Vega, Shattuck, Flux, Tagh, Ragz, Fescu, Meer, Verve, Hibred, Diva Dance, quilt leaves, 'Nzeppel

Challenge #116 "Blind Sighted"

Mondays challenge was to close your eyes and make a string.  My string is what I call my one loop wonder.  This right hand of mine has a memory of this loop that will be hard to erase.  I should now try one with my left hand, but I have had too many challenges already this week.  I will save that thought for another time.

this is very faint, I hope you can see it.

Pane and Pinch