Knightsbridge #3 Fan

Knightsbridge #3 Fan

 

Knightsbridge Zentangle Fan

I’m so happy with this one! Love the way it turned out.  I did try to leave a drop shadow, but I didn’t like how it looked.  I erased it after, but it still left a bit of residue on the tile.  Despite that little issue, I’m so please with this piece!

Has anyone else had a problem with the black micron coming off a bit while shading with a smudge stick? That happened to me about mid-fan.  It was a first.  I just used some black ink to cover it, but was still a little thrown off by the whole thing.

Anyhooo here are my steps

First pic – The basic outline of the fan

Knightsbridge Fan Zentangle step 1

 

Secong Pic – added the black

 

Knightsbridge Fan Zentangle step 2

Third Pic – With shading! Final piece!

Knightsbridge Fan

It took many layers of shading to get the final results. 

Tools: Tile, Micron .005 and .3 and.5, Staedtler pencil 2b, white prismacolor pencil crayon and a smudge stick.

2nd Knightsbridge with some W2 and Cadence

2^nd Knightsbridge with some W2 and Cadence

 

Knightsbridge W2 and Cadence shaded

Personally, I liked my first knightsbridge attempt better than this one.  But I’m learning and that’s what matters. There is definitely a lot that you can do with this pattern, I would like to try one in greys or color at some point. Anyhoo… here we go.

 

First pic:

Pretty basic, though the circular piece was tougher to grid than I thought it would be. It didn’t exactly come out even, but the effect still worked in the end.

 

Second pic: the black is in, all that’s left is the shading, which took 3 times longer than getting to this point. (also upside down, woopsies) 

Knightsbridge W2 and Cadence 

 

The final piece: With the shading it still looks too busy.  I think I’ll like the simple shapes best. 

Knightsbridge W2 and Cadence shaded

First Knightsbridge Zentangle

 

First Knightsbridge Zentangle

 oly Trippy Batman! What a difference shading makes!  I used pencils for shading in this one because I recently acquired Eni Oken’s Shading Fearlessly book and I wanted to use the techniques in it, which uses pencil, not grey copics.

I started with basic pattern as seen below.  Nothing fancy really, just some squares with a simple string. Simple. Basic. Boring. 

Knightsbridge Zentangle Before color

See what I mean? Boooring.

Then I added the black making it the knightsbridge zentangle. I looked at the finished product and shrugged. Meh, it’s better than before but really, nothing to write home about.



Knightsbridge zentangle after color, before shading

Finally I added the shading and WOWZAS! Holy 3D poppiness! From a flat boring square to a totally tubular tangle! I was so impressed with the dimensions that I sued a white pencil crayon to lighten up the black squares in the “tube” where the light would hit.  I LOVE IT!



Knightsbridge 3D zentangle after shading

Next time I’m going to shade each of the white boxes a bit too.  See what sort of difference that makes.

Tools: 1 tile, micron .005 and .5 and .3, white pencil crayon, 2B staedtler pencil (well sharpened), blending stick.

Final Akoya Zentangle (for now)

Final Akoya Zentangle

 

akoya zentangle shaded

This is my final akoya zentangle attempt.  I gotta say, I never did quite get the hang of it.  The swirls between the pearls were constantly a problem for me. Regardless, it was a fun tangle to play around with and I’ll probably use it again for strings or lines between tangles or frames. 

 I really need to figure out how to shade ribbon properly too.

Anyhoo, here are the before and after pics.

Peachy Akoya Zentangle

Peachy Akoya



Peachy Akoya Zentangle

I’m still practicing the Akoya Zentangle, I still haven’t quite gotten it down to the point of it being automatic. So with this piece I just started with a cross section of akoya.  Then I added some spheres, then some lines, then more lines and somehow or other it turned itself into this peach like looking thing.  It wasn’t at all the plan, and the color came from getting a bit of bbq sauce on the tile, so I needed to cover that up – end results? Peachy goodness!

Shattuck and Akoya Double the Challenge

Double the Challenge/Double the Fun

Another double challenge, with Eni Oken’s shading zentangle challenge of Akoya and The Diva’s monotangle Shattuck.  Okay so I’m not sure if it’s considered a monotangle since I used another tangle within the tangle, but I’m going to go with yes, it is. I debated with myself considerably over this.  There was arguing, some thrown dishes and thrown words, a bit of hair-pulling and the nothing for a while during which time I gave myself the silent treatment.  Eventually though, I succumbed and agreed with myself that yes, this was still a monotangle.

That being said, I'm still not completely happy with either of the tangles here.  Akoya is proving to be more difficult than I expected (and this is my second one) and I was hoping for more depth with the shading on the shattuck. Still... it was a fun piece 'til the fight broke out.



shattuck and akoya zentangle

So as you can see, it was challenging challenge.  But alas, here is the end result.  (In all that bickering I forgot to take a before shot)

More ZIA Easter Cups

More Easter Cups

Finished off two more Easter cup prezzies.  I can’t reiterated enough just how much more difficult it is to work with temperamental oil based markers compared to working with microns. 

Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups



Zentangle Handmade Mugs Cups

Also, I think I failed to mention in my original “Sharpies on Porcelain” post (which you can view here for all tips, tricks and walkthrough) how much they stink when you cook them.  Not exactly the best time of year to need to crank open your windows.  Ugh.

Speaking of which… isn’t it supposed to be spring already?!?!!?

Zentangle Mugs as Easter Gifts

Zentangle mugs as Easter gifts

Zentangle Easter Mugs

I’ve been slacking on the challenges this week because I’ve been working on this lovely little Easter mugs.  I forgot how hard it was to go from tiny-tipped micron pens to big, clumsy, temperamental oil based sharpies.  What a difference, and not a good one.  But by the second mug I got a “handle” on it again, sort of.  I did have an incident with the marker exploding paint all over one of them, but I worked with it, for that is the Zentangle way. Ommmmm. ;)

For all my tips and tricks of working with sharpies on porcelain, see this post. It covers everything.

After hours of painstaking messiness, I cooked em and filled them with “Easter Grass” and some chocolate eggs.  I think they make a funky little gift for Easter, or Spring, or whatever you might celebrate at this time of year.

 

Trying my hand at Akoya Zentangle

Trying my hand at Akoya Zentangle

Akoya Zentangle Shaded

 This is my first attempt at Akoya, and boy-oh-boy it was not as simply as it seemed! You can tell the middle strand was the first one, as the other two seem to come together a bit better.  I don’t think I’ll do them with the pearls in the middle again, maybe some other design.  I think if I left it untouched it would give the a similar effect as Yuma.  Here are the steps it took me to get to the end result

Tree of Life on Tile

Tree of Life on Tile



Tree of Life on Tile

I’m working on a larger piece of this tree of life when I’m not trying out tangles and doing challenges.  I just love her. I need to find a way to make her pop a little more, so will be practicing the smaller versions for a while.

I used prismacolor pencil crayons, copic grey markers and micron pens (different sizes).

Top O’ the Mornin’ to Ya!

Top O’ the Mornin’ to Ya!



Drawing: leprechaun hat with shamrock

 

Just screwing around with my prismacolor pencils, messing with shading.  It was St. Patrick’s Day weekend so this just kinda happened.  Nothing too exciting, it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped it would, so it was really just of my good card stock.  I can’t even say I learned very much from it, sadly.

Last Watercoloured Background Zentangle

 

Last Watercoloured Background Zentangle (for now)



Watercolor Zentangle Peace

So this is it for the watercoloured backgrounds for now.  I still have a couple left, but I’ve put them aside to focus on the new challenges.  I’ll probably incorporate them with a challenge tangle at some point.

Here’s what I’ve learned from doing the watercolour challenge

#1 – Don’t use cheap watercolour pencils.  They wind up looking more like crayon marks when they dry.

#2  - Microns tend to bleed a bit on the watercoloured tiles.

#3 – Don’t lightly use a  black watercolour pencil for the background – it winds up just looking like the tile got dirty (see example on my peace sign above)

#4 – I’ve mentioned it before, and thanks to Eni we in the shading fb group were given a heads-up on these 2 points: Let your watercolour dry completely (24 hours) before zentangling it and put the drying pieces between waxed paper and some heavy books to flatten it out. If you know of a better way to make stop the tiles from curving and curling with the watercolour, please let me know! Even with the books and waxed paper mine still curve and curled a bit.

That’s all folks! On to the next challenge!

Zentangle Watercolor Background (again)

Zentangle Watercolor Background (again)

Zentangle Watercolor background

 

I’m going through the end of my watercoloured background tiles for Eni’s challenge.  I still have a couple left.  This is probably one of my favorites.  I love the way it turned it, even if it missed the effect I was going for. 

 

No before pics, sadly.  It’s a shame because the shading made a huge difference.

Shamrock on Watercolor

Shamrock on Watercolor

Shamrock Zentangle on watercolor

 

Okay so this one didn’t exactly turn out how I was hoping it would.  I find it looks sloppy, despite much effort against that outcome.  I probably should have avoided the green marker lines all together. Woopsies! Live and learn I suppose.

I’m wishing I hadn’t used those crappy watercolors on so many tiles at once – but I knew they needed to sit for a day so wanted to be ahead of the game and paid the price for my impatience.

 At least it’s festive! Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Double Challenge and 3rd Watercolor

Double Challenge and 3rd Watercolor



St. Patrick's Day Zentangle Shamrock

Another double the challenge/double the fun.  Eni Oken’s challenge from her shading facebook page for watercolored backgroung and the Diva’s challenge for a St. Patrick’s Day theme.

The most valuable lesson I learned from this one is not to use cheap watercolors.  I have some very nice watercolor pencils, and apparently some very crappy ones.  You can see the difference… the lighter green actually looks like watercolor, whereas the darker green (the cheapies) just look like pencil crayons, or maybe even waxed crayons. 

Before pic

Watercolor Narwal Zentangle

Second Watercolor for Challenge



Watercolor Narwal Zentangle

 It’s a shame the background color isn’t coming through as clearly in the pics as I see them.  But check that out! I did narwal voluntarily without prompting! Still haven’t quite nailed it but whateve. It was good practice.  Loving the grey copic markers for shading.

Before shading Pic (almost forgot)

First Watercolour Challenge

 

First Watercolour Challenge

Watercolor Zentangle Garden Shaded

 

This is my first tile for Eni’s FB grop challenge of using a watercolor background.  This has been a pretty fun challenge so far.  I’ve got a few tiles painted and ready to go.  I followed Eni’s advice and let them dry for 24 hours between waxed paper with heavy books to flatten them out but they still curled a little.  I have no other ideas on how to flatten them, other than to get heavier books :D

I also noticed that the microns tend to bleed a bit with the painted base.  Not sure if others noticed had that issue.  It isn’t a MAJOR issue, but one worth noting.

In this piece I used red and purple watercolor pencils and microns, with copic grey markers for shading.

Figured I'd also add the other watercolor backgrounds I made up and set to dry.

Yuma Zentangle

Yuma Zentangle 

Last one of the challenge

I’ve posted quite a few Yuma Zentangles in the past week, working on Eni’s Challenge.  This is the last of the bunch before I start on the newest challenge of the watercolor backgrounds.



Yuma Zentangle Shaded

This piece is done on card stock using microns and Copic grey markers. The lovely shaders in Eni’s facebook group pointed me towards this set.  I started with the prismacolor grey set but they weren’t a good fit for me (and some had dried out).

 

I’m quite pleased with the final piece. It’s officially one of my favourites to-date.

Sadly, no before piece.  I was too far in “the zone” to remember. So I figured why not post the other Yuma Zentangles that got me to this point.

Yuma and Rautiflex Double Challenge

Another Double the challenge; Double the fun

I combined Eni Oken's challenge with the Diva's challenge again this week and came up with this little piece.  Rautiflex was a bit of a challenge.  Far more complicated than I expected.  I'm glad I did it in pencil first, as there was a lot of erasing going on.  Once I got the hang of it though it was a lot of fun.  As I finished it up I thought of many, many, MANY of ways this pattern could go - the possibilities are endless (well as limited as your imagination I guess... so not quite endless... but I digress :P )

Yuma and Rautiflex Zentangle Challenge

I really enjoy mixing up challenges, it adds... well... more of a challenge :D


Before Pic