Gaggle of Giggling Girls

I tried doing a little tangling during the final slumber party of the summer last night, it was a little hard to "get zen". I did manage two monotangles on Bijou tiles though. The pattern on the left is Showgirl by Vicki Bassett, it's my first try at that one, I love it! The other is Opus, an official pattern that I always like when someone else does it and am never quite sure about when I do it.

It's a String Thing challenge #55: monotangle Striping, add sparkle

This one was a true challenge, a new tangle (Striping) and technique (sparkle). It used String #55 from Tanglepattern.com.

Diva CZT Weekly Challenge #182: "Stripes"

I haven't had much tangling time in last few days, but I'm glad I found time to check out this week's new Diva Challenge. It was simply, "stripes".  I felt a bit better afterwards, a little less stressed.

I used Hurry, Schway, Crescent Moon, and Strircles. I also used a Zenstone along with a white gellyroll pen. 

Last night's practice

A couple of monotangles on Bijou tiles of new tangles and a traditional tile using one of them. 

It's A String Thing Challenge #54: "Straight line tangles beginning with B or R"

This was quite a challenge! I ended up using a Renaissance tile and the following tangles: Bricks (Suzanne McNeil), Beeline, BB, Rixty, and Box Spirals (Margaret Bremner). I didn't love it while I was working on it, but now that it's done I like the way it turned out a lot!

Made By Joey's Weekly Challenge #19: "Tangle an Optical Illusion"

Emi & I both did one for this challenge, I used Aquafleur

Emi used Girdy. I thought she did an amazing job with a tricky tangle.

Diva CZT Weekly Challenge #181: "Water"

This one was really fun! As my tangles have a tendency toward the aquatic anyway, a water themed challenge was right up my alley. Here, I used Sand Swirl (Kerry Heun), Agua (Christina Vandervlist), Sez, and Ennies. I also decided to do some color with pencils in various water shades.

Diva CZT Weekly Challenge #180: "UMT - MacDee by Anneke Van Dam"

We were to use Anneke's tangle, MacDee, so I combined it with Fife & Tripoli.

Diva CZT Weekly Challenge #178: "Duotangle by the Letter"

We were challenged to do a tangle with two patterns, one that starts with the letter of our first name and one that starts with the first letter of our last name. I am all Ks, so I used Kukes (Katy Abbott) and Keeko. This was also my first Renaissance tile!

First Formal Zentangle® class!

A few weeks ago I finally took a formal class on the Zentangle® method of pattern drawing. I've been practicing it on my own for about 6 months, but thought I might be missing some subtleties. I took my class with CZT (Certified Zentangle® Teacher) Danni O'Brien (http://dobriendesign.blogspot.com). It was good fun and I came away with some inspiration & tips I would never have picked up on my own.  I am looking forward to doing another very soon! 

Ocean Inspired Tangles

I find many of my tiles don't start out with an obvious ocean feel, but end up that way.  Some of these were intentionally themed at the start and others weren't. 

Bijou tiles and lots of monotangles

 Recently the good folks at Zentangle® have introduced a new tile size (2"x2") and mascot. They are both called Bijou and the mascot is a sweet little French snail. I am in love with these tiles! Especially for doing a single tangle on a tile, or monotangle. 

Made by Joey's Weekly Challenge #22: "2 of something"

This week Joey challenged us to tangle "2 of something". I had to think hard about how to approach this, usually Joey's challenges are ones where I know what I want to do right away. Here I divided my string in 2, then used 2 versions of the same tangle (Cadent) and made those two versions "tangelations" (2 tangles combined). I did Cadent + Paradox and Cadent + Bales. Lots of 2s!

Made by Joey's Weekly Challenge #21: "Tangle the Sun"

This was a "tangle the sun" challenge. Emi (my 7-year-old stepdaughter) did it with me.

Made By Joey's Weekly Challenge #20: "5-point Star"

I love the various weekly challenges out there. They really help push me out of my comfort zone and try new patterns and combinations. This week Joey wanted us to tangle a 5-point star. I used 2 official patterns Fengle and Paradox, as well as Funf (Denise Rudd). I used a regular 3.5" square tile with Sakura Pigmamicron pens and graphite pencil for shading.  

 I had such a good time with this week's that I decided to do a second one as well. This one is on an official black tile using a Sakura white gellyroll pen and a Zenstone for shading. I used the tangle patterns Starfish (Kass Hall), Crescent Moon, and Blooming Butter (Michele Beauchamp).

Inaugural Post!

I have experimented with a couple of formats (e.g., Instagram, Tumblr) to archive and document my Zentangle® practice and nature photography. Although the social aspect of those is fun and rewarding, they aren't really giving me the flexibility I need for the Zentangle® part. So, here I am! Let the blogging begin!