Zentangle Ornaments

Could not post these before or it might have ruined the surprise of the gift.  Every year I always have such grand plans to make a lot of ornaments for gifts.  The problem is that I should start in July but that never happens so I end up, late in the year, making a few and rotating who receives them each year.  I found a nice selection of blanks that were suitable for woodburning at Woodcrafters.

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Diva Challenge #52 - Give

This challenge, #52 marks one year for the Diva Challenges.  The challenge appropriately enough, for this time of year, is Give. We are to make a Zentangle or ZIA piece to give away.  Perfect timing for me as I had just started working on a ZIA that will be going to a friend in Virginia.

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Give

The photo above is the lid of a scallop box before it's folded - completed ZIA box is below.

The template for the scallop box is available for download from  Mirkwood Designs 

Zentangle Display Options

How do you display your  Zentangles?   So many creative things you can do - mount on mats, frame them with or without mats,  mount on folded cardstock for a tent display - the possibilities are endless.

For a quick no muss option I recently came across two items marketed for different purposes but work great for displaying Zentangles.  They also make a nice way to gift a Zentangle.  Relevant links for the products are at the end of this post.  Disclaimer - not associated with either product just a happy customer.   You can find the most interesting things - ignoring sleep and chasing shiny things around the internet!

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First one up - doesn't look like much from a full on front view - a 4" black square

 

The surprise is revealed when you look at the backside.  It's a small easel with a hinged support stand for tabletop display or use the small ring for hanging on a wall. 

 

Mounting the 3.5" Zentangle tile on the 4" easel 

provides a slim black border to frame your work.

The second find - marketed in the photography world - Snapshot Dot.  It's a small 2" flexible silicone disk.  Comes in 5 colors.  While the blue, green and translucent ones worked well for photos and other things, I preferred the black and white ones for displaying Zentangles.

I like the black disk best for Zentangles

The white one comes in a close second -  especially

 for the dense and darker Zentangles I so often make.

Before my order arrived I thought I would like the translucent best - it works well for photos and other things but I found with a Zentangle the way it absorbed and then reflected the light was a bit distracting - it caught my eye first.  Whereas with the black and white I barely noticed they were there.

The Snapshot Dot is simple to use just bend and insert the tile.  The design of the open zig zag channel provides a very gentle support and does not pinch or bend the tile.  I really like these little gizmos - they appeal to the gadget geek in me. I'm already finding  many other uses for them.

Easel Purchase Info

The easels I found at a sublimation printing company called BestBlanks . The item name Spanish Leather Frame Back for 4.5" tile.  The company sells a variety of blanks for sublimation printing.  The easel (Frame Back) is sold as an accessory to mount ceramic tiles for display.  It's a fun site to explore as they sell a variety of blanks that are suitable for Zentangle Inspired Art.  The first two photos in my Gallery 2  are items I used from BestBlanks - a jewelry box with a ceramic tile top and a small desk clock.

Two ways to purchase Snapshot Dots

The Snapshot Dot are the creation of  anklopf designs out of Brooklyn NY -  the photos of the 5 dots and instructions used courtesy of anklopf designs.  I've had the pleasure to exchange several emails with the developer - appreciate his creativity and responsiveness

PhotoJoJo Store - a great site to explore if you are or know a photo enthusiast.  Snapshot Dots are sold in 5 packs for $12 or 2 packs for $20.  Photojojo  only offers the multi-color packs.  If you want to order single color packs you will need to purchase directly from the developer.

anklopf designs  - you may order the 5 packs in single colors - or you may contact the developer for bulk order quantity and pricing.  He also offers the option to go green and place orders for just the Snapshot Dots without the packaging.

 

Diva Challenge #50 - Biggify

"This week's challenge is to push your comfort zone and biggify your tangles. Don't biggify your canvas, try sticking to the size you generally work on to get the full effect - so if you work on tiles, biggify on a tile. If you work in your journal, biggify in your journal. Put your toe over that line and test the waters." said the Diva

Definitely and interesting challenge as I usually create zentangles on the standard tiles. About the only time I draw large is when I'm teaching a class - drawing on large pad on an easel. Not quite the same.

Onamato and Gneiss appeared on the tile first but it took several attempts and false starts to finally settle on Meer as the final pattern. Shading was an added challenge. Have a couple of other Biggified tiles almost completed - feeling a little stumped on the shading.

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Biggify

DIVA Challenge #47 - Lest We Forget

The inspiration for this challenge is Nov. 11th - Remembrance Day in Canada and Veteran's Day in the United States.  Laura referenced the symbol of the Poppy to honor those who served and the poem "In Flanders Field", written by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.  The challenge "is simply to remember".  You may read her write-up and view the other entries here.

I usually stay pretty true to Zentangle's non-representational outcome so I'm not entirely sure how this creation came about.  Then again it's not a true to form drawing of a poppy either!  My intent was to meld the idea of remembering those who have served and sacrificed (red poppy) but also to remember that peace (white poppy) is the ultimate goal.

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Diva Challenge #46 - All Hallow's Eve

The challenge posted on Monday - Halloween - was to create a Zentangle tile or Zentangle Inspired piece that is haunting or spooky or goes bump in the night.  Tough time creating the tile not sure it's spooky or haunting but these particular tangles just kept popping in no matter how many tiles I started and rejected.  Eventually it's just easier to give up the resistance and go with the flow.

The second photo - a ZIA -  now this one is spooky. Found some small skull key chains in a local Halloween shop - bought a few to tangle for friends with this one to spare.

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Diva Challenge #45 - Punzel

Punzel is the newest tangle pattern.  It's a little zing that has been added to the tangle Chainging.  It was announced at the recent CZT Seminar in Providence and published in the latest Zentangle Newsletter.  It took some time to get the rhythm of the stroke.  Still need to work on the spacing but for a first effort I'm okay with what appeared.

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Diva Challenge #44 - String Theory v. VI: Tangled on the Inside

This week's Diva Challenge #44 comes from Jo in NZ - "You use one tangle as the 'string' and then fill in all the spaces with other tangles.  A tangle within a tangle...."

String is Carole Ohl's pattern Daggerly

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Other Tangles used - Betweed and Shattuck

Here's another one I did some time ago using Hollibaugh as the string

Diva Challenge #43 - Sunflower

This week's Diva Challenge was suggested by  Pennyb CZT from Republic of South Africa.  October 12th is Bandana Day - a program of the  Sunflower Fund.   The Sunflower Fund supports the SA Bone Marrow Registry to assist folks with leukemia in finding a matching donor. They raise funds by selling Sunflower bandanas for everyone to wear on Bandana Day.

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Diva Challenge #42 - Hope

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month the Diva Challenge this week is to create a Zentangle or Zentangle Inspired Art piece of our interpretation of Hope.

For strings I used two West African Adinkra symbols that mean Hope. Either the scanner is on the fritz or I'm in need of sleep - for some reason the quality of the scan is a little off - even a quick trip thru picnik didn't seem to help.

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This next one is actually the first one I did but the scan was very poor quality so I was trying a few clean up tools in picnik when I discovered a few new Effects they have added. The Invert effect made it appear that it had been drawn with white pen on black - wish I had as I really liked the way it came out. The original didn't clean up all that well but posting them both just because I like the inverted one.

Diva Challenge #40 - Pinwheels for Peace

The challenge this week is in honor of International Day of Peace on Sept. 21st and Pinwheels for Peace.  Please follow the links to read more.

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Zentangle Diva Challenge 39 Love Is All You Need

This zentangle may be the oddest one I have ever done.  It's not that I don't like it - it actually looks a lot better in person than the scanned image - albeit in it's own quirky and odd way.  The whole process of creating a piece for this challenge was just odd from the start.  When I read the challenge I had an instant picture of a completed piece - this one (mostly what I remember of it).  I definitely prefer the zentangle way of creating as you go so I am not sure where this image came from or why.  Initially I rejected and resisted putting it down on paper.  Unfortunately my attempts to create a challenge piece were getting me nowhere so I decided to create the image just to get it out of my system.  My hope was that I would then be free of it and move on to creating something for the challenge.  No luck there - did create a few pieces but none felt like they had anything to do with love.  In the end I decided to show a little love to this piece and post it anyway.  Still looking to find the message here - maybe it's that love is the universal language and we all might be better off if we spoke more of it?

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Diva Challenge #38 - Better Than a Pair of Ducks - aka Paradox

The challenge this week - a monotangle using Paradox - probably my favorite tangle.  Once you get the hang of it and remember to turn your tile - the possibilities are endless.

What's that quote about life happens while you're making other plans?  That's exactly what happened while working on this challenge.  I had yesterday all planned out - lots of time spent at the studio working on tangles and this challenge, get home to post it (before the last minute!) and then kick back and enjoy a little football.  Oops - not gonna happen - little did I know that when the power went out about an hour before I was going to head home that it would turn into a long but OK evening with no power for me and about 4 million other folks in our region!  Power back on during the night - all is well but they are warning that the system is fragile from a total blackout and power up so it's nice that the temps dropped about 15 degrees from the last few days.

Back to the challenge - first up I decided to break out the pyro pen and woodburn one.  It is burned on a 4" basswood tile. I rather like the way it turned out.  Used a template to draw the initial octagon and then freehand from there.

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This one I used a pentagon as the string and then let the experiment begin.  It's not a typical Paradox in that it does not spiral into the center in the traditional way of drawing it.  Instead I used the Paradox stroke - first by drawing 5 lines all the way around each leg of the shape. Then reversed course and drew 5 lines going in the opposite direction.  Next just repeated the 5 lines and the reversing it until reaching the center and completed it the standard way.  Does that make sense - easier to do than write it out!  Have not decided how I want to shade it so posting as is - for now.

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This last one - an old one -  not really for this challenge - just because I like it and wanted to include it here for future paradox reference.

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Love Paradox - did a few others but will need to scan and post later.

Diva Challenge 37 Kiss My Grids!

The challenge this week - use only grid based patterns.

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Where did August go - or maybe the correct question is where did I go in August.  It's been a wild month.  The highlight was teaching a wonderful  ZIA (zentangled inspired art) Workshop.  Lots more to post about that in a separate entry later.  The not as bright event - I had to relocate my studio.  When I moved in six months ago I did so knowing that I might have to move out now.  It's been a great 6 months being associated with the Shepherdess bead store in Old Town - we both wanted the arrangement to continue but the situation was out of our hands and control.  The scary part is that I was not having any luck finding a suitable new space.  As it got closer to the end of the month and no place to go I decided the best option was to rent a storage unit and just pack it all away until I found a suitable space.

Funny how life works - or maybe it's just another example of the Magic of Zentangle - but the Saturday morning I decided to go in search of the best deal of a storage unit I decided to check craigslist one more time.  There was one new posting that looked intriguing.  I called - the first good sign - they were not put off by the idea of an art studio since the current and the previous tenants were using it as studio space.  Made arrangements to see it that same afternoon. The landlord had made arrangements for the current tenant to have me come by and see it and then let him know if I was interested.  Enlisted a friend to come along in order to have another set of eyes so I didn't miss something in my desperation at wanting to find a place. Thanks Kristy!  We walked in and both knew I'd found a space that would work out very well.   Had a great time talking with the current tenant - she's only moving because she needs a bigger space for her growing business.  Here is part of the magic - she had only given her notice the day before (Friday), the landlord posted it early Saturday morning and I saw the ad within about 30 minutes of it being posted.  I signed the lease on Sunday!  Had a little over a week to to get things packed and arrange for the move.

Everything is in the new place still a bit chaotic getting it all unpacked and set up.  I wasn't sure that I could find a space at a rent I could afford where I could also teach classes. The good news -  it's large enough that I will be able to accommodate small classes of 6 or 7 students.   The other exciting part is that I can use the small second room to work on my wood projects.  Will be fun to finally get the saws and carvers unpacked.  Haven't been able to do that work since I closed the gourd studio over 2 years ago.

For those that have inquired about classes - I will be in touch and will be posting a new schedule soon.

Zentangle Diva Challenge 32

Challenge 32 - Zentangle is for Everyone hosted by Carole Ohl of Open Seed Arts.

The Challenge - Use any string you like with these four tangles: Pais (by Mikee Huber), Zedbra (by Laura Harms and Margaret Bremner), Keenees (by Donna Hornsby), and Baton (by Carole Ohl).
  

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Read additional details about the challenge and view the other entries here.