Day 76: 365 Daily Project - Can you Ear me?

Tangles: Cyme, Striping with enhancers: Auras & Perfs

So here is my somewhat unsuccessful  attempt at some shrinky dink earrings made from a plastic tomato container.  They just didn't quite flatten out as much as I wanted to - even with all the smashing I tried to do.  I didn't have any flat plastic but all the posts I saw on the internet said you didn't have to start with a flat piece.  They mostly flattened but not totally. Oh well!  I would like to try some more homemade shrinky dinks in the future - I just need to get some good plastic.  

Day 75: 365 Daily Project - Chalk it up!

Tangle: Arukas

Oh how I wish I already had the chalkboard wall already done in my new studio/office that I plan to paint soon, but alas this suggestion came too early for the wall.  So next best thing is using a white charcoal pencil on a black tile because I don't seem to have any chalk.  I also don't really have good sidewalks to tangle on if I had chalk anyway.  I live in a historic neighborhood with brick sidewalks so that wasn't an option.  If you haven't used a white charcoal pencil it really kind of feels like chalk as it moves across the paper. I decided to go with a monotangle of arukas.  I had planned to completely fill in the tile but decided to stop just short of filling it because I thought it looked cool.  

Day 74: 365 Daily Project - Going Global

Tangles: On Target, Da Deal, Bales, Tortuca, Ving, Tipple

I did not quite follow the suggestion today which was to go tangle somewhere else - not enough time tonight.  Sorry!  So instead I did the Diva's Challenge to use a Globular string.  Instead of physically traveling today the globular string was my way of traveling.  I used a renaissance tile and referenced the grid section of my trusty binder of tangles. I like the arrangement of the tangles with each creating a border.  A little shading around the outside and voila!   

Day 73: 365 Daily Project - Rock it!

Tangles: Sez ( I used the holes as the "seeds")
& a possible new tangle I haven't named yet.

Luckily I have a plethora of rocks lying around.  This is another one from my favorite beach to visit in California.  Some sea creature burrows into the rocks and creates these holes.  I just love them and can spend hours walking around and searching for the perfect rocks.  Anyway - I grabbed this one from my collection and so I decided to focus on the holes and work out from there.  I used my Sakura Gelly Roll pen which works "okay" on rocks.  It gives me the line width I am looking for, but doesn't lay down the ink as nicely as I would like.  A really fine tip paint pen is what I would LOVE but haven't found the right one yet. If you know one I should try PLEASE leave a comment. :-)

Day 72: 365 Daily Project - New Shoes

Tangles: Cyme, Flux, Tipple, Fringe

How awesome is it that I get to buy a new pair of shoes because my project called for me to use shoes.  Darn :-)  I found these cute canvas sneakers at Target and decided to go with grey since I just wore out my grey Converse.  

I have tangled a a couple other pairs in the past but I never wear them. So I wanted to set out to create a pair  would actually like to wear. I was super happy to have my grey Fabrico fabric pen so the design was more subtle than a black pen.  I also repeated the same patterns on each shoe so they matched a little.  

I am pretty happy with these and plan to wear them when the weather decides to cooperate and be nice again.  

Day 71: 365 Daily Project - Back to the Olden Days

Tangles: "Nzeppel, Fringe

Today we are supposed to make something from the olden days and immediately I thought of doilies.  I don't own any and I don't want any but for some reason it is what popped into my mind.  Weird, right?  But I thought I would try to make a zentangle doily.  I used a renaissance zendala tile and then aged it with some distress ink.  I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen to do the tangling and trimmed the outside edge to match the edge fringe.  

Day 70: 365 Daily Project - Numbers

Tangles: LinQ, Enmigle, Flukes, "Nzeppel, Knightsbridge, Bales, Tortuca, Lotus Pods, D'Rua

This suggestion was perfect timing to create a card for my beloved brother.  His birthday is coming up soon and I decided to use his month and day of birth to be the numbers for this project.  I started with some tangles that randomly placed around the card and then filled in the background with grid patterns.  I am really pleased with how this turned out.  Always love to be able to give a handmade card!  Let's just hope he doesn't see this post before he gets the card. :-)

Day 69: 365 Daily Project - Puzzled

In pieces

Today's suggestion was to create a puzzle.  I decided to head over to a local craft store where I knew they had blank puzzles.  I got one and came back and tangled it with my Sakura Permapaque marker. I thought of a spring flower theme and it was fun.  I have to tell you that it was a little harder to put together than I thought it would be.  All that black and white and no color to lead you to the next piece. 

Put together

Day 68: 365 Daily Project - Papier-Mache

Tangle: Athizi

So what do you think about paper clay instead of paper mache?  Works for me!  I had some paper stones I made and haven't gotten to decorate yet that will soon be jewelry so I thought I would decorate one for today's suggestion.  Athizi is a tangle I learned a couple years ago and I love how it looks on rock shapes. The actual stone is about 2 1/2 inches across.  After I tried this tangle on a real rock, I made a necklace out of a paper clay stone I wear all the time and I am surprised by all the compliments I get on it.  I often get questions about it and whether or not it is a shell actually.  Pretty cool.  I painted these stones in a couple subtle colors of lavender, green, blue and grey. It will take a few days to get them finished and turned into necklaces or maybe a bracelet or two.  I promise to share when they are done!

Day 67: 365 Daily Project - Science Fiction

Tangles: Cruffle, Jetties, Lotus Pods, Perfs (with some flair)

No judgement, busy day means bijou tile.  I must say the busy day was a good day, each first Monday of the month I get the honor of teaching a zentangle class at a retirement community.  The ladies are so positive and really make the class super fun.  

So the suggestion of science fiction makes me think of outer space so I decided some planets floating in space with some twinkling stars. I think cruffle makes a good planet.  Kind of like Saturn or Jupiter.  

Day 66: 365 Daily Project - From the Grocery Store

Tangles: 'Nzeppel, Tipple, Flux, Drupe

Just so happened I needed to go to the market today anyway.  And avocados were on sale and I had a coupon. Yippee!!  In honor of my amazing savings today I decided to use the avocado as inspiration for my string today. Pretty sweet. :-)

Day 65: 365 Daily Project - Tanagram

Tangle: Rick's Paradox

Today's suggestion to use the classic tanagram shapes which comes from a classic Chinese puzzle. If you aren't familiar with a tanagram, here is what the pieces look like.

I immediately thought of Rick's Paradox for the tangle and to only use it for a monotangle tile.  I love this tangle and how you can make different fan shapes by going different directions with the tangle. If you haven't tried this tangle yet I definitely recommend giving it a shot.  Try the same string a couple times changing the direction you go with each section and see what you get.  

Day 64: 365 Daily Project - Hello Me!

Tangles: Lamar, Striping, Jessicup, Knase, Onomato

Hello me!  Yup, include yourself in the work today.  I am not really a selfie person so I had to look back through my old photos to find one.  This is from a trip to CA last year at one of my favorite beaches where I go to find cool rocks with holes in them.  I decided a string of auras would work and I filled it up with border tangles.  This is another one I like and now I have found a fun way to work with photos.  

Day 63: 365 Daily Project - Behind the Mask

Tangles: Fringe, Cyme, Prestwood, 'Nzeppel, D'Rua, Striping, Tipple

So I need to make a mask. Okay, the first step was to figure out how to draw the shape of a mask.  This is attempt #2.  First one was kind of awkward.  I used a nice piece of card stock to give it some weight. I wanted it to have a unique shape and thought this was kind of fun.  I am a little unsure about how the eye holes would work if you wore it, but I do like it like this!  

Day 62: 365 Daily Project - Dinner time!

Tangles: Printemps, Hollibaugh, Tipple (big and small)

From pizza to a zentangle.  The suggestion for day 62 was to use your dinner for your project.  I was feeling pretty sick on the day I did this tile and instead of going out to a nice dinner with my family I asked to stay in and order pizza. Any guess what type of pizza we had?  If you guessed pepperoni you are right. It tasted much better than this looks.  I do like the idea of the tipple floating over the hollibaugh but I think I went overboard with the white.  So as this daily project insists I keep pushing myself and trying new things and sharing both my successes and failures with the world. This is more on the fail side of the scale.    

Day 61: 365 Daily Project - From the Bathroom

Tangles: Striping, Tipple

Yup, the suggestion was to use stuff from the bathroom.  So I choose a handy Q-tip to make my string on a bijou tile and gave it a hollibaugh sort of feel.  Then some tipple in the background to finish it off.  This one was nice and relaxing and I am happy with the depth it has with the Q-tips overlapping each other..

Day 60: 365 Daily Project - In the Shadows

Tangles: Knightsbridge, Poke Leaf, Crescent Moon (adaptation)

Hey folks!  So sorry for the lapse in posting!   I know its been a couple weeks but I seriously had to take a break.  Last I wrote I was on the road for work. Well, while out there I caught some bug that had me out of commission for  a week.  That put me really behind and then suddenly it was time for our move and I really had to devote all my free time to packing and painting trim (blech!).  Anyway, we are in our new place and I have my own office/studio and I am ready to create.  YAY!!

I have some days that are already completed so I will be sharing those over the next couple days as I also start up on the new suggestions each day.  I still plan to create 365 days or zentangle it just won't be consecutive.  And I am okay with that.  Before I started this I definitely would NOT have been okay with "breaking the rules"  but since I set the rules, I can change them.  :-)

So now let's get to the picture above...the suggestion for the day was to create and take a picture of only the shadow.  I used an apprentice tile and drew some big tangles to then cut around.  I tried to choose patterns that were not too small and intricate so I could cut around them easily.  Well nothing about it was easy but I got 'er done.  Then taking the picture...I had a trusty assistant to hold both the tile and a flashlight.  Thanks Q!!  It was a little tricky and it is a little blurry and didn't capture the detail I wanted.  But as I have learned from this experience it is what it is and just learn from the experience.  

And I am going to cheat a little and show you the cut tile, here it is.    

Day 59: 365 Daily Project - Mismatched Items

Tangles: Printemps, Zander, Striping, Pepper, Hurry

The suggestion said to use things that didn't go together.  How about a macaroon and a binder clip?  I used these two items to create my string on a renaissance tile and then of course I ate the macaroon.  I am just now discovering how wonderful these colorful little cookies are by the way.  I wanted the big circles to be a bit playful and am happy with how this whole tile turned out.  The renaissance tiles really are a whole lot of fun.

Creating the string and then eating the props!

On a quick side note - I am out of town consulting for the week in the hometown of Zentangle!  Going to stop by and pick up a bunch of supplies while I am here.  Can't wait!!  

Day 58: 365 Daily Project - Bigger

Tangles: Buttercup, Da'Deal, Bumpkenz, Moonpie

Today's suggestion was to go bigger.  And what better way to do that than at my monthly class at a retirement community.  I have been teaching the lovely ladies there for about 6 months and I love it.  We did a sampler of grid patterns today from some great tangles you can find on tanglepatterns.com  It was a great time.  This is about 18" x 18".  I never save my class work as it is usually not completely finished so this is my first and now it is part of the 365 collection.  

Day 57: 365 Daily Project - Plastic Baggie

Tangles: Striping, Printemps, Ahh

So if you have an urge to draw on a plastic baggie, just tape down the corners and pull it taut.  It is still a big wiggly but you can do some bigger sized tangling with a permanent marker.  I decided to decorate the plastic baggie I keep my tiles in.  I know, very chic.  It is very portable though and keeps them clean which is the most important.  

See - now stylish and protected!

Day 56: 365 Daily Project - Heavy seem light

Bijou Tile with Tangles: Purk, Floorz, Fringe

Things I know to be heavy; gold, sadness....so I decided to draw a golden tear and use that as my inspiration for making something heavy seem light.  I think these heavy themes seem pretty light.  What do you think?

Day 55: 365 Daily Project - Nature jingle

Tangles: Striping, BB, Keeko, Huggins, Printemps (backwards spirals from outside in), Tipple, Scales

Sunrise from my window is my inspiration for this tile.  Living downtown there and winter leaves you a little nature depleted.  But one thing I have from my office window are AMAZING sunrises on some days.  In the near distance is the Murat Shrine which has some great domes and a tower pictured above. A multi-colored watercolor wash started off the tile and then I filled it in with the tangles and some colored pencils for shading.  This is the first time I've done any tangling of buildings.  I love the tiles Margaret Bremner does over at the Enthusiastic Artist blog.  You should definitely check out her work!

Oh, you are probably wondering about the jingle part...well not really a song writer so I am giving myself a pass this one time and points for trying something new.  

Day 54: 365 Daily Project - Circles

Circles, just circles today.  I decided to choose a renaissance tile so there was a little more life in the circles for today's project.  There was no string for this one and I started with the larger sepia circles and randomly added all over the tile switching between the sepia and black.  The only shading I did was around the outside of the tile.  I like the idea of just using one element and trying to make it have a range and variation.  I think this would be a good exercise for a class to see what variations people come up with or a blog challenge. 

Day 53: 365 Daily Project - Smell

Drawing smell? I immediately thought of the old cartoons where they illustrated cooking smells as a wavy long narrow cloud like thing reaching out to the nose of the intended character.  Remember that?  I tried to draw my string to replicate these fragrant arms.  I couldn't remember what was drawn on the insides of them though and just kept it simple.  I think it is pretty boring but it was trying something new and this what this daily project is all about.  Right?  

Day 52: 365 Daily Project - Upside Down

Upside Down

It has been a busy couple days.  We are in a big cleaning phase at home and our office has everything piled in the middle so we can vacuum our 100 year old brick walls.  Yep, you read that right.  Old brick walls need to occasionally be vacuumed.  

Anyway, I am still getting my projects done each day, but posting them has had to take a back seat.  That said, I found myself set up in my bedroom to do my day 52 challenge.  And then drawing upside-down!  If you are like me, you turn your tile all the time when tangling to have the best angle on what you are drawing.  Keeping the tile in just one orientation, and for it to be upside-down had me more focused on not turning the tile than what I was drawing.  I decided to draw a tree as my string.  It was a lot tougher than I would have thought. It just wasn't coming together in the same way I would draw a tree if it was right side up.  It felt very different.

I even signed my initials upside down which sure looks a bit shaky when turned right side up.

Right side up

Day 51: 365 Daily Project - Warm and Fuzzy...NOT

Knocking out two challenges with one project.  Yay!  Here is my project for today's suggestion and my "bling" project for this week's Diva's challenge. I love my metallic gelly roll pens to add bling to my projects all the time.   

To take something nice and turn it into not so nice? Yep, I can do that.  This isn't my first go around at this.  I have a very vivid imagination.  Not too long ago I pondered a card line of pretty cards but with messages that were a little different.  Imagine a heart with a nice and sweet message from the sender...

Tangles: Prestwood, 'Nzeppel, Tipple, Cyme

Looks okay, right?  Fill it in with something nice and sweet OR

Not so nice

Day 50: 365 Daily Project - Minimalist

White on white was the suggestion today.  Luckily I had accidentally discovered that white gelly roll pen will show up on something white when light is shines through it so I used this clear plastic cube to create a light box.  I used my iPhone light to shine under the paper as I drew on white paper I had cut into squares to fit inside the box.  I couldn't use tiles because the printing on the back of them would show through when the light was shining.  It was VERY subtle and it is not my greatest or favorite work but it was a challenge I was happy to try.  I do think the effect on a lamp shade is a pretty cool idea.

Tangles: Phicops, Tipple

Tangles: Flux

Tangle: Printemps

Tangles: Hollibaugh, Tipple

Tangle: Poke Root

Day 49: 365: Daily Project - A Whole Bunch of Something

Tangles (starting from upper left corner): Buttercup, Ving, Yew-Dee, Snag, Cubine, MoonPie, Ole, On Target, Hypnotic, Zonked, Da'Deal, Hako, Bales, Flourish. 'Nzeppel, Slainte

How about a whole bunch of grid tangles?  I imagined it first and saw it sort of like a quilt on a tile and I think it is a pretty good sample of some of the tangles folks have come up with that fit into a grid.  So many great tangles from so many awesome tanglers across the world.  And that concludes week 9!  

Day 48: 365 Daily Project - Make it Tall

Tangles: Cyme, Mooka, Phicps, Tipple, Mysteria

Trying to use tiles to make something tall that stands on its own takes some engineering.  At first I tried to build a house of cards out of tiles I had already tangled.  That was a quick fail of frustration and lack of patience.  I decided that setting a regular tile as the bottom and then using ATC tiles glued back to back with the corners bent out and stacked (and glued)  would give me a fair shot at creating a self-standing structure.  And it worked!  It is a bit wobbly but can be righted and will stand on its own.  I don't think I could have gone taller than 2 sets of tiles.  I like this front side the best, but in the interest of sharing this project, here's the back too.

Tangles: Cyme, Pepper, Fengle, Tipple, Printemps

Day 47: 365 Daily Project - Flower power

Tangles: Cyme, Flowtus, Mumsy, Phansy, Striping, Printemps

How fun to get to use the bunches of flowerish tangles out there.  I first did a multi colored watercolor wash.  Then I just started tangling.  No string for this one, I just started adding flowers here and there and filled it in with printemps in the background.

Day 46: 365 Daily Project - Face It

Tangles: Unme, Prestwood, Antique, Binda, Girlande, Chainlea, Printemps, Hollibaugh, Tipple, Poke Root, Poke Leaf, Cyme, Organza 

This was a challenge for me.  Not the tangling - that I can do but the face.  I don't really draw people so I kept it pretty simple and then used tangles for the hair.  Quite a few different patterns - and ones I rarely ever get to use. Hair is a great way to try out border type patterns!  Give it a try!

Day 45: 365 Daily Project - Tape it Up

The suggestion to use tape in some way today brought me back to my grade school days.  I remember making decorative vases for my mom for Mother's Day or something similar by putting small ripped pieces of masking tape on an old juice container and then varnishing it with brown shoe polish to create that genuine antique look.  Very classy.  I decided to give a try on a tile.  I covered a tile with ripped up pieces of masking tape and then tried to add some distress ink.  It wasn't drying very quickly so I wiped it off but it did seem to leave a little bit of color.  I then used the different sections as the string and tangled within each section and then added some white for detail.  I do have to say that white gelly roll pens work MARVELOUSLY on masking tape.  It is almost like the pen was made to draw on masking tape.  It's pretty busy but was fun!  

Day 44: 365 Daily Project - A Lampshade

Tangles: Artoo, Boo*Kee, Tipple, Printemps, Fringe

I just happened to have a stained lampshade that I have been wanting to tangle for years (yup, years).  

Before - Ewwww!!!

Can you even believe I lived with this gross lamp shade for so long.  Well the suggestion for today freed me from this eyesore and I now have a lovely new lampshade.  

The cool thing about it is that I used a white gelly roll pen for the background that you don't really see till you turn the light on.  Pretty cool, huh?

All lit up!