Hearts - hugs needed.

Sharing some previous tiles as well as the recent tiles that I have been doing this public holiday long weekend. Enjoying the process de-stressing from work and dealing with the parental unit's illnesses.

 

Hugs and prayers needed =(.

 

IAST #227 done on a home-cut 4-inch tile with together with a brown copic and a blue sakura micron. 

frunky.fife.knightsbridge.msst

IAST #228 combined with Diva Challenge #349 done in my fav. canson inspiration sketchbook. Was trying out a midrori notebook in the last few posts but they weren't pencil friendly and I started hating the process and outcomes. Gave up and reverted back to my cansons and refound my love for zentangle. Also discovered a new pencil at a local new "discount store" and am loving it.

rumpus.printemps.artoo.paradox

IAST #229  and Diva Challenge #350 quite like this one... somehow reminds me of Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts.

ramy.florz

IAST #230 - am particularly pleased at how this one turned out.

funsin.frunky.huggins.'nzeppel 

Diva Challenge #351

 divadance rock 'n roll.snail.florz

Joey's Weekly Challenge #203 - my first attempt at a Joey's Challenge (and at tangle Eddyper)

rixty.eddyper

 

And perhaps last but not least...

 

 

Mom passed away more than 10 years ago when I was still in Uni. Had she still been with us, we would have celebrated her birthday last week. Still missing you 10 years on, Mom. Wish you were here.

Keep calm and carry on.

We've discovered that Dad has a bad complication arising from his condition =(. Prayers appreciated and so was zentangling this week. Keep calm and carry on.

 

Rumpus was introduced with the 12 days of Zentangle 2017 and it happened to be last week's IAST #226

Contra my original Rumpus... so different...

Also re-tried one other project introduced over Christmas.

And finally Diva Challenge #348 in line with Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. My humble salute to all parents, and in particular parents caring for children with ailments or special needs.

diva dance rock & roll.tipple.aquafleur.printemps.striping.

Been out of it - spam sharing

Spam sharing my tiles / work since Xmas. 

12 days of zentangle (didn't buy the project pack as shipping is prohibitive). Particularly proud of the zendala. 

Most of the tiles done whilst vacationing with Dad in KL. 

pokeleaf.shattuck.printemps.florz.'nzeppel.yincut.sandswirl.hurry.knightsbridge

Visual Journal Zentangle tile for the trip. 

featherfall

Visual Journal Zentangle tile for a holiday visit to the local bird park. Coloured with Sakura Koi watercolour markers. Inspired by the Scarlet Macaws at the bird park. 

crazy huggins.sandswirl.'nzeppel.shattuck

Didn't manage to do last week's Diva Challenge but was inspired to play around with Crazy Huggins (which I have had trouble dealing with... until now!). Used a Prismacolour liner with 3 different purple pens (Sakura, Copic and Zig), orbs coloured with cheap Colleen double sided colour pencils - the dream colour pencils of my childhood.

 

And this week's Diva Challenge #347 using items that were lying around 1 day during breakfast before work:  

 



Shaggy legoman. rainbow hair tie. set square protractor. overjoyed membership card. teaspoon

 

purk.printemps.ninjastars.frunky.yincut.ramy.'nzeppel

Inky Stripes

I was kinda mind-blown when I read this week's Diva Challenge and browsed the links to striping. I loved what Margaret Brenner did here! I clearly underestimated the tangle! I never knew you could do so much with striping!

So with my new Sakura Pigma PN (MWAHAHAHAHA the local stores didn't have it yet but my sister ordered some for me online - my sister and online shopping FTW🎉!)... 

I need to work on my light and shadows but I don't think it's half bad. I will never think of striping the same way again! 

[Mini review: the PN is very very smooth which is awesome and doesn't really leave indentations in the paper. When I have a new micron somethings the corners of the "tuft" make lines a little irregular and have a slightly jarring tactile response but not with the PN. The downside is that the line weight is clearly thicker than that of the Micron so fine line work involves playing with pen pressure. All in all, I love the PNs 😀 and will treasure and enjoy the few PNs that my sister bought (while hoping that they hit local stores soon!)😍]

Also sharing my Inktober days 6 to 9! 

ponio.rixty.twizted.hurry

As well as my last IAST submission!

paradox.etcher.betweed.beeline.hurry.cubine

[Mini review: I did this one with the Sakura Pigma Pen (aka the apprentice pen). The ink is very similar to that of the Micron. Tip width wise it's definitely thicker than a Micron 01 and I suspect,  also thicker than the PN (but I could be wrong). It seems to tend to "fluff" a little (like pick up micro-fibres from the paper after prolonged drawing) but thankfully not to an extent that it leaves a blot on the paper. Whilst it's supposed to be a cheaper option to the Micron, in my case cost-wise it was more or less the same, since I ordered them online and they had to be shipped to me. To be honest / fair, Microns are not particularly expensive where I'm from. In case you are in my neck of the woods and want to order some, I got them here.] 

Trying out lots of new tangles!

First and foremost! My contribution to the latest Guest Diva Challenge #330!

I wasn't quite sure what the challenge was but I believe it was to do a quarter "plate" tile.

I tried to use some new tangles so as to expand my "working dictionary of tangles". In particular the new tangles here are Copada and Cindyer.  I've never really seen anyone use Cindyer but it looked quite cute to me =).

Another new tangle that I've tried was one of  what I call "feature tangles" - tangles that are of unique shape that oft can't really fit into most generic strings but end up being there as over/underlying "features"... like Waybop, Drawings, Purk and Aquafleur, just to name a few.

Last weekend "featured" Fengle (what I actually chose from my trusty Tangle Deck!)!

Fengle is awesome. Like flowers but also like fireworks but also like starfish! So I wanted to keep it simple with a few tipple bubbles and some printemp shells  and tadah! I have been trying to force myself to do some tiles that aren't so "cluttered"  and am hoping this one hit the mark! 

Last weekend, I also had an unexpected zentangle visitor!

marasu.cubine.abukas.drawings.yincut.'nzeppel.fife.zenith

Does anyone else see the hidden dinosaur? New tangles I tried in this tile were Zenith and Abukas (which is a new tangle shared generously here!)! Did I mention I love dinosaurs? 😆 

This however, I wasn't quite so pleased at =(. It was my submission for the IAST # 208 birthday string. I really was stumped by this string! But am glad that I managed to persevere and complete the tile! [In any case, Happy Celebration🎈🎊🎉, Adele @ Tickled to Tangle, and thanks for all the challenges!🙌] 

++ edit++

I'd also like to share my IAST #209 contribution which I am very proud of - a monotangle of the new Zentangle HQ release, Spoken.

I don't I've ever done so much pencil work in a single tile... but it was worth it. I'm loving the outcome.

New pens! And Guest Diva Challenge #329!

Testing out more new pens😀!

I took advantage of the National Day promotions that tonnes of local shops have been having to get my hands on more materials to play with!

This Bijou sized tile was done with a Cool Grey Copic Multiliner (there was15% off Copic Multiliners and Copic Multiliner Sets😆)

I've always been interested in finding out what happens when you tangle in grey! Couldn't really decide if I liked the "all grey" effect so I tried it in Renaissance style as well with a black Uni Pin Fine Line (another new procurement - a local stationary store was having 15% store wide😂) on coloured Strathmore paper that I cut to the size of a Bijou tile. 

I quite like the way the Renaissance tile looks with grey 💕 - it feels like a lovely cool lazy weekend to me. I wish Sakura made grey Microns... However they don't and at this juncture, for greys I may be limited to  Copic Multiliners which irritatingly are not available singularly (locally at least) 😕 but are sold in packs of 4 pens in varying sizes [but it appears that Jetpens does sell them individually, for those who may be interested😋].

And of course I didn't stop there with my new grey Copics because along came the Guest Diva Challenge #329 - Fragment D1. This week's challenge was a doozy 😵. I've never seen the Fragment D1 before and worse! No matter how much I googled, I couldn't find any instructions😱! So I winged it🐥.

I drew all kinds of configurations using the trusty Sakura Micron, and "embellished" with my new Copic grey multiliners (in both cool and warm grey - yes they only have 2 shades of grey - not 50 😀) as well as a Sakura Micron 005. I did a lot of fine lines but I don't think the grey lines seem to scan / photograph well 😕.

I swear I spotted a wolf / cooyote 🐺 and a racoon. Can you? [hint: see left bottom corner sections - you might need to squint a little😆] 

sandswirl.'nzeppel.marasu.drawings.andate.c-six.knightsbridge/yincut.printemps.tipple.paizel 

I think of all the tiles I'm sharing in this post, this is my favourite😍. I did this in my new Staedler Pigment Liner which thus far is the most comparable to the traditional Sakura Micron💖. The pen and the ink was smooth and it didn't leave indentations in the paper like the Copic Multiliner💗. It is however slightly more expensive than the Sakura Micron, though not prohibitively/inhibitively so.  I need to do more testing with this pen!

I also tried the Uni Pin Fine Line that I used in the Marasu Bijou tile on a full sized tile.

'nzeppel.facets.florz.dragonair.peanuckle.tipple.leaflet.printemps.paizel.well

Tried a few new tangles together with the new pen - Dragonair, Leaflet and Well. I picked up the first 2 tangles from the Great Zentangle Book which I bought after reading this review from Sandra Strait. 

I quite liked the book as each tangle was clearly credited and explained in the usually step by step format with some examples of step outs and tangleations but somehow I was expecting a little bit more (not quite sure why or what though...) One thing that got to me somehow though was the the step by step steps were not necessarily in the same orientation, which confused me somewhat (me with my little pea brain)😧. 

The last tangle I picked up from the Tangle Deck my Lynn Mead. At this juncture I really must say... I love my Tangle Deck Family💖💖. I was a birthday gift and it has to be the best Zentangle resource I own and was definitely the highlight of my birthday this year. Convenient, beautiful cards with clear instructions. If there is a Tangle Deck 3 I would definitely brave the unfavourable currency exchange rates and incredibly expensive postage to get at it!😍 

*ahem* back to the pen... The Uni Pin Fine Line's nib somehow felt "directional"😩. I had a few experiences where the pen hesitates and produces an uneven dotted line when I changed directions. It is a little bit scratchy and leaves indentations in the paper (though this could again be because the pen is new). A cheaper alternative to Sakura Microns though in this instance, I think I'd rather stick with the Micron. 

Last and definitely not least, this was my submission for the IAST Challenge #207 - a monotangle in Cross-Ur-Heart. I used a black Copic Multiliner (to see if it was still scratchy - it was but to a lesser extent so it may be a new pen thing...) with some coloured Sakura Microns and Gelly Rolls for pizzazz... This is the first time I tried this tangle and I don't think I did too bad a job. Not quite sure how to incorporate it into a tile but I guess if I love it enough I will find a way! 

Leading the way(bop)

The official Zentangle site recommends using a wooden (non-mechanical) 2B pencil - but I couldn't really find anything online that says why or whether there is a clear difference between using a mechanical pencil vs. a wooden pencil. 😵 Thusfar I've been using the trusty blue and black Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil - a staple in most children's pencil boxes I believe! 

So I went on pencil adventures ✏ over the weekend! 

This was done using a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. Observations on mechanical pencils v. traditional pencils? You had to be pretty careful "angling" the pencil to avoid hard scratchy lines that don't seem to "dissolve" no matter how hard you try to blend the little ^$@*^*😡 [please don't zoom in to check... but I can assure you there are particularly scratchy patches 😓]. It somehow seems less enjoyable using a mechanical pencil 😕- I missed the smoothness of tradition. The mechanical pencil was "scratchy" at times (although this may have been because of the pencil lead... I'm not sure what I had loaded but I've bought a new pack to play with😗). But the allure of mechanical pencils is clear - no need to carry a sharpener, your pencil will always be "sharp". 

I continued my pencil adventures into the tangle I undertook to try over the weekend - Waybop. 

It's always been one of those oh so pretty tangles that looked oh so complicated😰! But I'm glad I took the plunge and am loving this tangle. Both were done with the help of mechanical pencils, this time a 0.9mm. With the 0.9mm it was much easier to lay on the graphite and the feel of the application was more similar to that of a wooden pencil. However the feel of the plasticky pencil body (as opposed to the warm wooden feel) still left a little to be desired. Whilst the thicker lead meant that it was less "scratchy", I felt it made it more difficult to work the edges.

Does anyone else have adventures to share about using mechanical pencils?

I wasn't really sure how Waybop would look like in a full tile... so the only thing to do was...  

😆Grey toned Strathmore drawing paper (that I had hacked up), pink and black Microns, Grade 3 Koh-I-Noor white charcoal pencil, Sakura Gelly Rolls and another new pencil that I was trying out (queue dramatic fanfare🎉) - the famous / infamous Japanese Blackwing pencil.

It was substantially more expensive that a Staedtler Mars Lumograph💰. Purchased individually, it cost 3 to 3.5 times more. But OMG I think I'm in love😍. It's such a lovely soft pencil that literally GLIDES smoothly on to the drawing surface... blending easily (but not too much to be smudgy)... and this was the "balanced lead" version💖! I also got my hands on a "soft graphite" and I'm now dying to try it too! 😎I can't wait!

Aquafleur-y

Aquafleur is a tangle that had been giving me some problems, so when I attended the Renaissance class, I took the opportunity to ask CZT Mabel about it 😁 

With CZT Mabel's help I think I have a better understanding of the tangle and its execution and decided to use it to test the Renaissance effects with other coloured Microns. 

I am liking Aquafleur (though I admit I need more practice and perhaps need more creativity when it comes to step outs)... but since I was obsessing over Aquafleur (and check it out! The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge appears to be Aquafleur) - MY FIRST EVER DIVA CHALLENGE!!!! WOOHOO! 🎉🎊🎈🎇...  

I've seen Zen Gems before but sadly CZT Mabel's class on Zen Gems was before I knew about Zentangle so I had to make do with Youtube videos. Passable? 😕. 

Done it!

I can officially say that I have attended a Zentangle 101 class! And! A Renaissance tile class! Woohoo! 😁

With much gratitude to CZT Mabel Yap and her team at Heartistry💓! For those in my locale, do check out Heartistry and the classes they offer (which are not limited to Zentangl btw). 

Am quite taken by the effect of renaissance tiles so I tried a little on my own. 

This was done with Sakura Microns in black and blue, with a Koh I-Noor grade 2 charcoal pencil on Starthmore 400 Series Toned Tan Artist Tiles. 

Am undecided whether the effects are as nice as sepias on the official Zentangle tiles. It seems to have a different feel. But I still kinda like it anyhow! 

Next... to play with different coloured papers and inks to see whether other combinations work!