Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Diva's challenge, Teabags, and Coloring Pages

Diva's Challenge #158: Duotangle: Diva Dance + Crescent Moon

I had never tried to stick to 2 tangles on a tile or ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art).  I must say it was challenging!!  I kept wanting to add others for interest and contrast!  Well... I did it, but now looking at it, I would have liked to have left some space between the shape in the middle and the one on the right.  Oh well... I keep learning :).  For instructions on this challenge and to see the beautiful art others have created for it, please click here.


Teabags
Since I love tea, I have a lot of used teabags around :).   I keep wanting to experiment with them, so here are my latest created a couple of nights ago.

The flowers were printed from hand carved blocks with acrylic paint.  The red in the front, and the white in the back.  The outlines were also added some in the front and some in the back.  This is a "one-ply" teabag - meaning, I opened it up completely.


Same process as above.  Ah!  Forgot... the pinkish tone around the border and flower was added with  colored pencil.

These are "2-ply", meaning the tea bags are intact except for a torn piece along the top where I got the tea out.  Again, I used some of my hand-carved blocks to print the designs with acrylic ink.  I then added some details with black and white pens, colored pencil, and a touch of copper paint.
I may also to varnish them or use gel medium so they are not as fragile.  I do like the feel of them as they are, though...

Now the question is... what do I do with them?  Cards?  Put a bunch of them together and create one piece?  Any ideas?  I'm completely open to suggestions.  

Coloring Pages
I love to color and paint, and I often use the same design to try different color combinations or media.  I decided to create pages of some of my designs and add them to my Etsy shop.  People can just download them and start coloring or painting right away.  So, yesterday I added my first coloring page from one of my tile designs inspired by Portuguese tiles called Azulejos.  I have a blog post about those here.

Tile design "Swirls" in my Etsy shop ready to be downloaded, then colored or painted.  It would look great tangled, as well!  Click the picture for the link

11 comments:

  1. Nice work Marta, I never would have thought of making art out of teabags.

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    1. Thank you so much, Karen! I'm experimenting with them, but I have seen some wonderful things made with teabags.

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  2. What a brilliant idea - I used to use tea bags to make Treasure Maps with my children. I shall try it. Love the effects.
    Axxx

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    1. Great! Would love to see it once you try it.

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  3. I like your tile, great that you made a flower of Diva Dance :-)

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  4. Nice work on the tile and I loved seeing the tea bags!

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  5. Wonderful pieces! I like your lovely variation of Crescent Moon! Beautiful teabags ... great idea!

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  6. Really cool tiles! I like your bold style!

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  7. Nice work on the tile. Not sure why but the one on the left reminds of a nice big fluffy pillow. Maybe I am getting tired from looking at too many images on the computer.

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  8. Very cool, Marta!! I am in process on mine :) ~ Diane

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