Challenge 270 and Work on Scarves

Challenge #270

This week's challenge (here) was to use the tangle Skye created by Margaret Bremner.  I really enjoyed this one, and this one I'm sure will be better with practice.  

My first attempt from memory (after seeing the steps) was not good - the strips were not connecting properly, so I decided to give it another try.  This time I didn't do the little angled lines on the short ends, and that made it possible for me to adjust as needed to make the lines connect.  Also, I started with an "S" instead of backwards "S" so then had to start on the left instead of on the right.  All in all, it came out fairly decent, I think, but like I said I think it can really improve with practice.

Work on Scarves

I'm enjoying seeing my work on the VIDA scarves, so I have been looking at some of my work differently to see if they might look good as scarves.  Also, because the scarves are large and you need really high definition files, I have been playing around and spent many hours last weekend doing some experiments.  Ended up figuring out that it would really help if I knew Inkscape better (free vector software), so started going through some tutorials on YouTube to learn it better.

Here are some of the ones I have created recently.  I hope you enjoy them:

These first two were inspired by a carved flower on a stone wall in India (when I visited last year).  I hand carved a stamp to create the pattern and then fiddled wtih it to create the pattern in larger scale for the scarves.  Both are using the same pattern, just with different colors and scale.

These 2 are square scarves, so I used works that might not do so well as a repeating pattern.  Both were created with the same hand-carved stamp (leaves repeating pattern); the left on paper with ink, watercolors and colored pencils; the right one on fabric with inks, and acrylics.


And the last one I just added last night from an old piece, that needed a bit of work.  I used the same hand carved stamp as for the ones above and really had fun.  Can't you tell I love the moon? :)

                    

If you are interested in any of these, you can check them out on my page on the VIDA site (here).  You can get 10% off your first order with the code VIDA10, and if you get one of my designs, you would get a $25 VIDA gift certificate (for the first 10 people).

I ordered one with my tangled mountains, and can't wait for it to arrive.  I received a free one from another artist and the $40 scarf is really well made and so very soft!  I was very impressed.

Challenge #252 and Latest Hand-Carved Stamps

Challenge #252 - Tangle Within a Tangle

This week's challenge (here) was to create your string from a tangle, and then tangle inside it :)  How fun is that?!!

I decided I definitely was not going to look at what others did before creating my tile; I was afraid everyone was going to pick my tangle :).  I started out by going through my catalog of tangles - nothing but a bunch of step-outs in a ring binder and a bunch of 2x2 inch samples of tangles.  

I put some possibilities aside, and then went with the one I thought would be most fun.  I hope I don't go through everyone's entries and find out everyone chose Poke Root!!

Latest Hand-Carved Stamps

Here are the last hand-carved stamps from the #CarveDecember challenge.  I really appreciate everyone's nice comments about my stamps :)  

I'm going to grab a couple of these patterns and get a stencil cut from it.  I'm trying a seller on ETSY and see how it turns out.  If you know of any places that cut stencils from your art for a reasonable price, please let me know.

Arches that can be turned into windows :)

This is a fun stamp but hard to make a pattern with;
this is the best I could do :)

This was quite a fun one to carve and the print really fun to embellish.

Another fun one to play with;
I love the border pattern in the middle.

I love how this one turned out.  I feel it is not my usual style, but sometimes it is good to get out of your comfort zone :)

Challenge #251 and More Hand-Carved Stamps

Challenge 251 - Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day

The Diva's little boy has Moebius Syndrome and the family goes through quite a lot, especially the little guy - my heart goes out to them every time he is sick and they have to rush him to the hospital.  

This week's challenge is to use the Moebius Syndrome logo to help raise awareness for this disorder.  To find out more, please visit the Diva's post here.

More Hand-Carved Stamps

A few more stamps I designed and hand-carved in December.  I had a few days off work, so I had a bit more time - it was so much fun!

I'm still working on making this a pattern :)
Sometimes it is so off!! :)

Inspired by temple carvings in India.

Was designed as a border, but can also work as a pattern :)

Also inspired by designs I saw in India.  

I think I actually like it more as a border :)

This is a continuous stamp - I had carved a similar one but it does not make a continuous design.  I like how I can use it to catalog colors of paint / pencils; I think it would also work great for journaling.

Challenge #250 and New Hand carved Stamps

Challenge #250

The Diva's weekly challenge (here) was to go back to basics: 3.5 x 3.5 white tile, black and white, string, and pencil shading.  It is probably not that different than I usually do, but I did try to use some tangles I had not used in a while.

New Hand Carved Stamps

In December I carved a bunch of stamps to play along with Julie Fei Fan Balzer and a bunch of other people for the #CarveDecember challenge (here).  I did not carve one stamp a day (just did not have the time), but did carve as many as I had time for.  It even made me get on Instragram to share, encourage, and get encouragement :).  I had a lot of fun.

Here are all of them (bottom) and the prints on fabric above.  I will show a few at a time in the next few posts.

This is a very simple flower, sketched on paper in about 10 seconds.  It took a bit longer to carve :)

This one I carved on my wedding anniversary, so I had to go with the LOVE theme :)

This is a very simple branch, which you can print several ways to make crazy looking trees :)

Hand carved stamp - #CARVEDECEMBER

I wanted to carve another snowflake stamp (I carved 2 a few years ago).  I started out folding a piece of paper, cutting it and then unfolding it.  Then used a similar design for my stamp.

For some reason the paper looked cool, but when I first printed my stamp it looked really ugly and not like a snowflake at all!  I was really disappointed!

When I was about to forget all about the stamp, I thought it might look cool if I printed over it, but with it rotated 60 degrees.  Aha!!!  Now I actually like it!!  At it will always look different, that's for sure!

Top:  Left - stamp; Middle - 1 print (ugly); 2 prints (better!)
Bottom: prints of different colors with black outline

Challenge #212 and Pattern Inspired by Indian flower

Challenge #212: "UMT: Fanz by Susan Goetter"

This week's challenge was to use the Fanz tangle created by Susan Goetter - you can see step-outs through a link in the Diva's challenge page here.

I loved this tangle (the one on the top right) as it is very forgiving.  I decided to try out a few variations, but you can just have them quite plain and it looks really nice!  I can't wait to see everyone's entry in the challenge - they are always so inspiring!

Pattern Inspired by Indian Flower

When I was in India last month, I had a weekend "free" and visited several temples and palaces near Bangalore.  As my mind has been stuck on patterns recently :), I took some pictures I would hope would inspire me to create new designs. 

I have not yet created anything with the patterns other than sketch some of them, but saw the sculpture of a flower, that inspired me to create this very simple hand-carved stamp. 

When you print it all the way around (4 times) you get this pattern - and you can see the flower in the center.

If you print it again but with the "flower center" towards the outside corners this time, you end up with a very different pattern (I love this one).

I tried it out again, now printing it 4 times across and 4 down, starting with the flower center at the corner.  You can see how different it looks from the one below where the stamp was pointing the other way.  These were finished with colored pencil, pen and ink, and Sakura gel pens 

(to highlight the shapes - cross vs. flower)

This next set is the same, except these were painted with H2Os (shimmering watercolors) and finished with pen and ink.

Challenge #207 and Making THE Card

Challenge #207 - Unbatz by Sandy Hunter

I absolutely loved this new tangle; it is one of those really fun ones that you can't mess up.  OK... you can, and I did (every single time), but you can't really notice it too much :).

You can see here the challenge with a link to the step by step instructions.  Definitely try it, if you haven't yet!!  So easy and fun!  Unbatz is the whitest of the tangles below and a variation on the tallest mountain.

I used a hand-carved stamp I created last year for the mountains, traced them with a sepia micron pen, and then had fun tangling inside the mountains.  Then had this crazy idea of tangling the sky and leaving the moon white :).  This was done on an ATC sized Bristol paper.

Making THE Card

I have a little niece who loves to make cards for people on their birthdays.  On my last birthday, I got an awesome one, and was asked if I would please make one for her on her 5th birthday :).  She said she loved the one I made her last year (here) and was really looking forward to her next one.  That was 5 months ago! 

So, I had to make her something special.  I started out with getting out my Gelli Plate.  You can see below how I had everything really organized when I first started :)

• Mark making recycled items on the right
• Acrylic paint all lined up behind them
• My 6x6" Gelli plate
• Some hand-carved stamps, a couple of my home-made stencils
• brayer
• Different types of paper
• baby wipes
• container with water (the black thing next to the paints) to put my hand-carved stamps in after using them

Let me just say that's not how this table looked after an hour or two :)... it looked like a hurricane hit!  But I did get a lot of fun prints; here are some of them (including one of my cats' tail).  The one I ended up using for Rowan's card is the pink /blue one on the left (in the middle).  It was printed on both sides - on purpose :)

I cut the bottom piece for the card, stamped a bit more on both sides with my hand-carved stamps, and then added more details with acrylics, colored pencils, sparkling pens (which she loves), watercolors, pen and ink, and a Sharpie for the edges.  When I folded it to make an accordion book, because it was thick bristol paper, it cracked and it looked awful.  So... I cut it, added eyelets, thread, and... done :)

Challenge 206, a Card, and a New Stencil

Diva's Challenge 206

This week's challenge was really, really challenging!  It was to do the challenge using a tool we would normally not use with Zentangles.  So, I used a script liner brush, and a waterbrush (has water in the handle) for the solid parts.  The shading was truly a challenge with the liner brush!!!  The control is just NOT there... lol.  Anyway, here it is:

The Card

For some reason, it is now expected that I make a card on family's birthdays.  Last weekend was one of my son's birthday party (late because of all the snow we've been having).  I find it really hard to make cards for men, so I try to think of things they like and go with that.  Last year was a moose (that also ended up on a mug for Christmas :)), this year was his cat that is more like a puppy dog - follows him around like one :).

His name (the cat) is Vincent and I carved this stamp of his eyes a few years ago.

A New Stencil I Designed and Cut

My Dad posted a picture of an iron gate that I found really beautiful.  After seeing that, I drew a repeat pattern on a piece of Tyvek (inspired by the gate, but not the same), cut it out and tried it out.  I loved it, so then I cut a stencil from a transparency and tried it out on a painted journal page.  I think I will have a lot more fun with it (once I find a little time :)).

Challenge # 200!!!! Carving, Stamping, and Journaling

Diva's Challenge # 200

Wow!!  It takes a lot of time and effort to create and think about an interesting and creative challenge!  But 200!!!  I'm really impressed, and I'm sure it has not been easy with 2 little ones!  I have only joined in the fun a few months ago, but I can always go back if I want to, right? :)

OK... so, this special challenge # 200 (here) was to use your go-to tangle all the way to the edges of the paper - no border - and have the number 200 somewhere.

I grabbed a couple of number stamps I have carved a long time ago and never used and went at it without a string.  It turned out very blah... if I get the time and energy this week, I will try another one.

Carving, Stenciling, and Journaling

I really enjoyed the carving inspired by the Portuguese Ironwork window, so I played with it a bit.  You can see the original post and the carved stamp here.  I wanted to see if the same stamp could be used to create different patterns, maybe a border?

And then used it on one of my art journals.  Painted around it in black to see if it would look like stained glass, and added some more details with H2Os and Sakura pens.  I also added some of the things I didn't want to forget about the stamp in white.  I may end up doing more on the black, but it will stay like this for now.

I can really see how useful stencils are especially for Art Journaling and Gelli Printing - 2 things I would like to do a bit more of - and, like anything else, I would rather use my own designs.  I finally decided to try making one myself, so I grabbed a transparency, a stencil tool, and went at it.  

Well, I can say the lines are not even close to perfect, like the ones you buy, but... they are unique and I made them.  What I hear is that with a bit of use, they will lose some of those little blobs of melted plastic.  Even if they don't, it's ok, the image is good enough for me for now :).  The first one is the window, but I haven't made the border yet - still thinking how I want to do it.  The second was completely random... just kept cutting our shapes until it was done.  I'm not sure about it, but it will be fun to test it out different ways on the Gelli Plate.

Priscila's Window - Bottom is the stencil, and top is the image it creates

Abstract - Random Shapes - Top is the stencil, bottom is the image it creates

I hope you enjoyed these.  Feel free to comment.

Diva's Challenge #199 and Hand Carved "Window"

Diva's Challenge #199 - Hitched

Wow!  It's been quite a while, with selling and buying a home, moving, and Christmas...  things got a bit out of control :)

Now I'm back, and happy to be creating Zentangle Inspired Art again :), although a bit out of practice.  

The challenge this week HERE was to use the Tangle Hitched - created by Heidi Sue.

This was what I came up with:

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with and posted in the Diva's blog.  I'm always inspired by the different way people create such wonderful and unique pieces using the same tangle.  I've decided not to look at any of the entries until I have done and posted mine; like a treat after finishing my post :)

Hand Carved "Window"

I have a niece in Portugal who loves to take pictures and has a very unique perspective and way to capture beautiful things that most people don't even notice.  I always enjoy her pictures, but when she posted one of a window with ironwork I knew I had to carve a stamp to capture it.

Here is the window; I just found it on the web - this picture was not taken by my niece, HERE is where I got it from.

So, I drew it and then carved it on a soft block.  Then I got to stamping it and then playing with the print.  You will notice it is not exactly like the window, but similar.

I'm having a really good time with this stamp.  I've tried it as a border, and to make different patterns, but of course, I think it looks wonderful in the round.

I have also stamped it on a painted page of one of my art journals and painted the rest of the page black; it makes it look almost like a stained glass window.  When I'm done with it, I'll post.  This will be all for today :)

Update and Junk Mail Journal

Update

The last few months have been hectic:

• Took on further responsibilities at work and so it has been pretty crazy!  Hopefully it will settle down in a couple of weeks :)
• Sold our condo, bought and moved to a new house.  It will take a while longer to get it in shape and organized, but at least I have most of my art stuff now :)
• Finally went to the doctor and found out why I have been feeling so crappy for so long - need iron!  OK!!  That explains it!  So I should be feeling a bit better in a month and back to normal in 9 to 12 months.  Back to normal is good :)

I hope to start back on the Diva Weekly Challenge soon, and posting more regularly.

Junk Mail Journal

New video of my art journal made with junk mail and other recycled papers (including used tea bags for the covers).  I wrote about it in this post here, but it took me this long to finally create the video :).  I can finally play with it now that the video is done :).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all those small pieces in the pockets, but I certainly have a lot of them!  I do love to play with hand-carved block prints, using different materials and techniques.

I hope you enjoy it.