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 #179 and Apple / Pig Nose / Alien Carved Stamp

Challenge #179

Diva's challenge this week was to create a 2'x2' tile... ok... that's really little!!  You can read all about Bijou's story, the challenge, and the new small, fun tiles here.

So, I cut a few 2x2 inch squares from Bristol paper, and thought for sure I would only use 1 tangle per tile.  Hmmm... it didn't turn out quite like that, did it?  I spent about the same time as I do on a larger tile, and by the time I was done I was not thinking about the size of the tile anymore.

Size relative to mechanical pencil - tiny, isn't it?

Apple / Pig Nose / Alien Carved Stamp:

So, to relax this last weekend, I decided to carve a triangle stamp, that when printed together would form a pattern.  Well... it turned out really weird :)... and it made everyone at home think of completely different things when looking at it.

This is the original printing of the triangle stamp

And this is the same print after having been painted with watercolors, and outlined with pen

So, what does it make you think of?  I think of apples, but my husband and son came up with aliens and pig noses :)  I had fun, anyway :)

Challenge #176 and Stamp Carving: Quarter repeat

Challenge #176

This weeks' challenge was to Bring Your Own Beverage to your tangling session :).  So, spill your drink on your tile, or paint with it, or do whatever you want, then tangle over it.  Fun, fun!!  You can see the directions here.

 

I started with my morning tea and with the stirrer, made a few marks (the lighter ones.  Then once the tea had steeped, I made a few more marks with a corner of the teabag (the darker ones in the middle).  Then added some drops around with my afternoon tea :).

This tile was spilled on the same way (at the same time) as the one above.  I ironed both tiles today, and then chose the second one to tangle on.  Here is what I came up with.

 I decided to tangle only on the "tea painted" parts, and used the tea stains as my string.  It turned out really weird, but I really enjoyed the process.

Stamp Carving: Quarter Repeat

This is the next to the last lesson based on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's book Carve Stamp Play. :(  I enjoyed it too much!!

Here are the stamps I created for the quarter repeat.  Actually, these were just tests with a cheap eraser I got (that carved like butter!), but since our condo is up for sale all my art stuff was put away (even the little box I had separated to stay) and I have not had time or patience to go to the basement and look for it... these will have to do for now :).

I started out with a very simple one, all it has is a "leaf" shape from one corner to the opposing corner, with 2 squiggly things at each of the other corners.  When you stamp it several times, this is what you get:

Left: just the pattern printed over 5 times across and down
Right: the same piece, after being painted with H2Os and outlined in pen and ink

This pattern is also very simple: a squiggle at opposing corners joining at the center around a circle, and a V at each of the other 2 corners.

Left: stamped 5 times across and 5 times down
Right: after I played with it with H2O's and pen and ink