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 #269, Magazine Publishing and Tessellated Fish

Challenge #269

The Diva's challenge this week (here) was to try out the newly released tangle Ellish.  You can find the step outs for Ellish here in the Zentangle Newsletter.

You are seeing my very first attempt at this one, and for some reason I really do not like the tile, but decided to post it anyway.  This proves that sometimes you really need to practice to get something right :)

Magazine Publishing

I love Cloth Paper Scissors and have had a subscription ever since my niece gave me a 1-year subscription many years ago.  If you don't know the magazine, there is a challenge in every issue and once in a while it grabs me, and I have to participate (and hope my submission gets published).  No matter what, I always learn lots when creating my submissions, so even if they don't end up getting accepted, I had fun :) 

This one was to design and cut a stencil and submit a 6x6 in work made with the stencil.  My piece showed up in the latest magazine - May June issue, and I was thrilled to see it.  This is the piece (below) and if you have a copy, it is on page 88.

This is the dirty stencil after creating the piece.
I even lost a little piece of it (top center flower)!

And here is the piece I created with the stencil, molding paste, watercolors, ink, colored pencils, acrylics, and who knows what else!

I also submitted an apron for the next issue, so we will see if that one will make it as well :).

Tessellated Fish

Escher's tessellations are incredible, I love them and find them very inspiring.  Mine are completely amateurish, but I don't care... I love creating them and it is always a huge challenge to make them fit perfectly, especially when you want to make it a repeat pattern.

My latest try was with the fish I hand-carved (here), but I wanted to make them a little rounder and lighter, so I fiddled with them, the design and size until I got to this:

Tessellated Fish repeat pattern painted
with watercolors in blue tones

After making the repeat pattern, I tried it on the VIDA scarves, and loved how they looked - actually was very surprised :)  Here is one:

Cool, don't you think?