String Theory 13 - TanglePatterns String 001

After the difficulty of the last few challenges, I was really pleased Laura had given us free-rein to choose all our favourite tangles in this week's challenge.

I'll fess-up; Strings are my weakness and I often turn to pre-drawn strings and templates to get me started... so this wasn't really a challenge at all. It was a pleasure!

So to make it more of a challenge, I combined it with my Photo-a-day challenge from Fat Mum Slim. Tuesday's challenge (day 9) was Red.

I've been meaning to explore colour in my tangling, so what better way to combine two of my favourite challenges... so here is Red String 001:

Red String 001
Tangles: Paradox, Sedgling, Sparkle, Vanity

So although I drew this on Tuesday and posted it on Instagram, I wasn't able to blog about it as I've been in Pune for a few days for work. Finally, now the weekend is here, I have some time to catch up!

I think I'll have to practice some more with shading in colour. Also I need to invest in a brush, as the pencils I've used are watercolour pencils. I've had them for more than 6 years, and barely used them. When I moved to India they got left behind so when I visited my folks a year ago, I found them out and brought them back with me, where they've sat unused for the past year!

Whilst I was in Pune I had a little time on my hands, so started a second tangle, which I finished last night:

TanglePatterns String 001
Tangles: Atorm, Veezley, Shattuck,
 Khirkee, Hypnotic, Fescu

I've used my tangle again in this one. It's called Khirkee, and you can find my step-out for it here.

Both of these drawings were based on this string from Linda's collection at TanglePatterns:

I'm off now to practice with my lovely coloured pencils...

Happy tangling...
Claire

Zendala Dare 25

My first Zendala Dare... And it's late, but I enjoyed it :D
I've seen lots of other tanglers posting Zendalas and referring to the weekly Zendala Dare, so I hopped over to Erin's blog, The Bright Owl, and jumped on board.

I had enjoyed completing a couple of Zendala's that have been part of the weekly challenge from Laura, so I was excited to give it a go... and I wasn't disappointed.

Here are a few snaps of my Zendala:

Zendala Dare 25
Tangles: Nzeppel, Ragz, Antidots, Tripoli,
Petal Ribbon, Meer, Rounded Flukes

I had sooo much fun doing this, and when I look at it my mind goes to the movie I was 'watching' on the telly whilst tangling... Monsters Inc.

Here's to the next one!


Happy tangling...
Claire

Khirkee... My new tangle

So I'm all excited to post my new tangle... my first ever tangle!

So this tangle is called Khirkee, the Hindi word for window. That's because when I look at the windows in the apartment blocks in the compound where I live, this is the pattern that I see!

It's been on my mind for the last month, and I finally deconstructed it and then put pen to paper. So here goes:

Khirkee Tile

EGGZZZZellent

String Theory 13

Brayd

If you try using it, please leave me a comment and let me know how you got on... Or if you come up with any variations!

Happy tangling...

Claire

Update: 17th November 2012

Margaret Bremner is a wonderful artist who always draws such wonderful Zentangles. So I was really happy when I came across her Khirkee variations. Here's the link to her interpretation on her wonderful blog, Enthusiastic Artist.

EGGZZZZellent

Back when Laura set this challenge in April of 2011, it was nearly Easter, hence the challenge.

EGGZZZZellent... before shading
Notice my new tangle there at the bottom

EGGZZZZellent... finished product!
Tangles: Gloven (variation), Sparkool, Squill, Scallops, Khirkee

Oooooo, I'm so excited, because this is the first public outing of my tangle, Khirkee.
I need to draw up my step out for it and draw up a few examples... keep an eye out for more about this soon!

Happy tangling...
Claire

Zendala Magic

This challenge was set by a guest contributor, Geneviève Crabe. She challenged us to complete this Zendala.

Zendala template

So here is my Zendala. First without shading:

Then with shading:

Zendala Magic
Tangles: Copada, Beadlines, Crescent Moon, Betweed

I think my shading is improving!

Happy tangling...
Claire

Sankegg

My heart sank when I saw the subject for this challenge.

This is a pattern that I loved when I first had seen Laura's picture of the Pysanka Egg back in June. But when I tried to draw it myself from Maria Vennekens' step out, I failed... miserably. So much so that I actually wrote a note in my tangle book that said:

"really hard to do!"

 ...and so I assigned it to the 'I'm never going to use this tangle, ever' pile... But Laura had other ideas.

Today is a holiday in India as it's the day Gandhi-ji was born, so I got some time to practice:

practice...went a lot better than last time!

I find strings difficult to come up with, so went off to TanglePatterns to choose one of the strings that Linda Farmer collects, such a life-saver! I chose number 18, contributed by Sandy Hunter, then got down to the serious business of tangling.

So here is my attempt:

Sankegg
with Verve

Hhhmmmmm... a few 'mistakes' here and there. But I'm pretty happy that, once again, Laura has pushed me out of my comfort zone with this challenge.

I chose to pair Verve with Sankegg, as I felt a few curves were required to balance out the spikiness of the Sankegg. Which tangles did you choose to use with Sankegg?

Happy tangling...
Claire

15 Minutes of Fame

Or 20:06 minutes of fame really!

So in this challenge Laura asked us to complete our tile from start to finish in 15 minutes flat!

OMG... I never realised how long I spend on even a simple tile.
I didn't cheat and think about it before I began, or choose the tangles I would use. I did this properly, with a blank mind and a blank tile... and failed!

In the sense that 15 minutes was up and this is where I had got to:

15 minutes...

However, I figured I'd complete the tile at the same pace, so started my stopwatch and took a further 5 minutes and 6 seconds. And I think they were worth it!

...and counting
Tangles: Hypnotic & Crescent Moon

I loved this challenge, even though I'd been avoiding it for some time. It made me realise how grateful I am for the ability to hold a pen and make one stroke at a time. Zentangling is great meditation for me.

Happy tangling...
Claire