Tangling Bruges Lace

I thought I'd do quick "tutorial" on how I drew the Bruges lace on my "Oceans Depth" drawing and hopefully it will help others do the same. Remember that any lace will work, just pick out elements you like and transcribe them to your drawing/tangle.

Don't try to put every element of the lace into your drawing unless you're going for super intricate and want to spend hours upon hours of drawing everything in!

I'm linking to the lace photo I used as my inspiration since I don't want to breach anyone's copyright:

Vintage Lace Making - Lace: Its Origin and History - do a search on "Maline" and it is the second image under that - or click here to load image only.

I decided to use the circle just left of the center as my "starting point." Note the curls of tape coming off the circle, how they start and stop or turn into buds. There are small circles dispersed throughout and the pieces are connected with a netting that has picots on it.

Click on images for a larger version of each.

Step 1: Since I was filling in the top of my drawing, I drew just what was needed to fill in that space, adding details where I needed them or removing them where there was too much. The wavy line at the bottom designates the middle part of the drawing that I'm "adding" to.

Pencil sketch

Step 2: Next, I took my 02 Sakura Pigma Micron pen and outlined the tape. Note how I adjusted the lines as I went along. I also added the circles where the picot netting will connect the different pieces.

Tape drawn in and circles added

Step 3: This step was kinda fun as I drew in the connecting lines between the circles and the curls. For this, I used my 01 Micron pen so it would be a fine netting. Oh, I erased my pencil lines before starting the connecting lines. While I was at it, I went back to the 02 Micron and added the netting inside the center circle and buds.

Connecting threads added and center netting

Step 4: The final step (other than shading) is drawing in the picots. These can be placed anywhere on the connecting lines but they need to alternate on the line, i.e., one on top, next on bottom, next on top, etc. With the 01 Micron (which was used to draw in the lines) and add small teardrop shapes for the picots. Don't be afraid to add more connecting lines if you think an area needs it.

Closeup of picots

Finished Lace

Now, add your color and/or shading!

Try other lace types as well. Once you get the hang of choosing which elements to include and which to leave out, you'll be able to do the same with more detailed lace patterns, like those that include people, animals, flowers, etc.

Check out my post from yesterday to see the original image I posted with the Bruges lace.

Hope you find this little tutorial useful!

More Encyclopedia Tangles and Adding Lace to Tangles

I've continued to tangle on the encyclopedia pages and have been having a blast with the Tuesday Tangles in the Facebook Zentangle: Tangled & Journaled, Too! group. For each tangle I've done, I put the name of the pattern on the page and the date from the challenge, even if I didn't do the tangle on that day.

 

 

 

 

Last night, I started a new drawing with a large gemstone in the center. I found a photo online of a crystal that had yellow at the base, then blue, then green and used that as the basis for my gemstone. Under the gemstone, I put some knife inspired shapes that fanned out and decided to soften it with some Bruges Lace at the top.

To add your own lace to your tangles, do an image search on lace and look for designs that catch your eye. Pick out parts of the lace that catch your attention and add them to your drawing. I always sketch them in first with a pencil before inking over them.

Before Shading

Oceans Depth

Materials: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Prismacolor Colored Pencils on Bristol Paper

Time Spent: 4 hours

Size: 5.75"x9"

That's it for now. Off to find some more lace photos!

Floop - Gemstone Tangle

So, I went to Hobby Lobby after work and picked up a white Gelly pen in order to use it to draw highlights on gemstones. I think that a pen with a larger nib is needed though.

Floop

Materials: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Gelly Roll Pen on Bristol paper
Time Spent: 2 hours
Size: 5"x5.75"

As I tend to do, I also went searching for gemstone painting tutorials on DeviantArt. Some of the ones I found are for paint programs but the concepts can also be used with paints and colored pencils.

I've created several collections which I'll add to as I find new tutorials and references on DeviantArt:

Gemstone Tutorials
Gemstone References
Misc Tutorials

For a listing of specific gem tutorials for tangling, please join the Tangled Gems- Zentangle® Inspired Jewels and Stones group on Facebook.

Happy New Year 2016!

So, life has been busy lately. I recently closed on a house and although I've been in the house for a month, there is still tons of unpacking to do!

I'm also working hard on patterns for another issue of Crochet Uncut but with everything else happening around me, including working full time, I'm not sure when I'll be able to complete them and publish the issue. But I'll keep at it! I'll try to add another post in a few days with some of the pieces I'm working on.

I've also continued to tangle and recently completed two new pieces.

The first one I completed on 12/21/15 and gave it to my friend Caye as a Christmas present. This last summer, I introduced Caye to tangling and got her addicted to it. She even purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 so that she could tangle in Painter. When I showed her the photo of the piece and asked her if she liked it, she said that she hated it because she'd never be as good as I was. "So," I asked, "I guess you wouldn't want it as a Christmas present then?" Yeah, she changed her tone real quick after that!

A View Into My World

Materials: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Prismacolor Colored Pencils on Bristol paper
Time Spent: 14 hours
Size: 8"x10"

Before I show the second piece, I guess a little background information would help. I'm a member of a Journal Tangling group on Facebook but never posted anything there as I usually only do single pages. I'd seen some tangles done on dictionary pages and music sheets so had been looking in various thrift and used bookstores for something I could use. Yesterday, I posted a request on my neighborhood's Facebook page for books, like dictionaries, encyclopedias, hymnals, novels, whatever, and one of my neighbors responded and about a half hour later, her sons showed up at my door with two boxes of books. Inside the boxes were 16 volumes of the 1979 edition of the Britannica Junior Encyclopedia.

I posted the photo above to the Facebook Tangled Journal group and was happy to see other members get excited about doing something similar.

Anyway, I picked out Volume 1, Ready Reference Index, turned to the title page, and started drawing. I finished it on 12/31/15, began coloring it today, 1/1/16, and finished it a short time ago. As I was drawing, I was thinking about whether I should do all pages in the books and leave them there or tear some out and sell or give them away (I'm part of an Art Abandonment group on Facebook). I finally decided that I'll probably do some of each. Then, an idea came to me to use one of them as a guest book! Since I'm in a new home, I could ask each visitor to do a doodle or drawing on a page, then sign and date the page. I can then leave it as is or add some of my own doodles to each page.

Anyway, here's the completed journal page in the encyclopedia:

Volume 1: Title Page

Materials: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Prismacolor Colored Pencils on Title Page of Britannica Junior Encyclopedia, Volume 1, 1979 Edition
Time Spent: 12 hours
Size: 7.25"x9.25"

Okay, that's all for now. I really need to go pick a box out of the garage and unpack it ... and my trampoline is looking at me with great disappointment ...

Bookmark, Wedding, and Botanical Tangles

As usual, I've been quite remiss in updating this blog so I'll try to catch up. You can click on the images to see larger versions, especially for the last one.

I did several additional tangled bookmarks which you'll see below. Each one is 2"x6" and took up to 2 hours to complete. They don't have any shading on them as the bookmark pieces had a smooth finish that did not accept pencil shading very well. They can be used as bookmarks or mounted in a frame as art. Any of them are for sale for $10 each, which includes shipping and handling.

  

 

Materials: Sakure Micron Pens, pencil on purchased bookmark
Time Spent: 1-2 hours
Size: 2"x6"

I also asked some online friends for wedding photos that I could convert to doodles. I eventually want to sell these on etsy as special orders based on photos the customer sends me.

The doodle below is the first one I completed. The original photo showed the couple staring off to see on the deck of a cruise ship. I added the railing and tried to use patterns that imitated where it was, i.e., flowing ones for the dress, wavy ones for the water, etc. The photo didn't really show the bride's bouquet (only found the tip of one flower in the photo) so I added it based on a second photo the bride sent me.

Materials: Sakure Micron Pens, pencil on Bristol paper
Time Spent: 6 hours
Size: 5"x8"

The second one I did was of a bride and groom holding hands to show off their rings. I did have someone say that the feather at the far left made it look like the hand was missing fingers so I tried to darken the outlines around the hands. I used a new pen I'd just purchased and it bled so I may have ruined it. I haven't gotten up the courage to scan that version in yet so you'll just have to take this one.

Materials: Sakura Micron Pens, pencil on Bristol paper
Time Spent: 7 hours
Size: 8"x5"

The final tangle I'm going to show you is one I did was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the American Botanical Council and their 100th issue (30th anniversary) of their print journal, HerbalGram. I actually work for a small advertising firm that handles the ad sales for ABC and my boss paid for the frame while I did the drawing and mounting. I went through back issues of HerbalGram and picked out different plants that had been featured over the years. On August 23rd, we went to the ABC office and presented it to Mark Blumenthal, the founder of ABC. They seemed really pleased with it and placed it on temporary display in the front office on a small easel until they could find a permanent display location on a wall.

Top row, left to right: Ginseng, Olives, Gingko, Garlic, Camu Camu
Center: Echinacea
Bottom row, left to right: Termitomyces robustus, Sage, St. John’s Wort, Aloe Vera, Prickly Pear

Materials: Sakura Micron pens, pencils on Bristol paper
Time Spent: 15 hours
Size: 9"x12"

Anyway, hope you enjoy seeing my work. I've not been able to do any lately as I've been busy with other things but hopefully I can do a few more soon.

First Tangled Bookmark

I've been working on a special tangle that is 9"x12" but can't show it yet as I don't want anyone who might be associated with the group it is for to see it. I'll show it as soon as I can though.

In the meantime, I've been crocheting an African Flower elephant from a pattern by Heidi Bears on Ravelry. The Bubbo's Pants group is having a CAL for any of her animals (hippo, pony, giraffe, elephant, frog, or bear) and one of the ladies purchased the elephant pattern for me since I couldn't afford it. Not that the prices are high, they aren't, but with only a part time job right now, it just wasn't in my budget. So far, I've almost completed her bum. It's going slowly since I was jumping between her and the tangle all weekend. It will probably have to go on the back burner for a while as I really must get going on designs for the next issue of Crochet Uncut.

Last night, I decided to tangle a bookmark. I'd purchased a pack of them at Michaels for 99 cents and wanted to try them out. They aren't made for tangling and have a glossy finish so the ink dries much slower than on Bristol board - but I like how it came out. You can see it below. It is 2"x6", took just over 2 hours to complete, and, if you'd like to purchase it, is $10 which includes shipping and handling.

By the way, I just wanted to mention again that even though I'm calling these tangles, that is just so other people recognize what they are and can find them. I do not Zentangle®. I am not a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) nor do I ever plan to be. Zentangling incorporates specific methods of doodling and also incorporates some teachings that I cannot support. If I ever teach how to tangle, it will not be following their methods.

I just wanted to make that clear.

The Zentangle® Method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is copyrighted. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Two Dog Tangle

When I was packing to move from Utah to Texas, I'd placed some yarn and other items on my bed to get them out of the way. My dogs, Mr. Darcy and Linus, loved to play on my bed and as a result, I ended up with what I called "The Two Dog Tangle." I posted in a forum on Ravelry where they loved to untangle stuff and a lady in California offered to untangle my mess.

It started out as not being such a big thing after a few "Get off the bed!" hollers at them:

After a few more play sessions, it looked something like this after I was able to remove a few items but what remained filled almost half of a 13 gallon garbage bag. There were at least 5 projects in there, one that I removed the needles from as I couldn't remember what I was making. You can see two of them at the top of the photo, one at the far left, one at the bottom left, and the last one is somewhere in there. The motif one is the only one I needed saved. The ear buds for the iPod are also still in there (see lower right corner for small section of cord). Some of the yarn had fallen through the headboard (through different sections) and was tangled under the bed. One skein had been located by the Shih Tzu (Linus) under the bed and dragged out into the hall before I could catch him.

Items successfully removed from yarn barf: 1 C-Pap machine with tubing and cord, 2 iPod cords, 2 skeins of Hobby Lobby fuzzy yarn, 1 partial skein of Lion Brand Jiffy Yarn, 1 ball of metallic Feza, a small amount of pink yarn, 1 skein of misc. green yarn (possibly also Hobby Lobby, cotton), and some fabric scraps.

With packing and driving from Utah to Texas, I just couldn't handle untangling the rest myself so the untangling group on Ravelry was a life saver. Anyway, it's been far too long since I received the untangled yarn and I really needed to take the time to make something to send back to the lady who untangled it as a thank you. I'd already decided to send her one of my crocheted angel ornaments but since I'd recently started tangling in earnest, I thought it would be a good idea to make one for her. I also called it "Two Dog Tangle" after the reason it was made.

I want to add a few more items to the package before I send it but the angel and this tangle will be the main items in it.

Fortunately, most of my yarn is in storage so there's not much for my dogs to get into now, although they do find the odd skein lying around if I'm not careful.

Steampunk Tangles

I decided I needed to practice adding color to some tangles. I didn't do too well but it wasn't bad for a first attempt.

Here's the tangle before I added color to it:

And after adding color to it:

I'll just have to keep practicing.

Tangled Initial "H"

Finished this one about 2am this morning. Once I got started I just couldn't stop until it was done. I added a crochet hook and ball of yarn to this one.

Size: 3.5"x3.5"
Time: 4 hours
Materials: Micron on Bristol

There are hundreds of patterns out there and the two main sites I found have links to many of them, but neither one of them are complete. Just wish I had the time to find them all and put together my own link pages.

Tangle Weaving

An online friend recently mentioned that her son was into Zentangles so I looked it up. Basically, it's structured doodling. Of course, I've been doodling most of my life and I have the meeting notes to prove it! So, I decided to just do my normal doodles, then add some of the tangle patterns I found just to finish it off. After four hours, this is the result:

Size: 5.5"x8.5"

The next night, I purchased some Bristol paper and cut them into 3.5"x3.5" cards and made my first initial, including a paint palette and brushes:

Size: 3.5"x3.5"

While looking up patterns, I also found some designated as "line weaving" which I prefer over ZenTangle since I don't really like to use defined spaces that often when I'm doodling. In a post on Facebook, I put it as Zentangle/Line Weaving so my mother suggested I call this "Tangle Weaving." I like the sound of that.

I'm currently trying to figure out some sort of organization method so that I have a snapshot of as many patterns as I can get hold of, without having to print them all out. I may have come up with something but not sure if it will work out yet.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about this, you can do a search on "Zentangles" on Google and Pinterest to find tons of images and patterns. The term "Zentangle" is a registered trademark, but "tangle" and "line weaving" are not. You're also free to use "Tangle Weaving" if that's what you prefer to use, no restrictions.

Resources:

• ZenTangle.com - has a newsletter, kit, supplies, blog
• LineWeaving.com forums - forum and pattern library
• TanglePatterns.com - pattern library, tutorials