Diva Challenge 215 - Labyrinth

Oooh, thank you Laura! (What a lot of weather you're having!) And what a great challenge! I've learnt how to draw a labyrinth this week and really enjoyed the process. Not a great tile that I produced at the end of it all, but absolutely worth the effort and the journey involved in creating it. Proper Zen, this was! I call it 'Dancing the Diva Labyrinth' - and for the background, DL Labyrinth by Donna Hornsby.

Not a lot of time to do much else this week but I am enjoying seeing what everyone else has done in the many varied and interesting tangle challenges. It's really good to see tangling friends and their work on Facebook and in other places across the web.

Axxx

Diva Challenge 213, Artful Creation String 004 and String Thing 88

I was determined to do more tangling this week. I've had a few weeks where I haven't made enough 'me' time and I've been getting tangle withdrawal symptoms.

SO, as well as any practice I might do, I've made sure I've done three challenges to keep me in my groove (do people still say this? Perhaps not....showing my age.)

First was the Diva's lovely challenge - pick anything as your string. I may have taken this a bit too literally as I chose scissors...and they didn't disappear into the background the way a string should. But I enjoyed the process. I've used Keeko for the border and then Printemps, Birds on a Wire, Pippin, Ennis, Diva Dance and a tangle I know I copied from Michele Beauchamp, but I don't know its name....

I would probably use scissors as a string again but make sure I didn't emphasise them quite as much.

* Not a 'STOP PRESS' announcement, but I suddenly remembered another stencil I used to nice effect. The town I live in has a wonderful hilltop castle which creates an iconic silhouette on the landscape. I have used this a couple of times as a string and thought I'd share one of them here - maybe you live near something similar. I made mine into postcards and they sold in a flash!

It's been a while since I did Cheryl's challenge too. In the past, we've tangled through the alphabet and now the challenge is to tangle through the strings found on Linda's invaluable TanglePattern's site.  This week it's String 004 - a nice simple couple of loops. I have been practising 'Narwal' by Samantha Taylor which is just beautiful and a pleasure to draw. This is my very simple version.

And I've cheated a bit with this post because I haven't yet done Adele's String Thing Challenge - BUT I WILL! And when I have, I will post it here. Adele puts all the tiles submitted to her challenge on her website on Mondays, so it's slightly different to the other two, which require a blog link in order to see people's tiles. I am going to do this challenge this evening when I finish work. Definitely. For sure. Really.

This is the string..

And the tangles this week are 8s; Pia and Tipz...great choices!

And here is my finished tangle. Thanks for looking and don't forget to check Adele's blog next week to see all the other great entries.

Diva Challenge 211 - Flux

This week, the Diva has had to put Artoo and his health first and here's hoping he's feeling better very soon.

However, we were not left without a Challenge - she's good - and we were sent off to investigate the 'Fluxes' of Rick and Maria. Interestingly, I think they are two very different patterns, not even tanglations of the same thing but for some reason, they bear the same name.

I took the basic shape of each as my string and tangled the two different shapes inside their string counterpart. Personally, I much prefer Rick's version, and I think you can tell on my tangle but it's nice to have options!!

Take care Artoo and family. I know you look after each other so very well. Hugs from Spain.

Ax

Diva Challenge and String Thing 85

I'm getting way behind with doing Challenges. I don't seem to have enough time in the day to get things done at the moment, never mind leaving myself tangling time. I must try and re-organise!

I have managed to finish Diva Challenge 210 which I enjoyed very much. The challenge was to tangle on a spiral string - one of my favourites - and I decided to go for an unusual combination. A snail shell with a feather tangle and I'm pleased with the result - it took quite a lot of doing and more ink than I usually am prepared to lay down in one tile!

I haven't had an opportunity to look at everyone else's work this week either but I bet there's been some amazing entries - this is something I look forward to seeing when I have a moment!.

And today, I made time to do Adele Bruno's String Thing Challenge but if I don't hurry up, it won't get to her in time! So, in great haste, here is number 85 and it's another spiral!! Hurray! I failed totally at Mumsy, no matter how many times I tried it. I will have to give it another go in a bigger format, I think. But this was a new way to do Printemps for me - it is one of my very favourite tangles - which I did following Adele's suggestions. Very pleased I am with the results, so pleased with Printemps that I had hardly any room to include Kelp. Can you just see it ? Looking forward to seeing how Mumsy SHOULD be done when Adele publishes the tiles.

Thanks to both Laura and Adele.

Diva Challenge 207 - Use my Tangle 'Unbatz'

Minimal post this week.
Unbatz by Sandy Hunter, with my own tangle,  'Skwirl' and the Square One: Purely Zentangle pattern for this week,  'Sez'.
String 146 is by Lily Moon.
Thank you Laura.  I do hope you all have a better week.
Axxx

(Is it just me, or do some of my 'Sez' look like rather worried pairs of eyes...? Now I am a bit disconcerted.)

Diva Challenge 206. Tools/Trade

Another week, another challenge. This week, Laura turned an accident into an opportunity - she's good, you know - and as a result of slicing into her thumb, she decided to use a different pen to usual. And although it didn't work out quite as she expected - lovely nevertheless -  it inspired her to challenge us to do our tangles this week using tools or material that we don't usually use or have been tempted to try.

I didn't have to think for long! Before Christmas, I ordered some laser-cut wooden trees and some hearts that I had intended to decorate and give as gifts for Christmas. However, the order took ages to arrive and in the end, I only had time to try a couple and they ended up on our tree at home.

I had a recent trip to Scotland to visit friends and decided to send myself a big parcel of more laser-cut wooden shapes, including lots of hearts for Valentine's Day. (Finding these things is Spain is difficult and if you do, it's three times more expensive than in the UK!) Yet again, my timing was really bad and I didn't have much time to carry out my plan. (That of selling them at a local market...I only managed to complete about eight....)

So Laura's challenge has arrived at the perfect moment for me - getting started on the wooden shapes!! The first is a heart that I tangled before the challenge was issued that I did for a friend's birthday, but it was a first for me as I used some new Jelly Roll sparkly pens. (I posted some of my trees and hearts on my blog already) but I didn't post this one so that she wouldn't see it before it arrived at her house for her birthday - she was very pleased with it, I'm glad to say! The hearts are about 11cms tall so it is quite a nice size for a gift.

What I did specifically for the challenge was another wooden shape - a star this time - and filled the pattern with my sparkly pens, which sadly don't show up on the scan.... but which looks really nice in real life! Obvious, I know, but the star shape lends itself perfectly to Auraknot and I really just couldn't resist. Filling the centre with Tipple was also another irresistible for me...they really are the perfect combination! I ran the scan through a photo editing programme and enhanced the colours a bit, in the hope that the 'sparkle' might show - which it doesn't but the colours are a bit more vibrant than they looked in the scan. I love the depth that Auraknot gives!

And finally, I did a little 'plaque' with the work 'Zen' on it, which I might hang around my neck to indicate that I may seem a little vague as to the plot of a film...I like to tangle sitting with the family or my husband when we sit down for the evening. I confess I prefer the tangling to watching the tv and usually have no idea at all what's going on, but at least we're sitting all together!!
With hindsight, I would have made my first 'Z' fit the more elegant style of the 'e' and the 'n' but I'm not an artist and often wish I'd done at least one thing different. NEXT time!!  I also had another go at a new tangle (new to me) called Inaura, which formed part of the String Thing Challenge last week and to which I have become a bit addicted! The size of the plaque is about 10x6cms.

You do see what I mean about the 'Z'......
Keekoo makes a great border though!

Great challenge, Laura - I do hope your thumb is better now. Check out all the great entries on her blog -which is what I'm going to do now -  and have a go yourself if you haven't yet!

Axxx

Diva Challenge 205 - Year of the Goat!

Laura shared some great photos this week on her Challenge. It's good to see Artoo doing so well after his recent operations. It was with some dismay that I read her challenge though, number 203, as she chose the Chinese Year of the Goat, it being B-rad's birthday this month.

How on earth could I do this? One line at a time, of course.

I can't say I'm happy with my attempt or that it demonstrates any artistic ability or imagination....but as a comical and slightly unusual drawing, then I admit I'm rather fond of my 'Jittery', Diva-dancing friend. (I did the Printemps background first and was tempted to leave my goat silhouette white but my pen got the better of me!)

In my opinion, goats are either comical and amusing or devilish and a bit scary. Mine is in the former category, without doubt.  It will be a very interesting selection of entries this week, I think! Don't forget to check them out on the Diva's blog.

Say 'Hi' to Brogue...(random goat name.)