Practice, Practice, Practice

Some time ago I was part of a Facebook group dedicated to making stacks of tangles. Literally stacking one pattern on top of another.
I find after all this time it is still the best way for me to practice tangles I love, or tangles that are new to me, or just ones that need work.
It is really easy to do. Just make horizontal lines  - dividing your page into sections - and fill each horizontal section with  a different tangle.
So, grab your sketchbook and divide a page into sections - horizontal or vertical - it doesn't matter. And tangle away!

Quick Stacks

My life is consumed with books. Literally.  It is rare for me to sit and tangle just for myself. This piece was just for me. In a little journal I made, I intentionally did not shade this piece,  so the graphite wouldn't ruin the adjacent page. 
From top to bottom: flying geese, bits of TootsieMoon here and there, florz, All Boxed Up, netz, and curlz.
Here's hoping you have a great weekend,  and that you make some time for yourself!

Tangling With Mickey

One of our recent stack and tangle prompts was to use found papers.  To find a paper that you could tangle on and turn into a piece of art. 
It just so happens I checked into a Disney World resort that day and had a packet of information available to me.  I found this sheet of paper,  a bit water-rimmed and stained from someone before me's drink. Shame on you, housekeeping, for leaving me someone else's coaster as part of my introduction to Disney World. Anyway, I liked this sheet of stained paper because of the photo that was on it - Mickey and some awesome cast members. The rest of the page had information about staff and safety tips. 
I divided my drawing area into segments,  then started filling them in with tangles. I did a little shading - which didn't work well on this slick paper -  and called it done.
Tangling with Mickey. Apropos title, I think. 

Feather Stacking

 You keep hearing me talk about stacking tangles.

Right now I am working on feather stacks.

You see, each of those little v-shaped sections

is a separate stack.

Let me walk you through how I made this.

I love me some bright, beautiful, vibrant color!

To get this color effect I wanted, I used some Brushos Crystal Colours.

Brushos are powders that activate and swirl and mix when hit with water.

I began by using a mop brush and just slopping water all over the top 

of my 140 lb. mixed media paper.

Then I used three shades of Brushos crystals and just 

tapped the color into the water.

After the color spread and mixed, I realized it still needed a bit more green, 

so I added more of the pigment where I thought it would work best. 

If you are interested in reading more about Brushos,

I did an in-depth product review here. 

Once my paper was completely dry,

I lay in a faint outline of a feather and filled in the vein.

I haven't done a successful feather before,

so I thought the pencil line might help me with parameters.

I began by dividing some sections and etching in  feathered lines for segments.

Then I tangled the areas. 

I wasn't really happy with the way my feather looked at this point.

So I added some frills. 

A little fescu, some more whispy lines,

and that white gel pen for some popping highlights.

I think I like this feather stacking.

Definitely going to give it another try.

Hahaha! Why don't you join me?

Book Tangling

This was fun to do and it felt a little wrong to do! I received this beautiful new book in the mail. It has a lot of watercolor pages like this - blank of photos, some pretty color washes, and maybe a little texture here and there. I picked out a nice blank-ish page and stated tangling. I really love that tangle gnarly on the left! It is a free-flowing, fun tangle to draw.
My stash of books to draw in has grown to about 15 now.  Hahahahaha! So I must not have felt too badly about it!
You know what would make a great tangling journal??? Any old math textbook you might still have laying around.  Hahahaha!  Spoken like the homeschool mom I used to be!

Wonky Stacking

There has been a lot of interest in stacking tangles lately, as well as using papers other than zentangle tiles. This little piece of art does both!
This is a small piece of scrapbook paper I had left over, about 5" x 4". I made some wonky, non-straight string lines with my pen, and started laying in tangles.   From top to bottom: diva dance, printemps, merryweather, meer and cootie.
All the color in this tile was part of the scrapbook paper. Super easy to do and what a great way to use up some of that paperI still had in a cabinet!
Do you have leftover scraps you could tangle on?

Stack Your Stripes

Here is a new stacking challenge for you -

stacking stripes.

Basically this means one tangle per stripe, all stacked on top of each other or next to each other. Stacked stripes can be horizontal or vertical. And one tangle per stripe. This is a great way to learn some new tangles, and to practice the ones you've been working on. These two I'm showing you are very different in appearance. I did not plan it that way, but that is the way they turned out. Why don't you give stacking stripes a try today?

4Mom, Jane Eileen's New Tangle

 Here is a pretty cool new tangle my friend and fellow CZT Jane Eileen created for Mother's Day!

Jane was playing around with this new tangle. As she drew it out, this is what she saw on row two and the name right away became 4Mom.

Jane has a pretty fantastic blog called  See Jane Run  where you can see her beautiful renditions of 4Mom,  as well as a host of other goodies!

Here is a little two inch Bijou tile I drew,  stacking Copada with 4Mom.  A lot of punch in a little tile!

This is another 2" Bijou tile, stacking 4Mom with flux.
My tile at the very top of this post stacks 4Mom with crescent moon and my own tangle TootsieMoon.

 4Mom is a versatile tangle, with lots of tangleation possibilities.

We'd don't you join us and give 4Mom a try this week!  

Faith

One more example of stacked, tangled, and lettered. I used another scrap of scrapbook paper to tangle this on. I really like the pink flower pops showing through the tangle design. An excellent use for all those bits of scrapbook paper I never use anymore. Love it! And the words - speak for themselves.

Stacking Circles

 Lately it's been all about the stacks.

Stacks of tangles. 

In this case, it's a stack of tangled circles.

Now you know I love me some gorgeous colors,

but I did not make this background myself.

It came from this book. (I was going to tell you what page,  but this awesome book doesn't have page numbers. So that's not going to happen.)
I purchased three of Mindy Lacefield's books and they are all beautiful! They are copies of her personal art journals with lots of open spaces where a tangler could have some fun. And I love the results!
Why don't you grab a book you haven't enjoyed in awhile,  or a book from a second-hand shop, and tangle a little today? You'll be glad you did.

Stacking in a Wreath

 Here's another stacked and tangled wreath.

Thinking you might want to try one of these,

but don't know where to start?

This is a photo of a wreath I posted last week. You can see the simple steps. I started with a plate and a bowl, which I traced for my strings. Then I just started sectioning off pieces and tangling them. The stacking technique comes into play as you continue building the wreath.

Add a little shading and before you know it - you have a tangled wreath stack that's pretty amazing!
This one is on a 10.5" Opus tile from Zentangle®. It works on any size, start smaller if you need to.