Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles Product Review #hahnemühle @Hahnemühle_USA

Let me tell you about these awesome tiles from

Hahnemühle!

YouTangle.art Tiles come in a set of 25 bright white squares stored in this cool tin bearing the rooster logo of Hahnemühle.

 It is like getting a gift with your drawing papers and it is the perfect size to leave sitting on your desk so you can review your art pieces any time you wish.

The tiles are 3.5" square with rounded corners. 

The surface is smooth and takes pencils, pen work, gel pens, inks, and some wet media very well. 

Let me show you what I mean.

I am a Certified Zentangle Teacher and use their

3.5" Zentangle tiles on a regular basis.

One nice thing about the smaller size of the zentangle tiles AND the Hahnemühle tiles is this -

you can create an awesome piece of art in just minutes.

Seriously, if you have 5 minutes you can create a piece of art using these tiles.

OK, sometimes it may take longer than 5 minutes; the idea is to just do it :). 

People aren't so intimidated when they can start and complete a drawing in one sitting.

 I started simple for my first experiment.

The color you see above is Zebra Pen's Mildliners. 

I have some beautiful pastel ones and I thought they would work well here. 

And they did!
As I drew, I could feel them sinking into the paper and grabbing hold.
I liked it.

For the black pen work I used a Sarasa Fineliner.

The smooth surface loved both these pen types!

 Here I used a Copic multiliner for the framework, the Zebra Mildliners for the color and accents and graphite for shading.

The smooth surface worked really well with this combination of pens also.

Let's stop for a minute and compare the Hanhnemühle tiles with the official Zentangle tiles.

They are the same size, both have rounded corners,

they are of similar feel and weight.

The one major difference I noticed is this - the Zentangle tiles have a rougher texture, a little coarser than the Hahnemühle tiles.

My pen nibs love the smoothness of the YouTangle.art Tiles!

More about this further down. 

 For this set of black and white tangled drawings

I used a variety of black pens:

Zebra Sarasa Fineliner,

Copic Multiliner,

Sharpie Fineliner, and 

Sakura Micron.

Every one of these pens worked like a champ

on these tiles!

If I had to choose a favorite I would have to go with

the Sharpie Fineliner, but seriously each one worked great!

You just can't beat this smooth surface for accepting ink well. 

 And, I used a Derwent Graphic HB pencil for shading.

 Just a side note here - isn't this tangle lollywimple

from CZT Sandy Hunter the cutest tangle?

Such fun and it is hard to believe how much detail you can fit into 3.5 inches!

 This was a fun one to tangle!

The pattern is called flying geese - think about geese flying in their V formation.

We live in Maine now and Canadian geese live here in abundance until the snows start. 

You can always recognize them by the sound they make and the V formation they fly in!

Well, this tangle does the same thing.

I made it in 4 rows, 4 bands. 

The center section points outward,

the next section points inward,

then outward,

and then the outer most section points inward.

You get an awesome look!

Even if you knew that tangle, you probably wouldn't have picked that out without being told.

 You will notice there is a lot of shading on this tile.

The 'nzeppel requires a lot of shading to make it come to life.

I put down the graphite first, then I took a tortillon - a paper stump - and blended the graphite in circular motions to make it look smooth.

That's a whole lot of blending.

I had no problem whatsoever with the tile's integrity.

That was the main reason I chose 'nzeppel for this piece - to see how the YouTangle.art Tiles would take that much abuse.

 Heavy line work?

No problem.

 This one was just fun!

In fact it's name is 4Fun!

I did have a little struggle with all the curvy lines

and my Sharpie fineliner wanting to dig into the softness of the paper. 

I will have to keep working on that.

 I promise all these tiles came in the same tin.

They are all a bright white color,

although you would never know it from this photo. 

Spoken was the base tangle for this tile.

Then I filled each arm with a different pattern. 

The only one I had issues with was barquillos.

It is the one at top center with the little lines that go back and forth. 

I used a Sarasa Fineliner and the nib just

dug into the tile.

Maybe I have too heavy a hand when I draw the back and forth motions?

Black and white is all well and good,

but

I really, really love color!

All types of color and all types of product!

First I pulled out my box of every Gelly Roll pen they make. 

Seriously. I bought it on Amazon!

I used the creamy ones and the glittery ones

and they both worked great!

No digs in the paper, no skips, no issues.

Just beautiful color.

Insert happy face.

Then I pulled out my Ranger Distress Ink pads and gave them a try.

I simply swiped the open ink pads across the tile.

The color sank into the tile more than I am used to,

but that is just a learning curve to get the right amount of swiping.

The colors blended very well on this paper.

So I moved on to the Ranger Distress Oxide inks.

Pad form. And swiping followed by a baby wipe to smooth out lines.

I was curious how the tile would hold up to the baby wipes.

The paper held together well as long as I didn't do too much wiping. 

Just enough to blend and smooth the colors.

I know these tiles are not meant for wet media,

but the color crazy person in me cries out for wet media.

And color.

Any color.

So.

I tangled the tile first, using Zebra's Sarasa 

Fineliners in various colors.

Then I pulled out my Yasutomo Pearlescent watercolors and added a color wash around the outside. 

You can see in that top left hand corner that I got a little excited with the wash and the tile started pilling a little.

So I knew I needed to stop at that point.

No problem, I was pushing the limits of the tile 

and I knew that. 

 But like I said earlier . . . . color!

Schmincke watercolors are my favorites for 

color that isn't ink. 

And I don't know what the difference was between Yasutomo and Schmincke, 

but this color went down nice and smooth.

The colors blended and mixed beautifully.

The tangle pattern is called drawings.

I had a little issue with the thick black lines,

the pen nib tended to cut a line into the watercolor.

Like I said - I might be too heavy-handed.

Those little pops of the white UniBall Signo gel pen

worked beautifully, they just sat right on top of everything and dried nicely!

 Encouraged by those results, I tried another tile with the Schmincke colors. Lots of water and I just let the colors sit and blend. Then I left the tile to dry completely on its own, thus no pilling.

I love how it turned out!

The tangle is called gutz.

Hahaha! I used it for the Halloween tangling.

I used Sarasa Fineliners for the drawing,

and they worked great!

 As you can see I haven't tangled these last three yet.

And I may not.

I just love this product and the colors it yields.

Twinkling H2Os.

They have a lot of mica and sparkle and they look great. Every. single. time.

I primed my pots of H2O with a few drops of water and oxgall and let them sit.

After about 5 minutes, I used a mop brush to put lots of water on the tile.

Emphasis on the "lots."

Then I added brushes of the H2O color and let the colors run and spread and blend.

While the tile was still plenty wet

I added some bits of sea salt,

then set the tiles aside to dry. 

 I did this for all three of these last tiles.

Lots and lots of water and the

Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles did great.

I think the main difference with these tiles is

I didn't do a lot of brush motions back and forth

and I just left them sitting to dry naturally

while Mark and I went out for dinner.

Once I was satisfied the papers were completely dry,

I brushed off the excess salt with my hand.

I used a hotel room key card to scrape off the bits

my hand could not remove.

The tiles were finished and they had no damage.

Over all I love the Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles!

The only real problem I had was with excess brush stroke with wet media - which the tiles are not designed for anyway - which caused some pilling.

Nothing that destroyed the tile.

Once I noticed the pilling I stopped that motion.

The occasional digging of the pen nib into the tiles

is probably my own fault, 

and not that of the tiles. 

I love that they come in the tin.

(I have another idea for the tin itself.

Watercolor ground pulp on the cover and

watercolor or ink sprays, then some tangling.

Hmmmmmmm.

Gotta think some more about that.

Thank you, Sandra Strait.

Insert another happy face.)

Hahnemühle YouTangle.art Tiles can be 

purchased from Dick Blick. 

That is where I got mine. 

Super affordable.

A tin of 25 tiles is just $10.89 USD.

Please check them out.

I feel certain you will love them.

And, if you are new to my blog,

pink=link.

Just so you know.

Interested in another Hahnemühle product?

Let me know and I'll work on a product review for you :) .