Molly Bee's Attic

I've been spending every free moment studying Zentangle materials for my CZT class at the end of October. I've been practicing the art and method Zentangle for about 8 years now, but I have only been doing what I enjoy so it's time to learn, or at least become familiar with, all of the things I haven't tried. If my company is being so generous with  their money, time, and faith-sending me to class, the least I can do is be prepared! So, I had seen the term 'Zenbuttons' bantered around but hadn't really investigated them. There is a section in the Zen Primer that talks about reticula and Zenbuttons stem from that, so I thought I ought to at least try it. What I saw online didn't grab me that much but I decided to do at least 5 so I could get the hang of it. The first one I tried was with purple and black on a tan tile. It went OK but I wasn't thrilled with the process or the outcome. My outside circle was wonky, the highlighting was weak, a...

Laura's challenge this week was to use the tangle pattern 'NZepple. 'NZepple is one of my Mac and Cheese tangles. It appears in 90 % of my work. It's so relaxing to do and I love the way that, even though the same design is repeated over and over in a grid, it creates a secondary pattern. I love to use it as is...like in the background of this tile. Or make it wonky style and turn it into sea shells like in the bottom left hand corner of this tile. (Kudos to Margaret Bremner who first turned us on to this variation called 'Cockles and Mussels'!) As long as 'NZepple, Hybrid, Quiltz, Mooka, and Zinger exist, all is right with my world! What are your Mac and Cheese Tangles?

Laura's back over at the Zentangle Diva site! I'm so happy to see her! It's been a long, boring summer without her! Her first challenge upon returning is one that gets us back to the basics of Zentangle-dots, frame, string, basic tangles. It's a particularly apropos one for me right now since I will be traveling to Providence in October to attend a class to become certified to teach Zentangle! Since I found out, I have been concentrating on getting back to basics so this challenge is perfect. It uses Hollibaugh, Crescent Moon and Printemps. Thanks for a great challenge, Laura!!!