How many times do we have to tell you?... Cut it out!

Rick writes:
In 2007, we started BLOG Zentangle and began our enjoyable series of conversations within our Zentangle community.

In reading through these blog posts with their insightful comments, we decided to bring a few of them to your attention from time to time. It is easy, for me anyway, to sometimes think of old information as stale information. But these insights and conversations are anything BUT stale!

So, we invite you to enjoy this post from 2011.

                     Begin previous post . . .                  

Maria writes:

"Mom!!!!! (always screamed in two syllables!) . . . He's (my older brother) teasing me again . . . CUT IT OUT!!! Mom, tell him to stop . . . knock it off or I'll tell Dad . . . I said cut it out!"

David yells back, "No! YOU cut it out!"

Some of us have had those childhood nightmares (daymares?) of a sibling making our lives intolerable (or so it seemed). In actuality, it was never so bad. It just interrupted the rhythm of whatever I was doing. I was always content playing by myself, amused with my art or tiny dolls . . . but I guess my brother wasn't so much.

Of course, today we are both in our 60's and he's a really great guy, always was, love him to bits. It must be some sort of rite of passage to go through this routine, choreographed in the heavens by well-meaning beings getting us ready for what life lies ahead.

What does this have to do with Zentangle, you wonder? Well I took this chant to heart. Perhaps it was really angels telling me what to do.

"Cut it out!"

I always listen to my guardian angels . . . albeit somewhat late.

This one is done on a blank Zendala tile, folded once to create a sort of rocking horse effect.

With this next one . . .

. . . I folded the top (white tile) and back tile (black) along the diagonals. The white one folded with the crease facing out vertically, the black one creased inward horizontally. I stitched the white tile (yes, with needle and thread!) at two corners,

then I made a small horizontal slit at the top and inserted the top corner of the back tile into the slit.

I cut these tiles with an X-Acto® knife, something I am comfortable with. But you could use some cuticle scissors or fine embroidery scissors (if you don't mind using them on paper). Then, I tangled around the cut-outs.

A fun project for sure.

On this last one, I used 2 square tiles, white on the back and black for the front. I traced a circle (using the cap of my cayenne pepper jar, about 2" diameter) and cut out the center.

Then I folded the black tile in half (with art facing out), opened it and folded in half the other way (again with the art facing out). Then opened it up flat.

This just gives you a way to form the black tile into 3-D and the circular hole ends up looking like a square!

On the white tile, I cut 2 slits in each corner, (see example) big enough to slip the corners of the back tile in the larger slit, and out the smaller one, of each corner. Voila! A 3-D "Cayenne-tile"

This last little Zendala-ette is the piece I cut out of the blank square black tile. I just couldn't toss it!