Aura (s)

In the Zentangle Method, a line tracing around the outside or inside of a tangle is called an aura.

It's like a halo.

It's like ripples that radiate on calm water

Aura-ing is a good example of drawing in a Zentangle way for two reasons: (1) you don't need to figure out where to draw, you just trace what's already there; and (2), you can't usually tell what the shapes of the next few auras will look like so you just enjoy the one you're drawing at the moment.

Aura-ing is a basic component of many tangles. That's why we teach crescent moon first in our introductory classes.

Aura-ing is a great exercise in awareness, control of pen and focus. It's a good reminder to rotate your tile as you tangle. It encourages a tangler to not pre-plan the outcome of a completed Zentangle tile.

We call aura an enhancement because it can be added to any tangle and it enhances that tangle. Aura enhances with complexity, fun, and the unexpected.

In this blog we suggest that the concept of aura can be applied with a further creative Zentangle flair of the unexpected.

How about adding a different shaped aura?

Or try different shaped auras one after the other.

You could tangle the space between two auras.

You can aura with a tangle.

These are just some ideas that rippled out from a few tangle studies.

We are sure that you will be able to come up with many more!

Have fun trying these on your favorite tangles and savor what happens next.

Enjoy!

Click images for larger views.

Challenge #151

Maria writes:

My Zentangle tile for Laura Harms' "I am the Diva" Challenge #151:

To Artoo and Beyond!

Wishing the Harms family a beautiful day,

Maria (and Rick)



Tangles used:

• mooka
• tripoli
• quandary

Click image for larger view.

Frosted Betweed

Rick writes:
As I put the trash out on a recent chilly New England morning, the rising sun glinted off our car hood as if to show off last night's tangled frosting.

Looks like the frost fairies were doing some betweed and a few other tangles yet to be deconstructed!

Sometimes something we see inspires a new tangle. Sometimes, a tangle is cultivated through lots of playing around; which is how betweed came about. But whatever its origins, when you tangle in a Zentangle way, it's fascinating to notice how often the results can suggest fanciful sea creatures, plants, and in this case, frost.

On my way inside, the Canada geese called me to look up and I quickly grabbed a picture as they flew over our home.

When I went through these pictures, I realized that this flyover is amazingly similar to a new tangle that our grandson, Wyatt, developed! When he first showed it to us, it reminded me of a flock of birds. We look forward to sharing it with you some time later.

Once inside, I noticed some of our Zentangle tiles and Zentangle inspired art  on the mantle behind my computer. It looks like they all could have been inspired by that morning's frost!

Ah tangles . . . such a naturally beautiful and eloquent langauge!


See step-outs and a YouTube instruction of betweed here. 

Click images for larger views.

Lighting Our Tree

In our 12th Day of Christmas blog we "lit" our Christmas tree. We told you we'd tell you how we did it in our next blog.

Here is a view of three Christmas trees Maria tangled on Zentangle Zendala tiles:

Here they are lit:

We accomplished all this by tangling them with Sakura® Gelly Roll® Moonlight® pens. Certain colors of these pens fluoresce under a UV light.

For instance, here is a view with a UV flashlight turned off:

And here is that same view with the UV flashlight turned on:

We discovered another neat aspect of UV light as we were playing around. If you use a regular white Gelly Roll pen on an original white Zentangle tile, you can't easily see it in regular light.

But when you illuminate it with a UV light you can see the "secret" message!

In this case:

Merry Christmas

Happy New Year

Seasons' Greetings

Happy Holidays

and two of our year-round favorite words:

Passion & Gratitude

Such fun!

Check out the newsletter associated with this blog post for a list of the prize winners of our 12 Days of Christmas blog series.

All of us here wish you and yours a wonder-full year in 2014!

Click images for larger views.

Day 12

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true loves got from me

Twelve tangled placecards

Eleven tiles festooning
Ten tangled heart-strings

Nine hand-y tangles

An eight penny wallet

A seven-finned Fan-tangle

Six letters dancing

Five Golden Things !
Four puzzle pieces

Three bottle gift tags

Two Yuletide ornaments

From my Treasure Box of ATCs!

-----+-----

Rick's Notes:
Molly made these placecards for our family Thanksgiving meal. And yes, for those who counted, there are thirteen placecards. It makes sense though. After Molly made twelve for everyone else, she needed one, too!

She used rubber stamp letters for the names and pasted a folded card to the back of each Zentangle ATC tile to hold it up.

Since there's always an elf on the twELFth day, Elf joined us for this photo shoot. When evening came, Elf lit the tree that Maria tangled from a black Zentangle Zendala tile.

(We'll show you how he did it in our next blog.)

See you soon!

Click images for a larger view.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11

Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas

My true love got from me

Eleven tiles festooning

Ten tangled heart-strings

Nine hand-y tangles

An eight penny wallet

A seven-finned Fan-tangle

Six letters dancing

Five Golden Things !
Four puzzle pieces

Three bottle gift tags

Two Yuletide ornaments

From my Treasure Box of ATCs!

-----+-----

Rick's Notes:

That festooned frame hangs on our porch . . .

. . . and the late summer pink of those now dried hydrangea will linger throughout the winter.

Maria created each "bead" from a Zentangle ATC tile by free hand slit-scoring each tile into quarters with an X-Acto® knife, either lengthwise or width-wise. She then tangled three facets and used some double sided ATG® tape on the fourth facet.

She also uses this particular X-Acto blade to slice open the tubes of gold gouache to use every last little bit . . . hence the golden blade. That candle holder with the wine cork is how she keeps her X-Acto blades safely close at hand.

A "festoon" is described as "a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points" (dictionary.com). We had carefully chosen this word to describe this day's contribution before Maria put this festoon together. But, I didn't expect her to festoon the festoon!

First she threaded each ATC "bead" with silk ribbon and a knot between each "bead." The she threaded a fine green mesh ribbon through those knots, adding a red glass crow bead between each knot.

You may notice some tangling on the glass over that tree. We put a piece frosted glass over the painting, frosted side out, and we're tangling the image. Notice in the first image how we "repaired" this damaged frame!

Click images for a larger view.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 12

Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas

My true love got from me

Ten tangled heart-strings

Nine hand-y tangles

An eight penny wallet

A seven-finned Fan-tangle

Six letters dancing

Five Golden Things !
Four puzzle pieces

Three bottle gift tags

Two Yuletide ornaments

From my Treasure Box of ATCs!

-----+-----

Rick's Notes:

Take a closer look at Maria's beaded heart on that last Zentangle ATC tile:

She created those radiating circles with a grey Fabrico® marker.

She secured that tangle of beads with some Fire Line® beading thread . . .

. . . a strong heart-string indeed.

Click images for a larger view.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 11
Day 12