Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Almost There....

This week I worked on the penultimate (second to last) project that I have left from the book One Zentangle at a Time. The project is to tangle on a sheet of mica.
<Geek alert> Sheet mica is also known as isinglass and is referred to in the lyrics of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top from the musical Okalahoma! - "With isinglass curtains you can roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather." </Geek alert>
I have been working up to this for a while. First I had to buy some mica (thank you Amazon), then I had to play with pens to see what worked and what didn't. The list of the latter is much longer than the list of the former. I also googled an Instructable for making mica earrings and stopped at my favorite craft store to buy some Diamond Glaze as suggested in the Instructable. Before I actually got to making the earrings I got an idea to use one of the monoprints I made last week and tangle a sheet of mica to layer over it.

Monoprint
Mica

Mica layered over monoprint
The finished tile is shinier in person.


These are the pieces I tangled to make a pair of earrings. I was planning on layering the smaller piece over the larger one but am not sure I like the result so I may be making two pairs instead!

And then there is the Diva's Weekly Challenge. This week the challenge is to tangle white on black. My friend's daughter asked me the other day if tangling on black was harder than on white. I said, "yes" at the same time my friend said, "no." So obviously there is a range of opinion on the topic! I took the Diva's suggestion to draw slowly with the gel pen and was much happier with the process. Thank you Diva! I also used the same string that I did two weeks ago so that makes a nice comparison of white on black and black on white.

Tangles Used: Nipa, Kuzek, Soo Flowers, Beadlines,
Maisie, Seedings, and Nzeppel

So the question for next week is: Will I do the last project in the book in time for posting?

9 comments:

  1. Lovely black tile! Wonderful choice of tangles!

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  2. You totally have my respect for completing the challenges to tangle on many materials and in many ways. Your mica design is really wonderful with its limited color use and layered effect. Your jewelry is so cute - really? Beadlines drawn on jewelry? How inspired! Your black tile is beautiful. You have used so many tangles and yet it does not look overly busy. What a trick! Nice!

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  3. So are isinglass curtains made from mica? Love the earrings on the left!

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    1. Yes. They put a small window of mica in a curtain that they could roll down if it started to rain.

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  4. Thanks for the "geek alert"...what interesting info! Your mica earrings are gorgeous! And that was a great idea to use the same tangle with the white on black challenge. You've been busy!

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  5. I really love your black & white. The jewelry ideas are neat, too

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  6. Nice white on black. And fun jewelry ideas.

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  7. Your tile worked out very nicely. And the mica jewelry is amazing. I would be terrified to work on the mica. Your geek alerts are most interesting and I love them. I love to read what fellow geeks write about. We tend to be geeks in this house. Anyway, great work!

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