Zentangle on Acrylic

Over the weekend I finished up a project that I have been toying with for a while. In her book One Zentangle a Day Beckah Krahula has a project using clayboard and resin to make a layered tangle that is then made into a necklace. I didn't want to invest in all the materials and was going to skip it but then I found these acrylic shapes at Michael's by the Mod Podge company. I figured if you could decoupage on them you could tangle on them!

Materials Used: Podgeable Acrylic Shapes, Identi pen, Sharpies, Elmers Clear Gel Glue, old paint brush, and a bottle cap for a glue pot

The acrylic shapes come 18 to a package with 3 of each size/shape combination. One of the 3 has a loop on top so you can hang your completed piece as an ornament or jewelry. So the basic concept is to tangle on three layers of acrylic and then assemble them with glue.

I first tried tangling on the smallest square and painted the back with silver paint. I put the first layers together with decoupage but found that it didn't dry as clear as I wanted so switched to the Elmers clear gel glue for the rest of the project. I also abandoned painting the backs since I plan on hanging them as ornaments so don't want to have a plain back if I can avoid it.

Attempt #1

The top layer is a flower motif, the middle layer is Fescu, and the bottom layer is a leaf. I felt like the tangles on the three layers overlapped too much but that the method had potential so I continued with my experiments.

Attempt #2

With this piece I had more room to work with and thought I found a better balance of tangles. Tangles top to bottom are Poke Root, Flux, and Nekton.

Attempt #3

Here I decided to add some color. I used Sharpies and found they worked very well. Tangles top to bottom are Vitruvius and Tipple, Flux, Mssst

Attempt #4

On my final pass I tangled on the 3 remaining shapes. On the left I used Arukas. The middle layer has all the arcs and I alternated putting the arms on the top and bottom layer. The middle tangle was less successful. It is Bales and I decided to color the leaf parts green and then on the middle layer I put in red dots. But the registration wasn't so great so I colored the entire layer red which makes it had to see the top layer. The bottom layer is Florz. Next time I think I would glue the two layers together. Then when they were dry tangle on the top of the first layer and the back of the second layer and all will be registered correctly. The piece on the right I am quite happy with. The flower motif with some dots are on the top layer, leafy motif on the middle layer, and Mssst on the bottom layer.

I'm going to hang mine on the tree now. Let me know if you try this. I'd love to see pictures of what you come up with.