Do you like to doodle?

I used to doodle a lot! I would doodle during meetings and back in college – you know, when you’re supposed to be paying attention! Well, now that I work for myself and don’t have to go to any boring meetings, I find that I don’t really doodle anymore. Zentangling isn’t really doodling, but it leads to a similar, calming effect. When I saw there was a class at Altenew that covered Zentangling and cardmaking, I thought I needed to check it out!

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Class #3: Zentangle for Cardmakers

I have to admit – though I was interested in checking out this class, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to draw well enough to succeed! I bet some of you have that concern too! Well, let me tell you, it’s not as hard as it looks! All Zentangle patterns (or tangles) are broken down into steps, so as long as you take it a step at a time, you can get the gist of it pretty quick. I quickly discovered that “tangling” is a great way to add extra detail to a card design!

My Project

The class covers a handful of tangles, but I thought I would explore the Internet for others! I had an idea that I wanted to fill in the spaces of the Feathered Leaves stencil, so I would need tangles that were designed to work along as a string. I found a great website that has hundreds of tangles you can learn – tanglepatterns.com.

The Technique & Design

I started my project by using the “stencil smoosh” technique on a piece of Brea Reese Mix Media paper. I chose this over watercolor as I knew I’d be doing a lot of work with fineline pens and I didn’t want to worry about the texture of the paper, or it sucking up too much ink. Mix Media paper will take a small amount of water without adverse effects, so it was a great choice. I dabbed the ink cubes onto the stencil, then spritzed the stencil with water to allow it to move and blend a bit, then placed it on the paper and lifted. 

I was super happy with the outcome! Once dry, I started in on the tangling. I had four patterns picked out (Shirley, Sea Wave, Liuliu Dashun and Sampa), but no plan on where they would go or how many I would do. In hindsight, I would have been better served outlining the stencil so I didn’t have to keep overlaying it.

Speed Coloring Video

 It took me a couple of hours to do this, so even though the video is only about 10 minutes, know that it’s sped up 7x! After I finished the tangles, I cut down the design and mounted it up on a square card base with two border pieces. A strip of Golden Trim Washi helped the sentiment pop!

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