Weekly Duo-Challenge, Zendala Monday, Travelling Tangles and a How To...

Duo Challenge

Throw back Square One: Loev

It's a String Thing Challenge #254
Tofube & Barquillos

This week I randomly chose a Square One Purely Zentangle challenge as the IAST #254 companion. I was not a fan of Loev when I originally saw the pattern appear on S1 and though I was inspired by many of the submissions in response to it. I didn't really gel with it, but I persevered~"sometimes ya just gotta work through the ugly" wise words from Tiffany at Southern Gal Designs. The IAST side is kind of weird.

I was working on this at the cafe this morning when I accidentally dropped some water on it. My shading quandary was solved (I was pondering graphite but it's so messy and shiny) though I realized that I'd used two different water soluble pens which bled two different colors. There was not much else I could do to screw this one up so I went with it.

Zendala Monday:

Zendala #2

Pre-strung

I had Margaret Bremner's "Fengle" post open on my phone whilst doing this.

The string

The Travelling Tangles Project:

My finish...

...to this lovely postcard from Spring Taylor

I love this one. Sorry for the murky lighting on the starter pic.

My finish...

...to another starter from Spring

My finish...

...to Mary Dewick's fun starter

a background tile from Mary Dewick

it looks like she used art tissue 

I just sent out another round of Travelling Tangles starters and posted this pic of my mail art on the FB page. I got a lot of comments about the envelopes so I took a few process pics of one I made today.

Mail Art Envelopes:

tools:

envelopes
Baby wipes

acrylic paint: this was a really cheap set of 24 small tubes from I got at Ross

a stencil or two

some handmade stamps: I cut these out of fun foam and glued them to bar coasters I'd cut down, stacked and glued

I make daubers out of make-up wedge sponges and stick them into the screw caps taken from hotel shampoo bottles

Starting with the lightest colors, blob down a few colors straight out of the tube.

smear with your fingers

add a few more colors, being careful not to muddy

use a baby wipe to blend the colors a bit

Using a clean part of the baby wipe, rub lightly through the stencil to lift off the paint to get this this effect.
There are some great videos on Lisa Oxley's YouTube channel showing how this works.
You'll want to work quickly, in small areas at a time to avoid the stencil sticking to drying paint and tearing the paper if the envelope is a bit flimsy (like this one).

I use some white bathroom tiles as a paint palette. Spread a little paint onto a flat surface and apply the stamp to lift off paint, or with a flat paint brush, brush paint directly onto the stamp.

dab some white or light colored paint to the addressee area.
Repeat on the back side.

These are super fun and easy and you can do several at a time. You just want to make sure the paint is is still a bit wet when you do the stencil lift.
I hope this was helpful and please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me😉