Zentangles – Diva Challenge #183 “X-Did”

After flea-ing the past two Saturdays, and rushing out custom orders on Monday, I am happy to say that even though I am exhausted in body and mind, I never imagined that all of this crafting and selling could be such a huge part of my life. (I am a former civil servant and have worked in several public service institutions during my career days.)

When I first started crafting in 2005-2006, I’d never thought any of my creations would sell so I usually gave them away for birthdays and Christmas. I am very thankful for those years as they allowed me to hone and practice my craft and wire work. Developing designs is something that is not second nature to me, so those experiences of crafting specific styles and designs to suit the receiver were indeed very vital, now that I am looking back 🙂

My little shop last Saturday 🙂

Some of the visitors at the flea commented that my pieces were very well-thought out and there was a good variety. In fact, I think there were so many differing styles, some thought they were made by more than one person, or that they might have been mass produced. I guess I can see why they thought so – crafters often have a trademark or signature style that they incorporate into everything they design. It is rather unlikely to see many differing styles by one artist.

Whilst I can see how this practice lends brand identity, it can be a bit too much of the same thing. My take on this is to maintain as impartial as possible whilst designing, in terms of materials, colours, textures, etc. Each piece should ‘speak’ and have its own charm. I mean, Nature itself has such a great abundance of designs and patterns, and everything has its place and its own beauty.

Likewise, when I tangle, I like my pieces as organic and ‘flowy’ as possible. I am not very fond of tangles that look too rigid or encourage right angles 😛 I love the curvy and the more the tangle mimics nature, the better.

That said, I did have a great time with Week 13’s “I walk the Line” where I turned my often used tangles straight 😛 It was really fun, but it made me appreciate curls and curves all the more 😛

I am adding it here for fun 😛 (Clicking the image will take you to Flickr.)

This week, the Diva challenged us to try out X-Did, a tangle by Annette Carlo.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed (from the busies and also because one of our cats is sick) so I just had to tangle away before bedtime. Upon first glimse, I honestly thought I’d dislike it as it appeared a little too grid-like for my preference 😛 However, after a few attempts on scrap paper, I decided it actually looked pretty and loved those faceted shapes 😛 We were watching Running Man (which was hilarious as always) at the same time, and this eventually led to a few blunders on my ZIA 😛

 

For my string, I layered 3 Bijou tiles over each other randomly 😛 I often get stuck when coming up with string ideas so I might do this again as it really helps get me unstuck 😛

In the middle of my Ixorus is blunder #1 (blame it on Running Man!!) and I had to add in a line of Cockles and Mussels. And in order to complement that line, I decided my Ixorus’ “blades” would also incorporate the same tangle instead of my usual shading 😛 And actually, I can’t seem to locate blunder #2, hooray 😛

 

I truly enjoy looking at the outcome and I’d never have used it if not for this wonderful challenge 🙂 It looks like the X-Did is a tangle I’d certainly feature again ^^

 

P.S. I’ve spell-checked a few times and this fog in my head isn’t helping.. Do forgive any typoes or grammatically criminal acts your keen eyes may find within my text 😛