Yesterday, over lunch, I met with an ex-colleague to work on two custom projects – a chunky pearl bracelet for her 21 year old niece and to upcycle her grandmother’s heirloom seed pearls. And oh… I am feeling extremely honoured to be entrusted with something so precious!
The design for the chunky bracelet is confirmed and I am just awaiting a new shipment of ball-point headpins from my supplier, to begin. I am completely out of these headpins and I hope the shipment arrives later this week – I am truly handicapped without them xD
I am still planning a ‘course of action’ for those vintage pearls, and I am taking my time to do so because they are so very precious. I have not even taken photos which is unlike me, but I shall do so when I start on working them xD At some point I will, of course, need to take them apart, as I’d need to clean them thoroughly and sort them out too, but there looks like there are more than enough to make her a layered bracelet or two, and even a few earrings 🙂
Meanwhile, I am also planning a ‘care package’ for a good friend who is soldiering on all by herself. This is taking me longer than expected as I decided to stuff it chock-ful with handmade goodies xD
…
Now for the Diva Challenge this week 🙂
We were supposed to Duotangle Phicops vs. Diva Dance in honour of the Diva’s 10th anniversary with her bestie/husband.
I am a bit late – shortly after I wrote that last sentence, Edamame, our resident terrapin, decided to pull out the filtration system in his tank and Dexter (our younger kitty who supposedly has a fear of water?!) came and decided to SIT in the turtle water whilst I was mopping up the mess ~_~
Needless to say (Salmonella germses!), I then had to wrestle (read bathe) Dexter in the shower and dry him out which took most of my day away. By then I was all wet from Dex-and-turtle water, so I too needed some drying out and I decided to finish off tangling this week’s challenge and post it up or it will probably never get done 😛
This is my first time trying out Diva Dance and my first attempt at putting Phicops on a tile. I could never quite get my Phicops to look pretty, so I must have unconsciously avoided tangling it in my tiles and ZIAs xD
Also, I guess my string was a bit too complex for how I originally intended the tile to look like. I actually planned on more negative space, but in the end, I filled more tile than I thought I would. I tried to make up for this by not shading too much xD I don’t think it helped at all haha..
No matter which way I look at it, my tile seems to scream: I need more practice!
(Clicking the image will take you to Flickr.)
And practice I shall.. Diva Dance and Phicops certainly deserve a lot more air time on my tiles/ZIAs!
P.S. Speaking of ZIAs, I am hosting a new International ZIA postcard swap on Swapbot 😉 It will probably be a monthly series sort of thing as I don’t think I can manage a shorter interval at my current pace. If swapping is up your alley, here’s the Swapbot page and my writeup.
I think the fluid shapes are lovely and you don’t need more negative space, it works well as it is. Good luck with your work with the pearls, I know you will do a lovely job for your friend.
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Aww thank you for liking the tile. Though I really should put in more Phicops practice 😛
I admit I have a bit of stigma with these pearls. I mean they may not have been the highest grade/most expensive, but they are of great sentimental value so I hope to do them justice!
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Phicops is harder than it looks. I had to practice quite a bit. Is practice the antithesis of the Zentangle method? I think my Zen-ness is very much a work in progress. 😉
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Oh indeed! I can never quite get my Phicops to look like it could have belonged to something alive, which is how everyone else’s seems to look 😛 Yeah I hear you.. maybe we just aren’t “zen” enough 😛
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If you walk away from your tile for a week or two and come back to it, you will see yourself how well done and beautiful it is. Not too busy at all, just full of Zentangle goodness! I had to laugh (sorry) at your day. Some days are just like that, but that’s what makes for great memories.
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Aww your comment has put a smile on my face 🙂 Thank you for liking my tile, perhaps I really will put it aside for a week or two and come back to it later like you suggested ^^
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Lovely job – I like the blend you’ve achieved with the two patterns.
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Thank you so much for visiting 🙂
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I have the same feeling about Phicops, so you’re not alone 🙂 I think you did very well though.
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Thank you – well as they say, try and try again 🙂 I will make conscious effort to include it more often when tangling. I guess that’s the best/fastest way to get it down pat 🙂
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Love the weighting on you your line work!
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Hehe thank you – sometimes the weighted lines are helpful to hide small ‘mistakes’ 😛
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I think it turned out well. I don’t think of it as practice, it is just tangling. The more you do it, there are changes, sometimes. Sometimes too, certain tangles make us focus more on the outcome and I think it helps to relax and let the pen flow on its own. That can be hard to do. To help sometimes I will just take a simple element and just repeat it across a page. Have even done this just with lines across the page. Can’t be wrong because you are not really trying to achieve a certain thing.
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That is a very encouraging comment. I appreciate it very much as a newbie to this method 🙂
I confess that I have become more relaxed each time I face a blank drawing space, as compared to when I first started in July. Although I am only into my second month of tangling, I can see myself tangling for a long, long time to come 🙂
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I enjoyed your tile. I enjoyed your story about the jewelry also. I make jewelry, not as often as I used to, also. I think you are brave to tackle the pearls. Would love to see both projects when you are done.
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