“Linen Panels” and “DingbatZ”!

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Tangles by the Sea

Last week, Judy and I got together for our monthly tangling session. Julie usually joins in as well, but had other obligations this month. Having just returned from Tangle U in Portland, Oregon, with fresh, new ideas, I decided we would give the tangled linen panels a go. This medium was shared by Kim VanZyll, CZT, during her class at the conference. (FYI – the panels are linen art boards, not actual linen fabric.)

Using black and brown Identipens, along with a white Sakura Gelly roll pen and Fabrico marker, we mixed up the inks and created nine beautiful patterns to fill our 8×8 panels. This is a very fun project as the patterns are drawn bigger than normal and use the larger end of the pen – a lot different than drawing on the usual 3.5 x 3.5 tile with the Micron 01! As always, it was an enjoyable evening, but we missed you Julie!

As I shared in an earlier post, after participating in Brian Crimmins, CZT’s “Dingbatz” class at Tangle U, I have been hooked. These little pieces of art (real name – dingbatS) were used in olden times by artists, publishers, etc. to decorate pages of books, manuscripts, etc. We’ve all seen these before, but probably never paid them much mind. Rick and Maria, Zentangle creators, came up with a Zentangle-influenced way to create these little gems – therein dingbatZ (with a Z). Using the small details of dingbatS, but incorporating Zentangle-inspired patterns for the art. They are addicting. So much so that within two weeks of Brian starting a Facebook page just for dingbatZ, there are over 1,000 members!!!

I treated myself to a beautiful, hand made journal to hold all my dingbatz drawings. This journal came from River Twist in Jamestown, NC – owned by Jan Galloni, CZT. I was afraid to “mess it up” when I received it, but finally just opened it up wide – didn’t start at the front! – and started dingbatzing! Here’s my first two pages. This is definitely going to be an upcoming class – SO MUCH FUN! I’ve already decorated Mother’s Day and Birthday envelopes, along with inside their cards, with my little drawings. Just a nice personal touch to people you care about – and you make it yourself!