Nifty Gifts of Art

I have been learning Zentangle for two years, and of late I have been looking for someone to make small, inexpensive frames, preferably in paper/card stock, to hold my works of art (I use this expression not entirely tongue-in-cheek). I have not yet found the right supplier. A paper frame that I can just slip the tile into, and give out as nifty little gifts that the recipients can exhibit right away is what I have in mind.

Recently, though, I came up with a great stop-gap arrangement. I was looking for small gifts at a stationery & greeting cards store, when I suddenly thought of empty cards. I bought several of these, put (stuck) a tile in each of them, and gave them out with little gifts. I bought colourful empty cards, and their envelopes made for a bright picture. The friends who got these cards were happy, and so was I, with all the Oohs and the Aahs I received for my work!

The photo above is a collection of the tangling I did when I was in a rather stressful environment last month. I won't say it took away the stress but it did give me a measure of calm. The unshaded tile on the right in the centre row was a collaboration with my 10-year-old niece, who rants that I cannot think of anything beyond books and Zentangle as leisure activities, but cannot help drawing herself when she sees me at it. She did most of the Rixty and the Springkle, and some of the Msst. 

The white tile at the centre of the bottom row is a technique that I just discovered. It involves dipping a string in water colours, placing it on the tile, weighting it down with  a heavy object, and pulling the string from underneath so that it makes a splotch - it could be more aesthetic than that with practice - and tangling on it. There are many videos on YouTube demonstrating this technique. I'm rather happy that my drawing turned out the way it did - abstract, yet giving a sense of plenty, like a cornucopia.

I used poster colours to paint the blue tile on the top left, which was the wrong choice of paint. My pens performed with difficulty on it and that is a tile I'll be returning to some time later.