Biggified - Quilted

Last weeks Diva Challenge was to “Biggify” your tangles. The challenge was to use your preferred paper size and draw the tangles bigger. This was my favorite biggified tangle. I use the standard 3 ½” square Zentangle® tiles.

I like to translate Zentangle style into quilting. I took the biggified tangle enlarged it a little more and then made a mini-wholecloth quilt. The quilted piece measures 5 ½” square. It is made from fabric, Signature 100% cotton thread – in rust and variegated rust, and two layers of batting. This is the finished piece.

Anyone with a sewing machine can learn how to quilt in the Zentangle style. If you'd like to learn how check out the class I'm teaching at Machine Quilter's Exposition in April! - for more information click here. No prior Zentangle(r) or quilting experience required.

Here are some pictures of it the biggifed little quilt being quilted. I use a 12 foot long  Gammill longarm  machine and I’m working on little 5 ½” pieces! This type of quilting can also be done on a home "domestic" sewing machine!

Here's a picture of the whole Gammil machine set up - this picture was taken to show the traditional style trapunto pieces that are displayed in the foreground. The picture was taken on a day when my studio was clean!

Biggify

Go Big or “Biggify”

This weeks Diva Challenge is to take your regular sized tangle paper and draw the actual tangle on it BIGGER than usual! I use the standard Zentangle ® 3 ½ inch square paper tiles. I did the challenge a couple of times before coming up with something I liked. On one of my earlier attempts I used a Pigma Graphic 1 instead of my usual Pigma Micron 01. I thought that since the tangles would be bigger that the pen should be bigger also….wrong. (So wrong that I tossed the tile!)

On this tile I used three tangles, Poke-root, Shattuck, and Flux. I like how bold it looks. I think that perhaps I draw my tangles on the larger side anyway but drawing them very large required a steady hand and deeper concentration!

On this tile I decide to be brave and draw those large “orbs” – I’m being careful not to call them circles because – they are drawn freehand and not meant to be perfect circles. But none-the-less I did try to concentrate and get them pretty round….. Then perhaps I made a mistake. I started coloring with Prismacolor Water Color pencils. I guess this wasn’t totally a bad idea but when I added brushstrokes with water, the color became brighter than expected. I’m going to experiment more with the water color pencils – I am starting to like a little color with my Zentangle ®.

If you're wondering where to get supplies for Zentangle(r) art. I get my pens and pencils from Dick Blick and I have the official Zentangle(r) supplies availble on my website.