Zensdays: It's a Spiral Kinda Day!

Ok...so I finally finished unpacking from my UK trip and found my pretty tile from Maggiebee! YEAH! I love how this design meanders and has a spiral affect... (And amazingly enough Laura Harm's challenge this week is to tangle in the spiral mode.) Maggie was so generous she let me choose one of her creations and I loved the white shading she had on this tile, there is an interesting tool she uses to shade on dark papers and it appears white. So Maggie if you are reading, could you tell us in the comments section or on your blog the name of this tool, would also love to see a picture of it. Many of the CZTs probably know what I am trying to tell you, but I thought it was such a great look. Thanks again for my tile Maggie!

Here is my tile for the #210 diva challenge. Wayne and I both had appointments today at the chiropractor's and I did the Rixty spiral while he was being seen and he did Copada for me in the center while I was being seen and then this evening I did the Florz to finish it off, so it was definitely a joint effort. But he also posted this week on his Flickr page if you want to see his spiral creation. 



I've also posted one of his sten-tangle pieces he did several months ago. The stencil used is the stylized dahlia (LG743)

I am posting it because I love the tangle he uses inside the blossoms that are spiral called Marasu. The petals remind me of pieces of peppermint candy. OK...so I bet you want to know how the background was done, huh? Me too...and Wayne reminded me that I am the one that did the background and then he did the tangle work. Hmmmm.... I've slept since then, but I think it was a technique that Marj Marion shared with me where she does a batik technique (resist tech.) using stencils. First she stencils the image with clear ink or Watermark ink and then sprinkles on white embossing powder and heats it. This embossed image acts as a resist to the next step where I sprayed the background with several colors of Memories Mist sprays. I also wiped the wet spray off of the flower with a soft cloth to give the streaked shadow you see underneath the design. To remove the white embossing powder you place a clean piece of newsprint or white copy paper on top of the image and use a hot iron to gently press and the embossing powder seeps into the paper and VIOLA you have a blank white image on which to do your tangle work. You may have to move the paper to a clean portion repeatedly until you don't see anymore of the embossing powder on the newsprint paper. But this resist technique gives you the opportunity to create other backgrounds as well, like watercolor washes or the salt on the watercolor too. I haven't tried alcohol inks, but maybe that's a possibility too.

Well, I am off to pack again, Wayne and I will be teaching in Roseville CA in a couple of days at The Stamp Art Shoppe, if we don't see you there perhaps somewhere else soon. 

(By the way I did get my purse knitted but it's still not felted, am hoping to post it while I'm  traveling and have landed somewhere that has an agitating washing machine so I can get the felting done.) Pam Hornschu, head of the Dream it UP team will be doing some posting here on Zensdays. By the way there is a great collaboration with our UK sister team going on and stencils to be won, so if you have the time go to the home page and share some love in the way of a few comments for the chance to win. Enjoy the beauty of the team's creations...it's all about texture and backgrounds.