Off Of Paper Tiles ...

This time I left the paper tiles and took the pens to another surface ~ in this case 4" ceramic tiles.  Last weekend I tool a class working with Alcohol Inks.  I applied the inks to five tiles, using different methods to apply the inks on each one.  That itself was fun, but it didn't end there!



The fifth tile is featured in the previous post ...   The Alcohol Ink was applied by dripping the blue, letting the colors "run", and dabbing the brown on with a felt applicator.  I tangled a small organic garden scene in class using Nzeppel, Pondee, Tree-Three (#2 & #3 by Simona Cordara of Kai-Zen Doodles), Flux, Fescue, Zinger, and Mooka.

After the ink dries (about 10 minutes) the next step is to tangle on the tiles.  I wanted to make the background part of the design, so I "lived with" the four tiles for a few days and carefully choose how I wanted each to look.  I've been working on these over the course of a week...

This first one I put a few dots of ink on the tile and just watched the ink spread out in whatever direction it wanted... To keep a  "clean" look, I only used tangles on a few "dots".  The patterns are Estrel and Geerandoka (both by Simona Cordara of Kai-Zen Doodles) and Snirkle.  I used a black Identapen and white paint pen, which interestingly "picks up" color from the ink it is on.

On the next tile, rather than just letting the ink sit after dripping it on, I controlled it a bit more by dropping few drops on the tile and dabbed over them with a felt applicator.  You can see the difference in the background - some colors are blended, some softer and muted.  This looked like an underwater scene to me, so I used Finery and Bubblz to stay with that underwater feel ... I used a blue Identapen and white paint pen for a few highlights.

On the green and brown tile, I first dropped a few drops of color; let it dry slightly; gave the tile a quick spritz with clear alcohol creating the white dots; then dripped one drop of green in the center to get that larger blob.  When it dried, I thought - turtle!  So I did a little searching to see how a shell is sectioned, and every turtle I looked at has patterns that were usually lines ...

   

The result - I decided to just do the shell in the large area.  I drew a light "string" to divide it evenly.  I chose Villers for the top, and Hypnotic for the sides.  On the front and back, side sections I used Jetties.  Around the bottom I drew small rounded squares and then a partial aura on the inside of each, not showing the "bottom" line to try and make the shell look like it is curved down (you wouldn't be able to see the bottom looking down on the shell from the top).  I used only a brown Identapen.

For the last tile, magenta and lime, with a touch of yellow, I put drops of ink directly on the felt applicator, then lightly dabbed on the tile.  I did about half the tile then reapplied the ink to the pad in the same spots and dabbed the rest of the tile without blending.  This produced the small, bright dots.  I couldn't decide what pattern to us in a tangle ... my granddaughters said it looks like flowers, and maybe grapes, hanging from an arbor or trellis ... With a black Identapen, I drew Coil up the right side and across the top, a few Pokeleaves at the bottom of the Coil, and Wist (without the aura line) as the vines hanging down.

In tangling over Alcohol Inks I think I like the look of limited tangles so the background isn't over taken by Identapen ... the next step will be to fix a backing on the reverse side.  I am thinking of using very thin (1/4") cork.