You can now buy my patterns on Craftsy

I am very happy to tell you I have started a Craftsy site where you can purchase all of my e-book tutorial patterns.   This may be helpful to some people who have servers that do not like talking to my server.    Link is here :  Craftsy

A New e-book by Jane Monk - A New Twist on Tangle String Lines (for Zentangles and Zendalas)

I have just released a wonderful ebook tutorial called "A New Twist on Tangle String Lines" What is a String Line? A String Line is the line you draw to create unique spaces to draw Zentangles® patterns into.

The twist on the string line is a technique I have adapted to create your own unique Zentangle String Line Templates. It includes comprehensive directions with detailed examples on how to make your own. A very reasonable $15 for a Step by step visual tutorial developed for you by Jane Monk. 

You can purchase it at www.janemonkstudio.com  

 This is an example of one of the Zendala's you could create ... the variations are literally endless.

Felted Stones Tutorial

 

I love stones, beautiful smooth river or beach stones that have been worn and weathered with time and the elements.   I have been teaching myself how to make embroidery stitches and stumpwork. I also love felting so thought all these elements could be combined as a showcase for my progress.  

I am happy to share the process I use to felt stones.

  Start with some 100% wool top or roving.  This is wool that has already been cleaned and processed and is ready for felting.  I have used 100% Merino Wool that I purchased from Ewe Give Me The Knits ... Mandie has a riot of colours :)  I am using undyed wool in this example. 

 First of all you will need to pull out small amounts of wool from the "top" and lay down in a vertical direction.  If you want to add sparkle or shiny silk fibre now is the time to add it.  Just make your first layer of wool very fine then put the embellishment fibres down and they will be captured by the wool. 

 The next layer of wool should be laid down in a horizontal direction, again, just a nice thin layer.

 The third layer is laid down vertically.  Make sure there are no thin spots or holes in the stack of fibre.

 Place your stone about two thirds of the way down onto your wool.

 Bring up the wool closest to you and fold over the stone.

 Roll the stone forward (away from you) so it is sitting on the beginning of the first fold.

 Now tuck in the wool from the sides.  Make sure you pull nice and firm, but not stretch the wool or make a hole in it.

Roll forward (moving away from you) again.

It looks like a little spring roll :)   

Now you have rolled up the stone in the wool, it is useful to needle felt a little to make sure those ends are secure.  You can make a whole heap of them ready for the next step. 

If you don't have a needle felt tool, you will need to move onto the next step of wet felting straight away or place your stone so it doesn't come unrolled. 

I use my ordinary liquid dish washing soap, just a little.

Over a container of warm soapy water place the wool covered stone in your left hand.  With your right hand scoop up some of the soapy water and just let it flow over the stone.

 

Turn the stone and repeat until the stone is nice and wet. The stone will feel very very loose inside the wool cocoon.

Now with both hands pass the stone from palm to palm ... gentle, no pressure, just moving from one hand to the other.  I actually use my fingers more than my palms.

 Keep bathing with the warm soapy water and continue to gently pass from one hand to the other.  You will see that the wool will start to shrink.  This is felting. 

You can start to add a little pressure and rub the stone between your two hands.  Add  little more soap and water, or just a little soap so it is slightly slippery.  You still want to maintain a certain amount of friction for the felting process.

You can see the difference in this photo, the wool has shrunk to enclose the stone, but not quite enough.

If you can pinch the wool away from the stone, it is not felted enough yet.   Adding some firm pressure, but not enough to hurt your hands, keep rolling the stone between your two hands.

The motion is just like you rub your hands when they are cold.

 Can you see the difference in the stone now?   Now it is felted enough.  The felt is quite firm around the stone and I can't pinch it away from the stone surface.

 I rinse the felted stone under quite warm water and then roll it between my hands some more.  This will wash away the soap and also gets rid of the excess water in the felt.

Felting one small stone like this will take around five or so minutes.

Make a bunch of them and set them somewhere warm and clean to dry.

You can use coloured wool and add silk, angelina fibre, thread or all sorts of things to enhance your stones, just make sure you have a thin layer of wool over the top some of the inclusions to capture them securely.

Have fun making your felted stones. Enjoy ... Jane x

Painted Stones Tutorial

 Painted Stones ... What you need:

Gesso - any brand will do.
Liquid Acrylic Paint (I use Daler Rowney Acrylic Artists Ink - comes in lots of colours)
Three brushes I like to use are: for painting thin lines and making dots I use  a 10/0 and a 5/0  Robert A Wade NEEF 970 Taklon Round. I also use a general flat 6 or 8 for painting the gesso on with.
A dish to put your ink into (Note: you only need a very little amount of ink/paint)
Some paper towels.
A water dish
Smooth clean River stones (I wash mine in warm soapy water and scrub them with a green scourer, any slightly abrasive wash cloth will do. This allows the gesso to get a better grip and some purchased river stones have a wax coating on them)


How to start.  I use the Gesso straight from the lid - it is thick and you don't need very much.   Using your flat brush pain a layer of gesso onto the top half of the stone.  Let it dry. 
Paint a second layer of gesso, ensuring you paint to the edge line nice and smoothly.

When this is dry you are ready to start painting lines and making dots and other marks. 

You can use Zentangle patterns, crochet patterns, even quilt blocks, embroidery patterns or anything you can think of to be inspired by.  Less is often more when it comes to painting stones, but let your imagination take over :)

Once you have painted them, let them dry and give them a spray with either a gloss or matt craft spray sealer.

Happy Stone Painting ... Jane

Want to Know How I do my BINDING

I have put a link on the top bar ... "Binding A Quilt - Tutorial"  

It is a step by step - with photographs - on how I bind my quilts.  I hope it helps you if you want to know how to do a nice flat binding.    I will have more tutorials throughout the year.   If you have any suggestions for tutorials - please leave me a comment, I would love to hear about what you want to know.

Happy Quilting.

Video Tutorial - Zest It Pencil Blend with Colour

What you have all been waiting for ... this video shows how I use the Zest It Pencil Blend to blend Prismacolor Pencils, Derwent Inktense Pencils and also a Generals Sketch & Wash graphite pencil.   The video does go for over 10 minutes though.   I also forgot to tell you that you can "sharpen" or "clean" your Paper Stump by using an emery board - the big ones with foam in the middle work well, or just use a piece of sand paper.  It is best to clean them when they are dry.    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj9YNTatJVA

I couldn't upload the video to my blog ... if the link doesn't work you cut and paste it into your search engine it should take you to my video tutorial  -  I hope you enjoy this video. 

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Tangle with Crayons & Zest It Pencil Blend

 My finished piece.

 I used Caran de'Ache watersoluable painting crayons and laid down three areas of colour - very lightly.

 I then used the Zest It Pencil Blend on the wide part of a blending stump and blended the individual areas - starting with the lighter yellow first.  Unfortunately my photos do not show the real picture - the blending was quite smooth to look at in person.

 I then drew some of my favourite tangle patterns, including one of my own - "Wiggle" (making it's debut here)

 I then added "bubbles" with my Prismacolor Verithin pencils - I love these as they keep a really nice fine point when sharpened.

 I then coloured in more of the actual tangle patterns  and the finished Tangle is at the very top of this posting .... this took me tops 15 minutes to do and I loved the colour play.  

 I thought I would do a quick visual guide for some of my pencils and how they work with the Zest It.

This one is my General's Sketch & Wash graphite pencil ... I first laid down a very quick graduated area of graphite, then used the Zest It Pencil Blend on the bottom half - the water soluable graphite has some really really good possibilities when shading some of my larger, more complex drawings.

You can see here I have done the same as the graphite but have used some of my colour pencils and crayons.   Click on the image to get a better view.

Now I have worked out how to do quick little videos ... I will work on one over this next weekend on blending with pencils and Zest It.  I can't wait to have an interrupted day of playing with my pens and pencils.

I hope you have enjoyed this rather long post ... see you next week with another video.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Tutorial for Blending Coloured Pencil with Zest It

 As promised - here is my tutorial on how to use Zest It to blend with coloured pencil - Zentangle style!

Start with a drawing ... of course I couldn't go past Mooka Pods.   You will see that I have only done the line drawings with the Pigma pen - no patterns inside yet.

 Lay your colour onto the drawing.   I have used Prismacolor Verithin pencils here.

You can see you only need a light covering.

 Next colour - pink

 Add some green into the stems

 Darker green into the stems and the frills on the pods.

None of these have been "blended" yet.

With a paper stump, dip it into the Zest-It and use small circular motions to blend coloured pencil.  Starting from the lighter colours first, then into the darker ones.

See the second pod from the left, I have blended that with a paper stump and some Zest It.  Be sure to add only enough Zest It to dampen your stump, don't have it dripping wet.

The difference in colour is quite pronounced and you can see that the colour is blended quite smoothly.

.

 Next I have done the green frill in the centre of the same pod (second from left)

 I have started the main pod here ... can you see where I have blended so far?

 The purple of the largest pod is now blended.

 Here I have blended all the pods and their green centres as well as all the stems and little mooka pods.

 Next I add in more inkwork with the Pigma Micron pen.

 I decided to colour the "peas" in the pods and have blended them as well.

 Don't forget to sign and date your art.

 Finished piece ... I have laid a light colouring of purple over the background but have not blended it with the Zest It.

This is the Blending Kit I sell in my store - janemonkstudio.com

The kit contains a 125ml bottle of Zest It Pencil Blend, a Micron 01 Pigma pen in black, a double ended paper stump, 5 Zentangle tiles and a kneadable eraser - all for $28.00

You can also use the Zest It Pencil Blend with Derwent Inktense pencils for a wonderful effect, as well as your normal watercolour pencils.

Have fun Tangling some Colour ... Jane x

Added Note:  To those of you who want to purchase Zest It outside Australia ... it is a product from the UK ... this may assist in your finding it online.  And Lori has added a link in the comments to help - thanks Lori.

I would also like to add that if you are a serious pencil artist or want to pursue more detailed pencil work,  you can use the Zest It Pencil Blend to smooth out your under layer of colour pencil and add more details on top when this has dried ... very much like using a liquid marker ... a great way to get colour backgrounds for Zentangle Inspired Art.  I hope this helps and I would love to see your pencil coloured art if you would share it with me here at Jane Monk Studio!   Cheers for now, Jane x