earning our stripes

This week the Diva asked for stripes!

For me stripes are one of the most comfortable ways to tangle.  They take all of the planning out of the process but leave plenty of room for invention.  Because while it still looks great if one tangle lays next to another, even more fun happens when you try to gently join them.  In fact I think it's a great way to learn the sometimes tricky art of joining tangles.

Tangles used - from top left to bottom right -
Fescu, Ponio, Y-Chain, Copada, Snugz, Antidots, Quib

To choose my tangles I simply looked back through the last few weeks in my sketchbook and picked a handful of tangles that might work.  Then I started with the longest stripe through the centre and then built out from either side, squaring off the whole with a couple of organic tangles.

I used the first piece from a pack of Khadi paper (Indian handmade cotton rag paper) that's been sitting here for a while.  It's A6 size (roughly 14x10 cm) and has a very toothy surface.  I used a larger than usual pen (0.3mm) to try to lessen the bumpyness of my lines and the graphite was hard to smooth and blend as much as I like.  But the paper was otherwise a joy to work on and it feels like quite a special little piece.