Challenge #138 - Fun with Borders

Spikey Wire, Chains, and Baubles

Twigs, Leaves, and Embellishments

 Diva's challenge for week #138 is titled Fun with Borders and is sponsored our Zentangle founder's Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Their Zentangle Blog post this week focused on finding inspiration in everything around us and borders.Check out their blog post.

I found my inspiration in wire and metal on the first tile. I love old, rusty barbed wire. Not the new shiny stuff, but the bent-up wonky wire you can find in old farm fields, craggy and weathered from years of exposure to the elements. I also love wire, twisted, hammered, shaped into lovely jewels. My sister Nancy is a wire jeweler and has exposed me to many fun techniques and beautiful wire creations. She has a studio and we have spent many an hour hammering and shaping wire.

That's my inspiration, my bauble is fashioned after one of my sister's wonky metal wrapped beads that I find particularly inspirational. That and some of the chains she has shared with me.

I've been working on deconstructing Spikey Wire and realized some of my studies had the look and feel of grapevines. I also love twigs, grapevines, and leaves - yet another inspiration!

On my first tile I added some color with my wonderful Derwent Inktense pencils. I like the juxtaposition of the hard wire against the soft hues of the pencils. Hard and soft, they play beautifully together!

The second tile is twigalicious with luscious little plump leaves sprouting throughout. I embellished it with a curvy twisted ornamental decorative string.

Spikey Wire Process Studies and Variations