Another Tiny Sketchbook

  In case you've missed it, here's a flip-through of my new tiny sketchbook.

  It's made up of Fabriano paper that I cut down to size and then stitched together by hand... Then I did a watercolour wash on each of the pages. Then it sat in my art pouch for a good long while until I decided one day to complete it. I went through all the pages in two days. It was a good exercise.

  Here's the cover:

  Maybe next time I'll film the drawing process. ;)

a splash of colour

Here's my sketchbook page for this week's Joey and Diva Challenge. The Diva wanted us to use our hands to create a string, and Joey wanted us to use the tangle "Breach". I added Flux and Crescent Moon. The background was created using Finetec paints. The white pen is a Uni-ball Signo Broad.

  In a similar fashion, I created some Bijous with my Finetec paints to complete last week's of Joey challenge. We had to use Mak-Rah-Mee, which is a lovely tangle. I added lots and lots of Mooka to the tile, draping outwards and downwards.

  For Travelling Tangles, I completed a tile sent to me from Jules Mack.

  I added Fe-Ba as a background to try to echo her flowers. I think it worked well.

  I also sent out my tiles for April's Kite Swap. I created hand-made envelopes for this swap, and had a lot of fun with it.

(Addresses have been blurred out for privacy purposes.)

  Here's a mosaic from one of the classes I taught last week. :)

The bottom left tile that has no shading is mine.
The top right tile was done by an adult. The other two were done by kids.

  And lastly, here is a page from my sketchbook of a flower I drew in ballpoint (Biro) pen. Lots of fun.

giving the baby a shower

  Let's start this post off with a monotangle tile for Diva's weekly challenge. We were asked to use Paradox. Here's what I did:

Very simple.

  I also wanted to show you a little project I did with my students for the month of March. I started by creating little windows in watercolours....

  I then got my students to add Puff, Onamato, and Diva Dance Waltz onto the tile. Here's my example tile for the class, with an added coloured background:

  And here's what some of my students did:

  If you live in Singapore and would like to join a Zentangle class with me, I offer weekly classes at Bukit Batok East Zone 3 RC and Toa Payoh Central Community Club. Or you can arrange for a private class, too. Find out more via this link.

  I'd also like to share exciting news with you... My husband, Alex, and I are expecting a baby in mid-July! 

I'm currently at 24 weeks, but I've already gained 15kg (that's about 33 pounds).  

  It's a girl. She's healthy. And we are thrilled for this new addition to our family. We haven't quite settled on a name just yet. But I'm not too worried. Four months is still a way to go.

  The pregnancy is the reason why I dropped off from the online world towards the end of 2017, and that I haven't been updating my YouTube channel... I'm not sure what I will/will not be able to do after the birth of the child... I know for sure that I'll be taking my maternity leave from June onwards, so all of my Zentangle classes will stop then. I don't know when I'll start teaching again after, but teaching is my passion and I cannot see myself completely stopping even after having the child. I'm just taking things as they come, and reminding myself to not push myself too hard.

  I have plans to start converting my weekly classes into online courses. That way, if you're living outside of Singapore but would like to take a class with me, you could. Watch this space. You'll be the first to know when that happens.

In related news;

  My best friend is planning a baby shower for me to happen in June. We're ironing out logistics and I'm excited for the celebration. Some days it still feels surreal to know that I'm pregnant....

  I recently found this website called "Paperless Post" that creates personalised digital invitations. I've been thinking of creating invites to my baby shower using the site. I'll give you a full review of my experience with the website at a later date. :)

  Onwards!

  I started a new sketchbook to do ballpoint sketches, and more realistic pieces using my Caran D'ache Neocolor II. Here are some pages from the sketchbook so far.

A tomato with a cool colour scheme.

Some pears.

  I also drew a seashell. I showed it to you in my last post, but if you haven't seen it, you can click here.

  Thanks for dropping by. Maybe I'll see you next week. :) Until then... Keep tangling!

sketchbook pages

  Let's kick it off with a tile I did as a Draw With Me video. I really am growing to love my Tombow markers. Featuring Abeko, a hit of Flukes, and Fe-Ba in the background.

  For this week's challenge, Diva (home) and Joey (a star string). I decided to combine them in a tile that features my tangle, Singapore Sling. That's as home-y as I can get. I literally used a tangle that has my home-country's name in it. hahaha If you'd like to learn how to draw it, you can click here.

At the bottom of the page, I did a tile for "Zentangle: Tangled & Journaled, Too!" group on Facebook. They're doing a summer project and even though we don't get a summer break in Singapore, I am following along on the prompts.

  Here's another page. It's not complete yet, but I really like how the gemstone turned out. It was done using Tombow markers, too.

  And here's one more page, in full black and white.

 

Try Out Thursday: Inspire Me Sketchbook

  It's...... Try Out Thursday! ^-^

  The product I'll be reviewing today will be Derwent's new Inspire Me sketchbook.

  The Inspire Me sketchbook is a 20cm by 20cm (7.87") hard-cover, thread-bound sketchbook. Derwent says that the 80 pages within are 120 gsm bleedproof marker paper. If you remember me raving about Derwent's Graphik pens... I'll also mention that this sketchbook is from their Graphik line, so let's find out whether this sketchbook is just as good as the pens.

Jet black, hard-cover, and thread bound.
I still haven't decided whether I like the lime peel green color of the elastic band or not.

The Derwent Graphik logo printed in gloss on the inside of the sketchbook.

It’s all in the small details… All in the details...

First impressions
  I love the feel of the faux leather cover. The sketchbook feels very well-made; the lime peel green elastic band that keeps it close has not loosened even after me using the sketchbook for a while now, the thread-bound pages feel very secure, and the sketchbook is able to lay flat when opened. The pages are a bleached white color.

  The one I have is the medium sized one. There is also a small version of it that is 14cm by 14cm which might be handy to bring around with you whilst you're out. Keeping in mind, though, that the sketchbook is meant more for pens and ink; I've not tried watercolours or my Inktense pencils in it because the paper is super smooth and I don't think it'd manage well without buckling.

  There is, however, this weird chemical smell on it, but it has lessened over time. I think this is a problem that a lot of marker pads/sketchbooks have and that it comes from the way the papers are treated to make them bleedproof. I don't see an indication of the sketchbook being acid free, so I'll assume that it isn't acid free... Update: A Derwent representative has confirmed with me that the sketchbook, is in fact, acid free. I really think that Derwent should, then, change the packaging of the sketchbook to state that it's acid free.

Fun bits
  The actual sketchbook is actually slightly longer than the measurements stated. The paper inside the sketchbook is indeed 20cm by 20cm, but the actual sketchbook is 22cm by 20.5cm. Why's that? Well, for one, the 0.5cm is to protect the pages within the sketchbook, but the other 1.5cm in the length of the sketchbook is there because the pages are perforated.

  Now, I know some artists absolutely love perforated edges because if you don't like a certain page, you can tear it out and dump it and not have to see it ever again... Or if you really like a page, you can tear it out and frame it and such. Other artists think it justs makes the pages easier to fall out. Derwent has designed their Inspire Me sketchbook very well, though, and I don't feel as though the pages will tear out without me really tearing them out. The weight of the paper also helps a lot with that.

  The sketchbook also has four different types of printed paper within, and each pattern has eight pages each within. The rest of the pages are just plain white.

Squares

Triangles

Honeycomb

Dots

Plain white

Close up of each of the prints

  And finally, the sketchbook also has a little pocket glued to the inside of the back cover, so that you're able to keep loose bits of paper and such in it. I don't really like to keep anything in it because it actually will make it difficult for me to draw properly, especially when you're on the last few pages of the sketchbook.... But that's just me.

Little pocket thingy...

  The texture of the pocket reminds me of Derwent's black paper. I don't know whether it is indeed made from their black paper, or whether they made new paper just for the pocket. It feels sturdy, though, and I'm sure it'd be useful if I ever needed to keep some loose bits of paper in it.

And of course, the obligatory drawing-in-sketchbook-using-Graphik-pens.

  In all, the Inspire Me sketchbook is a very decent sketchbook that I think would be very suitable for on-the-road notes taking or idea generating. I love that it's smooth and yet bleedproof. It's a pity that it isn't said to be acid free, otherwise I would use it very often for my zentangle drawings.  Update: A Derwent representative has confirmed with me that the sketchbook, is in fact, acid free. It has also come in very handy for my design works (logos, typography, etc.) due to the grids that it contains.

  Overall, a solid 9 out of 10 stars.