Monsters of the Sea at the Singapore Science Centre

  A few days ago, I visited the Singapore Science Centre with a friend. We went to see the "Monsters of the Sea" exhibition. There's not much info on the Science Centre's website about what to expect from the exhibition.. However, I did see a commercial for the event on tele one time and they showed life sized replicas of the creatures, so I was excited.

  My friend and I took the train to Jurong East, and the Science Centre was just a short walk away. You can even have brunch at the near-by malls first, just like we did. ^-^

  At the entrance of the Science Centre, you're greeted by a small sea monster. It's electronic and moves and lets out growls every now and then, which was really fun. A small glimpse of what we would be able to see in the event area.

  We bought tickets, which cost us $20 each, and then were ushered in. The event space itself is indoors, fully air-conditioned, and is held in a dark room illuminated by neon coloured lights. The lights really added to the atmosphere.

We got to see many sea creatures, all true-to-life size (they were huge!) and lots of them could move, too!

I love jellyfish. Is the plural of "fish", fish or fishes..?
Can you spot the sea monster lurking in the background?

This one was gigantic, and really creepy.
I should've taken a photo standing beside it to show you how big it really was.

  There were lots of mini activities scattered around the event space, too. Things like embossing plates that you could use to create a pretty picture with using the paper and oil pastels provided... Documentaries on show... Puzzles shaped like the sea creatures that you could try to solve in under three minutes... Even a high striker to test your strength!

They also had a sandbox where you could find your very own fossils!
(But of course, you couldn't bring them home. hehehe)

Submarine beside the area that we watched a short documentary about Megalodons.

  There were many other sea creatures at the event, and many other small surprises that I'm not showing because I want you to experience the magic for yourself. The event will be on from now through to the 28th of February 2016, so head down to the Singapore Science Centre soon~

I had lots of fun at the event. I hope you had fun looking at all the cool pictures of the sea monsters, too. Till' next time~

too many choices equals to not doing anything

  I really did try to think of tangles/strings to use for this week's Diva Challenge... But I just felt so overwhelmed by choices. Does that happen to you, too? I'm like a kid at a candy store... If I can do anything... Then there's so much to do! Gosh. Where do I start?? So, unfortunately, I don't have a submission for the challenge. If I do get around to doing it, I'll be posting it in another post.

  My mother, however, did complete the challenge. Here's Joni's tile for this week's Diva Challenge: Back to Basics...

I love the way "Hollibaugh" grows out from "SeZ".

  I did complete my tile for Joey's challenge, though. This week featured Knightsbridge. Here's Joni's tile:

  And here's mine:

  Onwards to other tiles that I did.

Molygon with a gemstone.

Molygon again. Giving credit to Lynn Shelton Mead. She did a tile with this shading idea and I loved it so much I had to try it out for myself. I'll definitely be doing different patterns with this method in the future.

This week, I taught my students how to create this beautiful flower thing with Flux.
All of them loved it.

A tile I did for a promotional video for my Zentangle classes. You can watch the video below.

A tile featuring a new tangle I learnt: "Mumsy", with some soapstone and charcoal highlights.
I don't like how the black tile literally drink all of the ink up, and I'm probably going to be layering my tiles with black acrylic paint from now on to make them more enjoyable to work on...

This was a white tile that I painted black with acrylic paint. Look how much brighter the whites are.
I shouldn't have used "Pebble Flowers" on the inside of the circle... But we move on.

Here's a commission I'm currently working on.
Nine jewels to represent abundance. Four birds to represent the number of members in their family.

Mooka! Want to know how I drew this version of it? Link to step-outs is right here.
I'm still trying to figure out whether I should add "Roxi" or "Tipple" in it... Or use "SharlaRella" instead. What do you think?

Lastly, a pretty Zendala that I did.
There's "Reticulated", "Yuma", "SeZ", "Betweed", "Inapod", "Crescent Moon", and a Zengem.

  I hope you're having a good week so far. Stay inspired, and keep tangling! ^-^

Singapore Sling Zentangle Step-Outs

  I was in the Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT) Seminar 21, and it was there that I learnt how to draw "Auraknot". I loved how simple it was to create, even though it looked so beautifully complex. However, to me, Auraknot felt a little.... harsh. I wanted to make it look softer, more feminine. "Perhaps I should round out the point-y parts," I thought to myself. It was then that I created "Singapore Sling". I didn't come up with its name, by the way. I showed the tangle to Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, and much later, they emailed me saying that, amongst themselves, they would refer to the tangle as "Singapore Sling" as I lived in Singapore and the tangle resembled a sling. I found the name delightful and have stuck with it since then.

  If you already know how to draw Auraknot, this will be a breeze. The main difference is that the lines inside the Auraknot are tapered (you'll understand what I mean when you look at the step-outs), and that instead of starting with a point-y shape, you draw a flower shape, instead.

  Here are the step-outs:

To see this in a larger format, you can right click > open in a new tab
Or if you're on mobile, you should press and hold the picture. A little menu should pop up to allow you to open the picture in a new tab.

Instructions in more details:

1. First draw your basic outline. Kind of like a flower. It can have as many "petals" as you like. 
2. Draw a line.
3. Aura that line. Make sure you taper the ends. ("What does that mean?" You might want to have a look at the picture below to get what I mean.)
4. Turn your tile. Draw another line.
5. Aura that line. Remember: tapered ends.
6. Turn tile. Aura line.
7. Turn tile again. Aura line again.
8. You know what to do.
9. You've completed one round around the original flower shape that you drew. Now you can go another round. I usually go two or three rounds in total. Then it starts getting too crowded in the flower shape... 

  Now, what do I mean by "taper the ends"....

You can also see how different Auraknot and Singapore Sling actually are.
The concepts behind how to draw them are very similar, though.

  Here's what my mother, Joni, and I have created using Singapore Sling:

Singapore Sling with jewels.
Done by Joni. She likes to add perfs around her Singapore Slings.

Here's Singapore Sling with Nipa.

Here's one done on a black tile with some glitter Tipple and soapstone highlights.

Tiny Singapore Sling on a regular Zentangle tile...

And for contrast, a beautiful and huge Singapore Sling done on a postcard-sized paper.
Paired with colourful Tipple (we love using Tipple around here), and some gold accents.

  I also continued to explore in my sketchbook the various things I could do with Singapore Sling...

Varying the shapes, how  the lines overlap, the number of points you draw...
These all change the outcome of how your Auraknot/Singapore Sling will turn out. Explore options for yourself!

And as a throwback, this is the drawing that sparked my intrigue in how different Auraknot and Singapore Sling could look if I tried drawing it in different ways. (Yes, you can even add perfs or beads INSIDE Singapore Sling!)

Last but definitely not least, here's a tile in which I drew something that was an Auraknot-Singapore Sling hybrid. I loved the tile then, and I still love it now.  ^-^

  Also see my "Mooka, and then some..." post where I show you my way of drawing Mooka and the many things you can do with it. You can find it by clicking right here.

  Update: I made a video of me drawing Singapore Sling.

  I hope you found this post inspirational. Will you be trying out Singapore Sling? I'd love to see what you do with it. Keep tangling~

Mooka, and then some...

  "Mooka" was amongst the first few patterns that I got to know after I learnt about the Zentangle method. However, I was never fond of it because of how it didn't close up. I felt confused about how to shade it, and I didn't quite know what patterns to put behind it. (Did it even have a "behind"..?) Thus, it became a tangle that I never got around to using it.

  Fast forward to about a month or so ago... One of my students mentioned that they really liked how Mooka looked and asked whether I would teach the pattern in class. I voiced my concerns about the pattern to them, but added that I would figure out a way to make the pattern work for me- for us. I'm not one to give up easily. And after some fumbling about, I found a way to make Mooka easier to work with. For once, I actually liked Mooka. It then took on a life of its own and expanded to more ways than one.

  So, here's my step-outs to my tangleation of Mooka:

The last box with the star symbol just shows you how I draw each part of the Mooka.
I might post a video of me drawing Mooka as that might be easier to understand.

  There are so many more things you can do with this version of Mooka! Here are some ideas to get you started:

I especially like it as a border.

Here's a Zengem with Eddyper and Mooka at the bottom as a flourish.
I have Zengem tutorials on my YouTube channel. (Click here if you'd like to see them.)

  What I hope you take from this post is to look at old patterns with fresh eyes every now and then. To attempt tangles you previously didn't enjoy, just to see whether you'd have a change of heart. To think of new ways to draw a tangle so that you would enjoy using it. I hope I inspired you and that you learnt something from me today. I'd love to see what you come up with using my tangleations of Mooka. Have fun and keep tangling~

and so the fox fell in love with the rabbit

  a continuation of this week's tiles...

Starting off with a very cute Bijou tile.
Done with Derwent's Coloursoft pencils.

Here's another.
All the jewels I draw will have mod podge over them to make them more three-dimensional.
You can find a tutorial of how to do it if you click this link.

   Now for some Zendalas:

Amber jewel?

Cute little red heart in this one.

Here's my tile for Joey's Challenge. "Retro" with "Heartswell".
"Retro" is such a delicate tangle. Reminds me of Victorian style gates.

Here's "Paradox" with a jewel in the middle.
Haven't added mod podge, shading, and some small details to it yet.

Lastly, a drawing from my sketchbook.
I have a friend who calls me "Bunny", so he must be the fox.
My mum said that rabbits and foxes can't be friends, and I told her that is what makes this drawing charming.

  Now, close your eyes and make a wish. I'm hoping next week will bring just as much creativity as the last week did. ^-^

is there such a thing as too much creativity

  Happy New Year to everyone! We've been busy here at Everything Is Art. Planning new classes... Trying new tangles and strings... Doing more Zentangle inspired works... Is there such a thing as too much creativity? I just have so many ideas floating in my head. Not that I'm complaining! I'm really happy about it. And I'm also really excited to show you some of the tiles that the people at Everything Is Art have done over the past week or so.

  I did some full pages in my sketchbook:

This one was done with a Sakura Souffle pen.
You can read a review of it by clicking here.

And this is an almost-completed page. I want to add shading to this piece after.

  Onwards!

  Here's my tile for It's a String Thing #125:

I wanted the "Tipple" to sort of fall in a weighted fashion. You're meant to tilt the tile a little.

Joni's tile for the challenge.
I like the belt thing she did with "Sprocket".

  Here's a sneak preview to a new time lapse drawing I'll be doing:

The time lapse will be of the Zentangle patterns around the jewel. I'm planning to do a tutorial of how to draw jewels with black coloured pencil as shadow soon.

  And here's some coloured Zendalas I did:

This one didn't use many recognisable Zentangle patterns.

This one used African Artist, Pinepple, and Crescent Moon.

  I also taught Zendala classes last week. The students did great. Here's one by Muniza:

Last but not least, here's a tile Joni and I did for Diva's weekly challenge.
"Lauraknot" and Diva Dance.
I did the Auraknot; Joni did the Diva Dance and shading.

  I did too many tiles, so I'll be posting the remainder of them later on in the week. (Update: that post is up already. You can view it by clicking this link.) Until then... Keep tangling! ^-^

Making Zengems/Jewels 3D

  I posted a video on my YouTube channel earlier this week. In it, I showed you how to make your Zengems/jewels look literally three-dimensional. It's a really simple and easy method. In case you missed the video, here it is:

  I've completed quite a couple of zengems using this method. Here are some of them:

The one you saw in the video.
Also, notice the really pretty "Mooka" that I used as a border. I'll be posting a "Mooka... and then some" tutorial soon.

I love this emerald green.

  How did I do it? The answer is that I used Mod Podge's Dimensional Magic. It absolutely has to be Dimensional Magic and not any other glue. I tried using normal white glue, and also Mod Podge Gloss, but they both dried with bubbles in them and ended up looking horrid.

  The back of the bottle says to allow 3 hours of drying time, but I usually let them dry overnight. You can draw multiple jewels and then set them aside till' you collect a good amount of them. And then mod podge them all at one go. It's more convenient that way.

  Do not shake the bottle as doing so will cause bubbles to form in the glue. If you cap the bottle properly, the glue will remain runny. If you must somehow shake the bottle, don't shake it up and down, but instead roll the bottle between your hands (like if you were to start a fire with sticks). You can keep a pen knife and some tissue handy so that if there are bubbles in the glue, you can poke them/remove them before you let the glue dry.

  I hope you create many beautiful things with this new knowledge. Leave me a comment in the comments section below if you'd like, and don't forget to keep tangling~

Try Out Thursday: Souffle White Pen Review

  As promised, here's the close-up photo of the drawing you saw in the last post:

The pattern in the middle was done by Joni. It's called "Diva Dance".

    And of course, I did the typography. Here's the time-lapse video of me creating it:

  The first thought I had after using the souffle pen... "What sort of watery nonsense is this?" whilst making a scowling expression. Because it really was that terrible. I wouldn't have given it a second chance had it not been for the fact that I was testing out other pens along with it. After testing the other pens, I looked back at the test area of the souffle pen. Lo and behold, the ink was now a solid opaque white. I seriously did a double-take, and then promptly went to look at the pen's wrapper.

"Give ample time for ink to dry. Color changes as the ink dries."

  It really does take a while for the ink to dry, but it's so worth it in the end... The ink is very opaque and the pen is now my current favourite white pen alongside my trusty Uni-ball Signo Broad pen. The pen's wrapper said that it was suitable for embossing, so I tried going really *really* slowly to get more ink to pool onto the paper, but that didn't seem to make much difference than if I were to just keep the pen going at a steady pace. You can feel the ink on paper, so it does dry to a slightly raised finish, which I like.

  The set I got has two pens, which, I believe, will last me for quite some time. The only downside is that the shipping costs to Singapore is rather high (I got this pen from Amazon). However, if any of you know where to get this pen in Singapore, do let me know in the comments section below.