Sanibelle from Amy-'chele

First, I'd like to thank everyone who posted a comment on last week's entry (the infamous Non-Dominant Hand Challenge!) or took the time to check out Caroline's Moebius tangle and leave a note for her. It really is so exciting to get feedback! Keep those comments coming, if you see or read something you like on my blog. :-)

Next, I have to share some FANTASTIC news: Laura Harms, aka THE Diva of "I am the Diva--Certified Zentangle Teacher"  fame has had her blog officially recognized as the #1 Most Fascinating Blog of 2011 in the Teaching Blog category.

YAY, Laura! Of course  this honor should be yours...who else even comes close to having such a rockin' blog that draws people in from around the globe so we can all learn from each other?! How I admire and appreciate you for what you have done.

HONK if you are here reading Tanglefish because of a link on the Diva's website!

And speaking of the Diva, this week's challenge (#57) is the first of the "Use My Tangle!!" (UMT) challenges. The first week of each month a random number generator will select a reader's tangle (submitted to an official "Use My Tangle!!" list) to be the featured tangle. This week: Sanibelle by Tricia Faraone, CZT (http://tanglewithme-tricialee.blogspot.com/).

Prior to last week, I had never used Sanibelle. I think it's a beautiful tangle, and I absolutely love it in other people's Zentangle designs. But I was afraid that I wouldn't do it justice, so it was one of those tangles that I looked forward to practicing before I really used it. Last week, I tried it in one of my Tangle-A-Day Calendar squares, but I did not have the official directions handy, and it didn't quite turn out as well as I'd hoped. So when the Diva announced that this week's challenge was to incorporate Sanibelle, I was excited to have a reason to focus on it in my own work and a venue to see Sanibelle featured in tiles by so many other tanglers.

Featured tangles: Inapod, Chainging, Tipple, and Sanibelle.

Here's my first entry for this challenge:

Before I began, I listed all the tangles that I feel have an oceanic "vibe." I quickly came up with almost thirty! I figured any of them would work well with Sanibelle, so I chose just a few.

Inapod is a tangle by Carole Ohl. It is featured in an illustration in her Tangle-A-Day Calendar right next to the square in which I drew my first attempt of Sanibelle, so it's no coincidence that I associate those two tangles with each other. This is the first time I have used Inapod.

Punzel and Tipple are official Zentangle tangles.

For all of the line work I used an old 01 Micron that produces an ultra-thin line now. For filling in the Punzel negative spaces, I employed my new 04 Pigma Sensei. All of the shading was done with my gold-capped Zentangle® special pencil.

About my title, Sanibelle from Amy-'chele: my middle name is Michele. One of my mom's pet names for me is Amy-'chele, or Amy-shell. Or A-Michele. It all works! And I've always loved that my nickname reminds me of seashells, a natural form that has always inspired and delighted me throughout my life.