"Oooh—Shiny!" Week: Tuesday

I nearly didn't get any tangling in today. Yesterday was a long, busy day, and I think I wore myself out. I was grumpy and tired all day today! That should have been a sign for me to start tangling, but I waited until this evening (rather late!) for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

I did not work on a tile today. I started with a rim tag (on the left in the photo below). I love rim tags! I especially love the larger rim tags, but the one I had hand was a smaller one. It was black on one side, kraft brown on the other. I only tangled the black one tonight, with a silver Sigma. The pen is too broad to tangle in small spaces with much detail.

Then I moved on to some brown kraft stickers that I bought on clearance last month when my nearby Michael's as getting ready to close its doors. (There is a brand new Michaels now in a different retail area that isn't far, but it's definitely not as convenient a location for me. Phooey.) I used my gold sigma, and started on the scalloped medallion. I began with a loopy tangle, eke, but there wasn't room to really develop it, so I added a spiral in the center. Then thickened the gold at the corner between the loops. Eventually I added some details with a black 005 Micron.

The other sticker is tangled with ving. I haven't decided how to finish it, but my tip for you is to outline your metallic pen strokes if there is not enough contrast for the lines to show up well. Again, I used my 005 Micron.

Finally, I got out a tool I have had for ages: the Inscriblio by EK Success. Have you seen this before? It is a crafter's engraving tool. I haven't used it in a long, long time. The batteries inside had corroded. Ugh! So I gave it to my son to clean up--he's really great with that sort of thing! And got out my . . . wait for it . . . back-up Inscriblio! Yes, I have two. And that one still had working batteries that had NOT corroded! YAY! So I found my metal ATCs that I've had for years, and engraved the metal ATC you see below. I'm not at all sure why I chose mooka. I do know why I employed indyrella at the top, though! Indyrella allowed me to work with the surface, not against it. As you might imagine, engraving is not nearly as easy as drawing with a pen; the metal seems to have a grain, and the tool does not always move in the manner you want it to.  Curves can be especially tricky. I knew this from years ago, the first time I engraved a metal ATC. I looked for that metal ATC from yesteryear, but since it did not turn up for me today, I figured it was time to make a new one.

I took some video of the metal ATC in my hand, turned different ways to catch the light, but I haven't yet figured out how to upload a video from my iPhone into Blogger. I can't seem to access videos, even though I can access photos. 

Well, whew! I got my Tuesday post in before midnight! I hope to get tomorrow's in earlier.