Zentangle Hexagon Ornament

The Quilt Rat, Jill Buckley created these wonderful Zentangle doodled hexie ornaments. See her blog post click here and part two, with a video and here I think they are the most wonderful designs, she has even shared a pattern you can print. Thank you Quilt Rat! I even got to use my new toy, acrylic hexagon templates that I got at the Second City Quilt Shop in Chicago last summer.

I traced the pattern on white cotton, with a mechanical pencil, for fine lines, and the 1" hexies onto manila folder. If you are worried about transparent paints, use white index cards. I thought about assembling the hexies first and then painting, my usual approach, but decided to use her way. I taped individual hexies on my plastic covered work surface. I thought the aloe gel idea to use with the paints was very intriguing. I put on a thin layer of aloe and used red liquid acrylic paint from Americana. The paint went on so smooth, straight from the bottle. No bleeding, I normally would have had to water down the paints to get a smooth application. I painted all seven hexies with red, before rinsing my brush. I had difficulties using the yellow paint, because the aloe gel had dried, frowny face. I added some gel to the green paint, and it went on smoother. So lesson learned, finish one hexie with all 3 colors, before moving on to the next one.

My paint was more opaque than the ones she used, so I had to go over my lines again with the Pigma pen, but that was no big deal. The before and after re-inking picture, show the importance of the lines.

Putting the pieces together, I used Elmers glue to hold the seam allowances, I had to wait for each seam to set, before moving on to the next one. I need to check and see what glue she used, the Elmers was not the best choice. I am used to sewing/basting the seams around the cardboard and then popping out the card. I thought about doing that, assembling the 7 pieces, and then painting. But this way you can trace the pattern easily, and you are leaving in the card. I found it difficult to get my stitches through the fabric with the glue and paint on them. But the paint stabilizes the bias, a definite plus.

The almost finished ornament, I still need to sew a few pieces. I added green to my color choices, because I do see this as a tree ornament. I want to add a backing fabric, I don't know how she finished the back of hers, so I have to think on this a minute. I would definitely make more, they were a little more time consuming than I first thought, but well worth it. The only change I would make is my glue choices. Thank you "The Quilt Rat" for the wonderful tutorial and pattern. click here for her blog

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other talented textile artists are doing.