Happy Birthday!

Vicki Murray, a Certified Zentangle Teacher in Oklahoma City, recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a Zentangle-decorated ice cream cake.

What a great (and in this case, cool) idea! Just create your Zentangle-inspired image . . .

 . . . and use your favorite edible transfer product (search online for "frosting sheet"). It has pretty good image quality, too.

Thanks, Vicki. We all wish you a very happy 60th birthday!

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Tangle to Polymer

One of our regular commenters, "rev byrd" emailed us this gem. Here are her images and narrative about using a Zentangle as inspiration for a polymer clay creation.

I have been following your blog for some time now. I really enjoy it. I look forward to it every morning.

I have done a few (very few) Zentangles of my own and I did purchase your kit.

Anyway, recently I did a Zentangle and then translated it into polymer clay (my medium of choice). An on-line friend said I should send it to you, so here it is. No paint was used here, nor ink, just the colors of the clay the way I mixed them. Size of the clay Zentangle is around 9 by 11 inches.

You can view these and other Zentangle images at her Flickr site.

Thanks "rev byrd" for sharing that with us and everyone here.

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Zentangle High (School) Fashion

Teacher, "KC" writes:

Our school here in Texas had 2 flex weeks at the end of the year for a summer school and this year we offered elective classes. I did the art elective and chose to do your Zentangle technique. The students did a few practice tiles and then did their tangles on a shirt. I have sent along photos of both my AM and PM classes so you can see what they produced. They were so proud of their accomplishments especially since many of the students had not had art before this.

I blurred the faces for privacy issues so that you might be able to post them online.

How cool is that! Thank you KC. And congratulations to all on your awesome t-shirt creations!

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Day Job

Here's a glimpse of how Zentangle finds its way into everything!

I grabbed a couple photos of this piece before it was delivered. Maria inscribed this print of one of her illustrations. It's a great Henry David Thoreau quote, "My life is like a stroll along the beach, as near the ocean's edge as I can go."

Check out the Zentangle emblished "M" (using pokeroot, paradox and purk) . . .

And this delicious golden (gouache) border embellishment using purk . . .

Many Zentangles in our gallery remind people of fanciful sea creatures. Purk is quite reminiscent of the shell pattern seen in to top right of this print. If you haven't seen it before, check out some images from our gallery here.

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Basic Tangles

Challenge
Go back to the first tangles you learned and use them in new and different ways. Here Maria uses five tangles we show in our Zentangle Kit and teach in our introductory workshops. It's a good reminder that even if you know just a few tangles* there's no limit to what you can create.

Aside
After photographing this Zentangle outside, I noticed our mountain laurel in peak bloom and just had to share it with you . . . they're so beautiful right now.

*Tangle
Tangle is our word for unique patterns that are created from simple repetitive strokes. Tangles used in this Zentangle are Crescent Moon, Hollibaugh, Pokeroot, Static and Tipple.

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Bronx Cheer Follow-up

Here's another example of Bronx Cheer.

This morning we found our front porch cherub pondering Maria's latest addition to that napkin from our last newsletter.

Notice the fescu tangle wrapped in aura.

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CZT Seminar Wrapup

Here's a few more pix to round out a look at our recent CZT training.

One of many wonderful meals in the dining room.

A few CZTs-to-be take their turn teaching.

Evening Bananagrams outside on the garden terrace.

The first night was cool so most everyone hung out inside around the fireplace which warmed the library just right. By the second day the sun had come out for a perfect New England spring day.

Zentangle Tattoo!

We haven't logged these tattoos into our storefront and website yet, so for now you have to call to order them. You can order 10 temporary Zentangle tattoos for $9. They look very cool. Maria's had her's on for almost two weeks and it's just starting to fade, but you can remove it any time you choose.

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