Tanglefish

Heidi & Heidilöv

2026-03-01T00:00:00.005-05:00

Now that I'm blogging again, my goal is to compose two posts a month for the rest of the year. At least two. Given that the calendar page is about to flip and I have less than an hour left of February, I'd better get busy! (EDIT: I hit the "post" button right as the clock struck midnight. Sigh. So my 2nd post of February is actually a March post. But I will still count it as a February post...and I have still more to say to cover everything I wanted to!)

In my last post I wrote about the ATC swap that I agreed to that inspired me not only to make an ATC for my friend, but also to draw some stepouts and start writing again. I didn't want to post the ATC I had made until our exchange was complete, and the mail system was rather slow in delivering my creation to Barb, but she finally received it earlier this week, so I am ready to share! The vertical ATC is the one I created for Barb, and the horizontal one is the one she created for me.

As you can see, I used the tangle I shared in my last post, aloka, as well as a tangle I haven't shared yet: heidilöv, named for our sweet German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) Heidi. I modified it ever so slightly so that the middle section features a golden heart, and since this was an easy modification, I decided that there could be a tangleation named heidilövve...the extra "ve" stands for Valentine Edition, since it is modified by turning loops into hearts. So...here are the stepouts!

But how can I share heidilöv without also sharing some pics of Heidi herself? And a tidbit of information. Heidi will be turning 4 this year, so she is still fairly young, though definitely not a puppy. We adopted her when she was 2 through a GSP rescue organization back in 2024 . . . I need to save that story for another post, but one of the joys of this past month was that Heidi and I finally got to meet Mandy, the Tennessee coordinator for Southeast GSP Rescue! Mandy lives about 5 hours away, so even though we had talked on the phone and exchanged many emails and texts, we had never seen each other in person.

Heidi is a gentle creature with a silly side, yet she looks incredibly serious most of the time. She is a devoted cuddler. She wants to be where we are...if we are on the sofa, she is on the sofa. If we are in bed, she is in bed with us. If I am working on my laptop at the kitchen table, she jumps in the chair right next to me, I now keep a chair with a cushion right there for her, and she knows that's her chair. She loves to bask in the sun and watch though windows, and to be outdoors. She especially loves running with my husband and chasing after geese in the neighborhood. She is unusually calm for a GSP, though, as they are known for having incredibly high energy. Heidi has old soul energy. Seriously. It's as though our Pausha, who passed away in early 2024 at the age of 17 or 18, knew that we didn't need a dog who had young-Pausha energy, so she sent us one with energy similar to her senior self to help heal our hearts after her passing. We couldn't ask for a dog that suits us better right now.

Moving Meditation...Ripples and Connections, Pilgrimages and Pups

2026-02-07T14:35:00.002-05:00

I love a good nap. (Especially a nap cuddled up with a dog.) But eventually one has to wake up and get moving again. I've "napping on the job" in regards to my beloved Tanglefish blog, but that doesn't mean I forgot about it. I think about it quite often. Even if I haven't posted anything at all since September, 2023. Over two years of writing posts in my head, taking photos to share, drawing tiles, and developing tangles. None of it documented here.

I don't think anyone missed me and my ramblings. No one reached out to ask when I might start posting again. Maybe I would have been moved to write and post sooner, but truly I don't need anyone to prompt me, though I do truly miss the weekly Diva Challenge prompts! (If you have been tangling a while, a good long while, you might know what I am talking about.) But I always figured I'd return to Tanglefish, and here I am! A lot has happened since I last wrote.

But right now I want to talk about something that is currently happening. Something that aligns with my passions, with themes that I like to honor in my life.

Dogs. Peace. I have written about both here in my blog. You might recall my dog Pausha and the tangle I named in honor of her: paushalöv. You might recall also that I have written about Peace. It's a theme that I incorporated into my teaching over the years, particularly with regard to Pinwheels for Peace. Here's a post that references peace, (click the link) and introduces two tangles, fluhrfle and fredjen, that I think I still need to provide step outs for. Another post, another time.

Labyrinths. Have I written much about labyrinths here? I'm not sure I have, but over the years, though my Tanglefish posts have dwindled, my focus on and involvement with labyrinths has increased. I did at least share within, a tangle that creates a continuous pathing within an orb...a path inspired by my passion for labyrinths, and inspired by Margaret Bremner, CZT. Walking a labyrinth is a moving meditation, just as drawing tangles is a tangible meditation, in my mind. Labyrinths also represent pilgrimage... and I have embarked on my own form of pilgrimage over the years, on multiple occasions, to multiple destinations.

So now I want to honor the pilgrimage that is happening right now as a group of venerable Buddhist monks walk the thousands of miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, DC. If you are not aware of the Walk for Peace yet, and you have made it this far in my post, do yourself a favor and look it up. Google will be more than happy to provide tons of information on this amazing journey that is inspiring more and more people everyday, instilling hope in the most gentle of ways.

Google will also be happy to provide links to information about a certain member of the group, a very special member who accompanies the group, lifts spirits, and brings joy despite his recent surgery from which he is recovering. I am referring to Aloka, the Peace Dog. Aloka was a street dog in India who joined a group of venerable monks as they walked for peace in India and stayed with them, a self-appointed mascot devoted to the venerable monks and their journey. He is now with them in America...what a remarkable story about a remarkable dog.

Why now? Why am I suddenly moved to sit down with my own beloved dog by my side and write a post about the Walk for Peace?

Multiple reasons. Layers of reason. Ripples from recent events/connections that resonate in my heart and mind and soul.

The venerable monks are in Virginia now, getting quite close to the destination of their pilgrimage. Yesterday they passed through my hometown, Fredericksburg Virginia. Every time I think of it or see a post on Facebook or Instagram I tear up. I am so moved by their journey, and to know that the ground of my hometown has been blessed by their footprints means so much to me. Some of my hometown friends who still live in the area (or returned to it) got to see them as they passed through! I'm so very happy for them! I want to do something to commemorate this auspicious occasion. I'd like to offer a gift.

In thinking of Aloka, the Peace Dog, I thought it would be absolutely lovely if there were a tangled named Aloka. It's a beautiful name...the word means light and brilliance.

And in other news (stick with me!), on Thursday a dear friend of mine from the CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) community reached out to me to see if I'd like to swap a Valentine ATC (Artist Trading Card). It was so lovely to hear from her, and I joyfully accepted her invitation. Thank you, Barb Mavraganis!

I started thinking about tangles that incorporate hearts, and my mind immediately lept to an unnamed tangleation of the angular tangle rixty that I developed a few years ago. Rixty was Maria Thomas's gift to her beloved Rick for his sixtieth birthday. Love the clever name for this tangle! I have one tangleation of rixty that I named zixty, as it involves a zigzag. (Zixty will be featured in another post another time.) But I couldn't think of a name for this tangleation that involved a heart shape instead of the triangle that defines rixty. Because of that, I had never presented this tangle to the world, though I had shared it with my local meetup group at lease once over the years, maybe twice or thrice.

So...I have a name I think deserves a tangle: Aloka. I had a tangle that needs a name...a heart-based tangleation of a tangle that was named for a man who formerly lived as a monk. This feels like a Reese's peanut butter cup situation! A delicious combination that is not to be denied!

And here's what makes it even more apropos: Aloka the Peace Dog has a distinctive mark on the top of her head. It is quite distinctly heart-shaped.

As we approach Valentine's Day, I encourage you to try my new tangle Aloka in a composition, maybe even a Valentine's card.

One more note: I also have a tangleation of Aloka that is somewhat like the tangle dewd. It flows in a way that reminds me of my tangle paushalöv, and so I decided to name it alokalöv.

I have so much more to say, but I think I need to wrap it up...this post is long enough already. And so, without further ado, here are the step outs to aloka and alokalöv:

FOMO/NoFOMO!

2023-09-04T17:36:00.010-04:00

It's been a year.

What a year it's been.

Today is the official anniversary of Mom's last laugh and last breath. And so, on this meaningful day, I want to share the stepouts for a beautiful tangle that I created in memory of my Mom.

Switching gears, but it's definitely still on topic: I'd like to give a BIG shout-out to my friend Jessica Davies, CZT, of Salted Pink Studio for giving me the name before I had even developed the tangle! I was in a group chat with her and a few other CZTs. I was experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out, you know) about an upcoming online retreat, so as I was trying to decide whether or not to sign up (I wasn't sure the timing would work for me), I mentioned I had FOMO, and Jessica's immediate reponse was, "No FOMO!"

Which sounded like an awesome tangle name. Thank you, Jessica! It just needed a tangle to go with it.

I had personal reasons for wanting to come up with the perfect tangle for "NoFOMO". It took me a few weeks, but then, ta-daaaaa!!! I had come up with what I feel is the perfect NoFOMO tangle. FOMO, you see, is different for each of us. In order to manage FOMO, we have to look inward and deal with our thoughts and feelings. And we have to look outward and manage our time, resources, and reality. What is possible? What opportunities are to be pursued, which should be released? How can FOMO be relieved? Do you find a way to participate in whatever you are afraid of missing out on? Or do you find a way to let it go and move on? Do you need to grieve? Do you need to find a distraction? There are choices to be made in the process of dealing with FOMO, right?!

So, this tangle is about defining a context, a frame. You might say it represents whatever it is that you fear missing out on. And then you choose what to do on the inside. Do you treat the space as one area, or divide into smaller areas to work with? You choose what to do with the space, the void, within. And then you decide how to manage and make the most of the space beyond. The area surrounding the frame. Are you still with me? Does it make sense?

This tangle can make use of a particular curvy shape the looks like an ornamental letter "C". It has a bulb at either end, like the tangle mooka. And it's a shape I keep noticing on all sorts of things! Silverware. A decorative easel. A trellis in a potted plant at my cousin's church's labyrinth in Texas. So I decided that not only did NoFOMO need to be the name of a tangle, but that this shape, which I like to use when I draw NoFOMO, needed a name. So I came up with one that acknowledges that it looks like like a double-ended strand of mooka: mirrooka. You can see it in action in my stepouts below! And below my stepouts, you can read a bit more about how this relates to my Mom's passing one year ago.

September 4...last year it was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. This year, of course, the 4th (today) falls on a Monday. So yesterday felt like the one-year mark, being the Sunday of this holiday weekend. I decided it was time to finally get my stepouts finished for publishing in remembrance of this significant day. So that's what I did yesterday. I finally made my "polished" steputs of a beautiful tangle I had been drawing for months, and even teaching when I had the chance.

You see, NoFOMO is the tangle I created to honor Mom and my family's memories of her last weekend in this realm. We knew she was dying, had very little time left. Mom had reached the end of her journey, and her husband, children, and grandchildren were all there with her at Mom & Dad's apartment. My sister and her kids (all in their 20s) had come down from Washington, DC and Virginia on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and my own kids (also in their 20s) drove down from Ohio later in the day, and didn't arrive until 1am, the wee hours of Sunday morning.

We then proceeded, in the middle of the night (!) to commence with the merriment of all being together, looking through stacks of photos and mementos that Mom had waiting for us. She had hoped to drift away peacefully, surrounded by her family chatting and laughing (as we alway do) sharing memories prompted by the photos. But every time she drifted away, she couldn't quite leave completely. She'd open her eyes and contribute to the stories. Sometimes she'd say something that didn't quite make sense to us, but she was still engaging, and most of the time, what she said was spot on, relevant...and so funny it cracked us up! So our vigil with Mom felt more like a family party. And Mom didn't want to miss out on any of the fun. She couldn't leave the party.

So at 81.5 years, on high levels of oxygen 24/7, my amazing Mom pulled and all-nighter. At about 5 am, we all realized what was going on. Mom was experiencing FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. She was not afraid to die; her faith was in her Lord and Savior, and she was not afraid to leave this world and meet her Maker. Her body was not serving her any more. But she did not want to leave the party. FOMO. So that's why I wanted to create NoFOMO. To honor Mom's last hurrah, as well as the legacy of love and service she left behind. I love you and miss you, Mom.

Mom made it through that Saturday night well into Sunday, and we teased her about having FOMO. She had never heard of it, so we explained it to her. She was quite amused and had to tell her hospice nurse about it when the nurse came to the apartment to check in on her. Even on what turned out to be her last day, she was learning and laughing, in addition to loving. Her time after that dwindled down. She stayed as long as she could, and then made her exit. We weren't ready, but she was. We knew she needed to go, and she reassured us that it was okay.

Teaching at a Jewish school, I have learned that the anniversary of the date of passing is very significant; it's called Yahrzeit. That is about all I know, but now I would like to learn more. I'll light a candle for her tonight, though I won't leave it burning for the traditional 24 hours due to safety concerns.

So...how do you like NoFOMO? It's a tangle that plays so well with others! I'd love to see ways that NoFOMO appears in YOUR drawings, whether it's a page in a sketchbook, a traditional tile, or a piece of Zentangle Inspired Art (ZIA). Take care . . . and maybe make your Mom a piece of art! I wish I'd made more for mine. Or maybe make a piece of art WITH your Mom, or Dad, or Grandparent, or sibling, or son or daughter, or niece or nephew, or all of the above, if feasible. But most importantly, MAKE MEMORIES to cherish. NoFOMO is a definitely a memory in the form of a tangle! Remember to define your frames, and explore and nurture the space within and the space beyond.

Exploring New Waters

2022-12-09T02:14:00.000-05:00

Hello blogworld! Anyone out there? Anyone miss me? I have missed writing. I have missed it terribly! And I didn't want 2022 to end without a single post, so after an hour or so of struggling to log into my Blogger account (I had completely forgotten the email I had used to establish this entity!), I finally got in. I am happy to have the opportunity to once again try to bring this blog of mine back to life. I've wondered if I should rename it or start a new one, but quite frankly, I love the name "tanglefish." My daughter helped me decide on it over a decade ago! So even though I am establishing a new business with a name that one might say is more land-oriented (Pen & Path), I am going to keep with the name "tanglefish" for my blog, and embrace the flow that started so many years ago. I have recently been on some adventures. And I am currently starting some new ones. I would like to chronicle them here, perhaps. Just tonight I submitted an application for something that would be really cool. I'll let you know if pans out! What's a blog post without some photos? Well, not as interesting as one WITH photos. But I can't seem to upload the water-themed photos I just spent an hour or so selecting from my phone. So photos will have to wait for another time. I might need to spend some time relearning how to do things in Blogger. Leave me a comment, if you would be so kind, to encourage me to make the effort! Thanks for reading! I'll try to have photos in the next post! And maybe share stepouts to a new tangle! -Amy in TN

Stick With It; See It Through!

2021-04-12T01:36:00.008-04:00

Hello, happy Spring, and thank you for visiting Tanglefish! Please leave me a comment below to let me know you were here. I am delighted to have some stepouts to share. It has been a long time since I have drawn formal stepouts and put them out into the world for all (who are interested) to see. I think the last tangle I published was within, a tangle inspired be a beautiful piece of are by Margaret Bremner, CZT™. You can see within and read that blog entry here. The tangle that I share with you today is not new; it first flowed from my pen back in 2014. I was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, flying home from a fabulous family vacation to England and Wales. I had my sketchbook and pen handy for the long flight, of course, and started playing with spirals. I was pondering the tangle opus and had a "what if...?" moment: What if I did not reflect the spirals on the other side of the "vine"? What if I only drew them in one direction? What would happen if I kept going and going, with more and more spirals in the same direction? So I kept going. It started looking really awkward, but I kept going. And then all of a sudden, I LOVED what happened! All because I stuck with it. I saw it through to a natural completion, as the spirals worked their way around. I fit them in each other and around each other, I nested them and layered them. Those spirals leaned on each other and supported each other, and something wonderful emerged. I added a few bells and whistles. I restated the central line over and over as I drew, and when I was done with the spirals, I added rounding in the angles. I had an idea to give it a "partial frame," aura-ing just a few segments and fitting a short strand of pearls in those partial auras. Ta-daaa! A new tangle was born! I named it quickly and easily based on my process of exploring the answer to my "what if?" question: Stick with it; see it through. Or, S.W.I.S.I.T. I love the sound of that; it suits the swirls! This tangle has a mind of its own. It likes to have room to spread out in all its glory and to be the star of the show. So...here it is: swisit!

If you want to take swisit for a spin, I'd love to see what you do with it! Please join my new Facebook group, Fantanglefish, and post a photo!

Happy Flapping

2021-03-21T00:05:00.002-04:00

To day, March 20, is the International Day of Happiness. Thanks to the United Nations for setting aside a day for this! Some people might need to be reminded or prompted.

“Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place. But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.”– E.L. Konigsburg

narfello, floo, and gneiss

This quote speaks to me...it reminds me of a magic carpet that is floating or gliding smoothly on an invisible air stream, with one restless corner flapping as though it might know an even better direction to explore. Sometimes my attention is that corner that just can't settle down because it is excited about so many things! But I think that's really important...to have multiple directions to be excited about.

So I found a tile to share that has an energetic corner...it was a quick, spontaneous composition that came into being as the second tile in a Zentangle® Foundations class I taught in January.

I should have been teaching today; I had a new ZIA class lined up at the local community college. I was really excited about this new concept for a class, but it did not attract the minimum of enrollments required, so it was cancelled. It's always a bummer when a class gets cancelled, yet there is also always a silver lining. Instead of pouring my time and attention into my class today, which would have been lovely, I got to sleep in, read a little while my husband slept in even later, and eventually we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. This afternoon we got to work together for several hours in the yard on this beautiful day! It made me so happy!

Our yard has a long way to go before we will be satisfied with it. We have ideas, but tend to put other things first. Maybe this year we can get a little closer to our vision. Yardwork did not always make me happy, but the older I get, the more content I am to engage in the simple tasks of pulling weeds and picking up pinecones & sticks. Especially on a sunshiny day like today.

I decided that I wanted to write today, too. Writing makes me happy, and I haven't written here in a long time. I seem to write one post a year at this point. Maybe this year I will write more. Time will tell!

I started creating a new Facebook Group today. I have a local Facebook group for my tangle peeps here in East Tennessee, but I am getting ready to teach a broader audience. As I put together some class kits to send a Girl Scout Troop on the other side of the country, I realized that it did not make sense to add my local Facebook group name to the insert that I send with the kits, since the troop is not local. So I wondered what info I should add instead. It suddenly came to me: I should start a Facebook group as a companion to my blog. I'm on Facebook a lot more frequently, and it would help to keep me motivated to write here. It would be a way for me to connect with readers. Hopefully I will get more people interacting and responding to my posts. Maybe they (you!) could share any artwork they (you!) create in response to or influenced by what I write/create/share.

I am still in the very early stages, but I think I will call the group FanTanglefish. That has a nice ring to it! It might be FanTanglefish Tangleistic Pursuits, as "Tangleistic" is a term that I recently willed into being for another teaching opportunity that I accepted. I just finished a series of videos for a big CZT event, which is another source of happiness and joy. 😁💖I rather like my new word, tangleistic.

I have to include a tangled image, of course, though oddly I did not tangle today! Thus, in addition to the tile above, I also offer a photo from a class I taught earlier this year: a Zendala from a Valentine workshop. It features shattuck, betweed, and a tangle I call cl-bahhsonné.

Twists & Turns; Returns & Reengaging

2020-05-02T02:24:00.000-04:00

Happy May! Here is one of the tiles I tangled today, following an Instagram Live session with Annie Taylor, CZT, in Spain. How I enjoyed tangling with her and the others who were also watching her.

May 1, 2020 seems like a great day to re-engage. The world has changed since the last time I published a post here in Tanglefish. In my little corner of the world, our situation is far from "business as usual" but some things are returning. Some are seasonal, of course...plants are renewing their blooms and foliage. Some are societal...some businesses that had been closed for the pandemic are re-opening, as plans are in place to starts lifting restrictions. Some are personal. I am fostering renewed interest in various topics/pursuits during this season of social isolation. But renewed interest does guarantees action and results. So on this first day of May, I have decided to commit to engage in actions that further my interests and goals. So instead of thinking of writing posts, it's time for me to start writing them again.

I find it interesting that my last blog post shared my tangle within, which is reminiscent of a labyrinth path. Labyrinths are a renewed interest that I am pursuing, Did you know that May 2 is World Labyrinth Day? Thanks to CZT Sadelle Wiltshire for letting me know through her emailed newsletter that I received midweek...after I had actually taught a Zoom lesson to my 4th and 5th grade art students how to draw a classical labyrinth. Here's a link you can follow to learn more.

And here is a link to register, if you are interested, and you happen to read this in time.

There are many things that fascinate me about labyrinths. One aspect that I appreciate at this moment is that it twists and turns and defies logic as it takes you toward the center, then away from the center, and then you find yourself IN the center! Applying that concept to my life, my attention changes directions so frequently, yet I like to think that it can suddenly end up where it needs to be at any given moment.

I had some fun trying to develop a labyrinth path earlier this week...here is what I ended up with. It's rough, but I didn't create with the intention of sharing. I was just experimenting.

I'm curious to know how many of you are familiar with walking and finger labyrinths and the concept of labyrinths as a contemplative tool. Leave me a comment below to let me know!

To acknowledge the beautiful changes in nature that are occurring right now, here are some photos from around my home taken earlier today. The peonies in my side courtyard have come and gone (the roses right next to them are now exploding) and the peonies in my front yard that will be bursting open sometime this month. I counted 19 buds!

Inktober Eve! And my new-ish tangle: within

2019-09-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

If this is your first visit to Tanglefish, WELCOME!
If you are a returning reader, WELCOME BACK!
I'm glad you are here.
I'm glad I am here, too.

If you are just here to see my new-ish tangle, within, inspired by Margaret Bremner, scroll on down to the bottom of the post. But then make me feel better by reading the rest and maybe even leaving a comment. LOL

Today is the last day of September, which means...tomorrow is officially Inktober!

So maybe I will use Inktober as a great excuse to resurrect Tanglefish. I have missed blogging, but the blog world is so full that I doubt that anyone missed me. My last post, "PUF the Magic Tangle" from over a year ago, had only one comment. One mere comment, despite the fact that it was viewed over 1500 times, according to my statistics. And that one comment was total spam, not at all related to what I had written. I'd delete the bogus comment, but then you wouldn't have the opportunity to go read it for yourself for a laugh and an invitation to join my blogger pity party. LOL

But back to Inktober!!! Are YOU ready??? I'm not, but I hope to be soon. ;-) Workin' on it!

Inktober is a widespread endeavor in the art world, and since it involves drawing and ink, of course the Zentangle® community gets excited about it, too! There are lists of tangles and Facebook groups for anyone who wants to participate through social media (I'm sure Instagrams will also be full of Inktober images!). 

CZT Stephanie Jennifer of Singapore is one author of an Inktober Tangles list...here is a link to her Inktober 2019 blog post. 

CZT Alice Dean Hendon of Maine, who runs the amazing tangle-y Facebook group called Tangle All Around, is also an enthusiastic promoter of Inktober (and so much else!). Her Inktober Tangles list includes not only a tangle suggestion (the first word on her list) but also the "Official" Inktober work prompt from Jake Parker, the creator of Inktober.
Click here to access one of Alice's Facebook Tangle All Around posts that talks about Inktober.
and,
Click here to access another post in which she clarifies.

Oh, yes, and though it is not Zentangle-specific, I must include a link to the official Inktober website!
Each list (Alice's and Stephanie's) is fabulous, and I like to use both lists to inspire my drawing throughout the month of October.

Full disclosure: I have never made it all the way through Inktober drawing every day. But that's okay! The point is to get you drawing MORE.

And I will add to that the goal of SHARING more. I need to increase both. I don't draw as much as I'd like, and I rarely make the time to share what I do. So...here I am, putting it out there. I have goals. Time to progress toward them.

One of my goals is to do a better job of sharing all the tangles I have come up with over the years. There are gobs of them. Not many are published. Those that are published don't get much attention; they seem to fly under the tangle radar systems. But I do get so very excited when I see other tanglers using them in their art. So if you share work with any of my tangles, I'd be thrilled if you'd let me know!

One of my Zentangle inspirations is Margaret Bremner, CZT™, of the Enthusiastic Artist blog. Last summer Margaret shared an artwork on Facebook that had a feature in it that enthralled me immediately. It was a round medallion that drew me in and held me captive, in a good way! An amazing way. I could not stop staring at it, enjoying it, exploring the lines. It led me to create a new tangle that Margaret embraced, much to my very great joy. My tangle is a simplified arrangement of strokes inspired by that one element, that fascinating medallion, in her work. I named this new tangle "within" because it is contained within an enclosed orb. It is a single path, reminiscent of a labyrinth. Labyrinths have fascinated me for years. I won't go into labyrinths here, but if you are familiar with walking labyrinths and the practice of walking them in order to reflect and journey with one's thoughts, then you might also appreciate the name within from that aspect. Within also reminds me of the plastic adapter that was inserted within a 45 to play it on a record player, back in the days of vinyl.

Within can be used as a single unit or in clusters, as shown on the right. There are many ways to embellish it.

Within, inspired by Margaret Bremner.

A few weeks ago when I was visiting my daughter in NYC (that'll have to be a whole 'nuther blog post or two for a whole 'nuther time! LOL), I was blessed with a pm from Margaret who had been playing with within. It brought me such great joy to see what she did with it...and even more joy that she has granted me permission to share her work here.

(Yes, I know this paragraph is centered for no good reason; there must be a glitch that is not allowing me to format it flush left, try though I might. I have certainly tried. Multiple times, multiple ways.)

Art by Margaret Bremner,
used with permission.

Margaret also gave me permission to post a link to her original post on Instagram, so you, too, can see the artwork that sparked this tangle. It is entitled, "Shield Thy Trusted Servants." Click the title to see! (I hope; you might have to sign into Instagram. I'm not sure how it works, as I am not IG proficient yet.)

And thus concludes my first post of 2019!
Leave me a comment below to help encourage me to continue posting.

Happy Inktober to all, and to all a good pen!

PUF: the Magic Tangle

2018-06-04T01:17:00.000-04:00

Abra-cadabra! I'm back! I think I've mastered this disappearing act. I just need to work on reappearing more often.

Happy June! We are not quite halfway through 2018 yet. The months are slipping by! Travel for various reasons has kept me busy. I've made it to Ohio every month this year so far leading up to June, and I am sure I will be heading up there at least once this month. I do enjoy my trips up I-75! If you stick around (i.e. subscribe to Tanglefish!), you will probably learn many of the reasons why.

But on to the topic of this blog post: puf by Carole Ohl, CTZ™, is a charming tangle. I was excited to see that it is the focus of this week's Diva Challenge (#364). Puf really does seem to be magical in that it transforms from basic bales, a grid-based tangle that tends to turn out rather flat in appearance, to a dimensional and somewhat organic outcome! The original grid gets lost in the lines; it's rather exciting to see it transform! Here's my finished tile:

At the bottom of this post, you can see some pics of the tile in process.

In this next paragraph it might seem at first as though I am veering off topic, but watch how I magically tie it in:

During one of my trips to Ohio this spring (this particular trip was for a FIRST Robotics Competition Regional Tournament with my son's team), I made a little phone call to Bead Stash, a bead store in Kettering, Ohio. I wanted to see if they had any Tangle-a-Day Calendars in stock. Yes, I know it sounds odd to call a bead store to ask about a Zentangle®-inspired calendar, but I knew what I was doing.

Oh JOY! The owner of the store answered the phone, and confirmed that she had one copy left in the store. So I drove about 40 minutes to pick up the calendar and meet the owner—none other than the creator of the Tangle-a-Day Calendar, Carole Ohl herself!!! The same CZT™ who came up with puf, as well as a bunch of other fabulous tangles such as featherfall, tuftid, floatfest, and inapod. You can see these and other tangles on her Open Seed blog.

What a great store!

I was so happy to meet Carole!!!

See how it all ties together so beautifully?! It was lovely meeting Carole in person, after having been a fan of hers, her tangles, and her wonderful Tangle-a-Day Calendars for several years. It was a short visit, as I had to return to the team at the robotics tournament at the Nutter Center at Wright State University. Those who know me well will not be too surprised that I found a Tim Horton's nearby so I could enjoy a latte pick-me-up on that beautifully rainy afternoon in Ohio. And invest strategically in a little bit of ground coffee to bring back to Tennessee.

I stock up when I can! This keeps me happily
caffeinated at home.

My son and I in the Team 1466 pit. He is the team's "Pit King"
I'm not quite sure why he has my old Ray Bans under his saftey goggles!

And here is my challenge tile in process, so you can see how it began and progressed:

I'll wrap this up with a few photos I took on a walk this evening with Joseph and Pausha. The clouds were glorious, and I thought it was funny the way Pausha appears to be exhaling the sunset in the 2nd photo. Almost like a fire-breathing ~~dragon~~ pointer!

I welcome any comments!
Happy Tangling!
-Amy

Check it Out, I'm Checking In Again!

2018-01-31T15:39:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!
I am happy to report that despite my silence in 2017 (one post the entire year?!?!?!?!), I am alive and well and looking forward to doing more (and blogging about it) in 2018!

2017 was a fun year, and I actually wrote lots of blog posts about what I did. In my head. Never made it to the keyboard with those blog posts, so they were never published. It was a very busy year!

I miss writing, so spending some time here in my Tanglefish world is on my list of goals for the year. There's really no good reason for my absence, as I am still creating, still teaching occasionally (and hopefully a lot more in the months to come) and still enjoying a wide variety of fun adventures that I'd be happy to share.

My freshest news (because I don't want to start off with stale news, of course) is that I am now a Magnabilities Consultant. I JUST STARTED. Less than week ago. My starter kit from the company arrived just yesterday! And I haven't even opened it yet because I want to plan something special for "The Opening." I hope to have some friends over, to explore the goodies together.

But here's the overview: Magnabilities is a line of jewelry that features circular interchangeable inserts that can be swapped out according to your outfit or your mood. Fun stuff! I am really excited to try to share this line of jewelry with family and friends. I will probably be blogging a lot more about it, but I want to show how this line of jewelry relates to my passion for Zentangle®. (And my pride in our beloved Pausha.)

And here are some custom inserts that I designed —in just a few, quick minutes!—to go along with some Magnabilities base jewry pieces (a pendant and a bracelet). There are many pieces in the line to choose from, and there are hundreds of insert options, but what REALLY excites me about this line is that you can DESIGN YOUR OWN using your own artwork and/or photos!

These are the two tiles that featured in the custom insert designs. The bottom tile has two custom designs, because I featured two different areas of the same tile.

This is just a quick update to get the ball rolling here at Tanglefish again. I wish you all a magnificent 2018! Namaste! Or, rather, Magnamaste!

Hamadox Fan (Ha)Mail

2017-02-08T22:14:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I shared anything, but I'm back, poised to dive back in again! As you might guess, life kept me busy and distracted last fall and through the holidays. Not distracted from Zentangle®—it's at the forefront of my mind each and every day—but distracted from gathering my thoughts and pen marks and putting them into Tanglefish posts.

Today I am happy to share my response to the latest Diva Challenge, #302: UMT Hamadox by Diana Schreur, CZT™. With Valentine's Day around the corner, I am using this week's challenge to showcase a card idea that I came up months and months ago, but had not yet taken the time to create. So, my first approach to the hamadox challenge was to use it on a card. Before tangling, I embossed the card with a simple fan shape. (I used a ball-end stylus from Fiskars® and a brass stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils, along with a lightbox, to create the base card.) I had bought the stencil a while ago with the plan of using it to create tangled "Fan Mail" with my Zentangle Clubs. This stencil is perfect for that! I'm so glad this challenge inspired me to act on my idea; I see more tangled "Fan Mail" cards in my future!

pink accents added with a Memento dye ink pad in
Rose Bud, a Sculpey™rotating alphabet text stamp,
and a technique I refer to as "zeninkedge" at the
perimeter of the card; the gold accents done with a gold
Sakura Gelly Roll® pen

Hamadox actually reminds me of the blades of a an electric fan. How appropriate for this project.

Here's what the high school Zentangle Club created in our quick meeting on Monday. Some of them also created a traditional tile with hamadox, so their cards are not as far along. They do beautiful work, and I hope I get to see these cards after they are completed, before the students give them away!

Zentangle Club "Fan Mail" Cards

After I tangled hamadox in the middle of the embossed fan, I realized I might not have followed the steps precisely, so I checked the step-outs again and realized that the first petals of the hamail section, on the outside of the paradox square, were far longer than they needed to be. (If you are wondering why I am referring to different tangles, see below.) Ultimately, I was happy with how it turned out, but I adjusted this when I drew hamadox on a regular tile. It's such a fun and beautiful tangle!

hamadox with auras, a hint of crescent moon,
and a tier of pearl...set on a patina background

For those who don't know, "UMT" stands for "Use My Tangle" and it is a monthly feature on the Diva Challenge schedule—the first Monday of each month is a UMT week. It's a great way to build up your tangle library and insert a new tangle into your repertoire if you are not familiar with the chosen tangle, or to get reacquainted with it if it's one you already know. It is always a joy to see what tanglers around the world do to incorporate the same tangle into their art; there is always grand variety!

Hamadox is actually a "tango"—a lovely dance between two existing tangles that work exquisitely together. In this case, those two tangles are hamail and paradox (also known as Rick's paradox). Hamail was presented to the world by Swiss CZT Tina Hunziker; you can read about it's origins here.
Paradox is a Zentangle® tangle that looks incredibly complex, yet is extremely simple once you understand how to construct it. It's one of my favorites! A few years ago, Canadian CZT Margaret Bremner shared with the world a fantastic resource for exploring paradox, which I encourage you to check out by clicking this link.

Hamadox also reminds me of another luscious tangle, showgirl, by Vicki Bassett, CZT, and also of biscus,Vicki's more angular tangle of similar construction.

Thank you, Diana Schreur, if you are reading this! For those of you who are, like me, interested in the locations/nationalities of all the tanglers who influence our work, Diana lives in the Netherlands. Her blog is called "Didisch Website" and you can see more of her tangles here. Her blog is full of fabulous tangled art! Check it out!

That is all for now. I hope to get another post up soon, as I have so much more to share with you!

Comments are always cherished.
Happy tangling!
Amy

Tripolitics

2016-09-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

Don't worry — I am not going to get all "political" here! It's not who I am. I just liked the play on words. That IS who I am! I love to play with words as well as lines.

This weeks Diva Challenge, #284, is a monotangle challenge using tripoli. Tripoli is a triangle-based tessellated tangle, introduced on June 26, 2011, in the same Zentangle® newsletter that officially offered the black Zentangle tiles as well as ATC tiles to the world! So, my first Zentangle tile for this challenge is a traditional tile, but I am thinking I should also complete a black tile and an ATC for this challenge. Will I actually get them done? We'll see!

In the meanwhile, here is my first contribution to the Challenge #284, "Monotangle to Tripoli," along with a few snapshots of the tile in progress.

Tripoli explored

Triangles in place.
Composition is mapped out;
details are just beginning.

Details added.

Aura around outer and inner edges
of composition, before shading.

With Labor Day behind us, we are starting to settle into the new "normal" here in the Broady home. It's is strange to have only 3 of us (plus Pausha, the magnificent, speckled wonder-dog!) living here, but Caroline has moved on to bigger, better things. Except that her dorm room isn't bigger or better...it's a tight little dorm room with no AC. Life at college is an adventure, though and dormitory living is a part of that. She did a great job of decorating her room to make it cozy and functional, and the heat of summer will transition into the crisp temperatures of fall, and the frigid air of winter will hit soon enough.

Our son Joseph is now in his junior year, so I only have two more years with him at home. He is a busy guy with plenty of activities and a heavy course load that includes a bunch of AP classes. I don't know how he gets everything done, but he tries to stay practical and efficient and does not complain even when his Dad adds yardwork to his considerable to-do list.

Meanwhile, I am going to be helping with the Zentangle Club at the school, since Caroline is no longer there to run it. I also have a Zentangle Club that meets at a community art studio. We met twice a month during the summer, but we are going to try once a month during the school year. It's great fun! I will be writing more about it in a future post. At home, I am trying to organize some spaces that I have neglected for a while, including my personal studio and my home office. They are such disaster zones. Which means any effort will be an improvement, and progress will inspire additional effort, so I really should take heart and keep at it.

That's it for now, but the week is young; you might actually hear from me again before it's over!

Aurameer

2016-08-10T21:08:00.000-04:00

It's Back-to-School Week for the local public school system. Teachers actually started last week, and the students returned this week.

Having left the school system 3 years ago, I can't help but feel strange at this time of year. I miss the crazy back-to-school frenzy of getting the art room ready, and the anticipation of a brand new academic year. The art teachers in my Facebook circle of friends are posting all sorts of glorious photos of their inspired classrooms, which makes me quite nostalgic, yet I am so relieved that I am free to enjoy the start of my son's and daughter's school year without being totally preoccupied with my classroom preparations and lesson planning.

This year I am especially glad to be free of the public school system's schedule. I got to attend my cousin's wedding in Texas at the very end of July, and host my niece for a sleep-over and Arty Party last week. My kids are not in school yet; Joseph's school doesn't start until next week, and Caroline doesn't begin classes until the end of August, though I will be driving her to her new home in Cleveland next week for her to settle into her dorm. (!!!!!!!!) I don't even know where to begin writing about that. My first born is leaving the nest . . . I am so proud and so excited for her! I'm sure I'll have more to say later. It's still too overwhelming for me to dwell on it in writing right now.

This week we have my oldest nephew visiting--he is Joseph's age (16) and the two of them are very close despite the fact that they only get to see each other a few times a year. It's a wonderful and unprecedented experience having him here to hang out with us for a week! I love it!

This week's Diva Challenge, #279, is a Duotangle Challenge featuring auraknot and meer--two of my favorites! Here's what I came up with on Monday. I've been so busy, it took me a couple of days to make time to finish a post so I could share them!

Hmmm...not the best photo! I will replace it with a scan of the tile when I get a chance...

Here is is pre-shading.

Well-Rounded

2016-07-25T22:17:00.000-04:00

I finally got my Fluhrfle and Fredjen post completed and published! Whew!!! It was a doozy. I started composing it on our kitchen desktop computer, then had to switch to my upstairs office computer. where the scanner is, in order to upload my tile. Then I had to utilize the blogger app on my phone to add all the photos I wanted...then try editing on the upstairs computer because editing on a phone is no fun! Complucated. But, DONE. Yay! Check it out!

This post will be short and sweet. Challenge #277: "Running 'round in Circles" had us drawing circles for our string. This felt like a perfect time to tangle a Zendala® tile. I took some snapshots with my phone so you could see my process.


Finished Zendala® tile: Rick's paradox, mooka, and tipple.

I did not want to obsess about drawing perfect circles, so I just quickly put some orbs down
and adjusted them a tiny bit with my pencil. No erasing, just redrawing a few segments.

Rick's paradox

mooka

filling in with black for definition and contrast

my tangle venue

tipple added, pre-shading

I kept my tangling simple, and enjoyed the process out on my deck, in the shady area that overlooks the water feature in our backyard. It was a bit warm, but heavenly! I need to tangle out there more often! The sound of the water flowing is so calming and refreshing.

That is all for today! Have a lovely week!

Fluhrfle and Fredjen

2016-07-25T21:27:00.003-04:00

Hello! This post is late, very late. It should have been posted the week of Diva Challenge #275, when Suzanne Fluhr, CZT™ challenged us to "Give Peace a Chance." I love this challenge! Thank you, Suzanne!

I had never thought all that much about peace and art in partnership with each other until I heard of the Pinwheels for Peace project started by two art educators in 2005. I felt immediate inspiration, and still do. So much potential for an art educators and artists! More ideas than time to pursue them! A few years ago (September 2011, to be specific) I suggested to Laura Harms that she highlight Pinwheels for Peace as one of her weekly Diva Challenges, and she did! Weekly Challenge #40. The next year, she featured it again, with a twist: a string-based challenge that featured a contour drawing that I had drawn for the challenge: Weekly Challenge #87.

So when guest writer Suzanne posted a "Give Peace a Chance" challenge, I was again inspired. The wheels started spinning. How would I approach this beautiful challenge? Wouldn't you know, as I was contemplating how to begin, there was an article in our local paper entitled "The Seeds of Peace." (*See below.) I realized that I wanted my response to the challenge to have a garden-y, botanical feel to it. Especially appropriate because Suzanne is someone who seeks the beauty of flowers and plants, and frequently shares beautiful flower photos. We both have a fascination with hydrangeas, in particular.

3 versions of fluhrfle with auras, and tipple.
Shading hasn't happened yet...

To be honest, I am not one who usually gets excited about tangles that resemble flowers. There's nothing wrong with them. but it is my preference to stay more non-objective with my tangles. Yet I picked up my pen, and before I knew it, I had turned a heart/peace-sign combo into a flower-ish configuration. And I liked it. New tangle? I like to think so. And I'd like to call it fluhrfle in honor of Suzanne. The "fle" at the end comes from "fleur," the French word for "flower. (Fluhrfleur just sounded too awkward.)

This configuration is pretty simple, yet versatile. You can fill the negative spaces however you wish; you can see the options that I explored.

I did not originate the peace sign/heart combo. I first saw at my favorite scrapbook store,
where I purchased this Quickutz limited edition die about 8 or 9 years ago.

Extending beyond the flower configuration, I wondered what would happen if I transfered the idea to a linear format, and started with a zigzag. That is how I came up with fredjen. Odd name, but of couse I'll tell you how I came up with it. The Swedish word for "peace" is "fred." I added "jen" because the configuration reminds me of creeping Jenny (lysimachia nummularia), a trailing perennial that I have growing near our backyard water feature (a very peaceful spot!) and also in the courtyard container garden that Caroline and I established this year. I look out it from my kitchen sink, and it brings me great joy, though the hydrangeas are way past this year's prime, I'm afraid.

This is our courtyard container garden, in the heat of late July.
The hydrangea and celosia have faded...
but the creeping Jenny is thriving!

Sweet Pausha with our pink hydrangea out front. These were bright pink
much longer than I thought they'd be, but they are winding down, too.

Here it was before the inevitable fading if the hydrangeas and celosia.

Oh, how I loved the brilliant colors
and the variety!

Front hydrangea as they were changing to pink.

Full pink!

For those tanglers who appreciate a multi-tasking tile, this one is also appropriate for last week's challenge, Challenge # 276: "Space Truckin' - Moving Tangles" in which Laura encouraged us to tangle on the go: while we were in motion! I wasn't sure I how I was going to do that last week. I can't tangle when I am behind the wheel . . . and I can't tangle when Caroline is behind the wheel, as she is a new driver, still with her learner's permit. Every excursion is a learning experience for her, and I need to be on the lookout for every teachable moment as well as for the safety of her, of me, and of everyone on the road around her. She's doing great, but that doesn't mean I can tangle when she is behind the wheel!

My handsome husband getting ready to load his new cycle
on the back of my very sexy white minivan.

But then...my husband and I made an unexpected trip to Nashville (about 3 hours away) because he found a motorcycle on Craig's list that matched what he was looking for! So as he drove to check out the potential purchase, I tangled. It was lovely. The motorcycle is now in our garage, so my husband is pretty happy, too. This purchase was not a capricious whim, by the way, and was not completely unexpected. He had sold a bike earlier this month, which freed up space for a new one. He's been checking out ads for months. Motorcycles are one of his passions. He currently has three, and loves working on them and planning events for his adventure riding Meetup group.

*"The Seeds of Peace" was written by Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times. It highlights the efforts of landscape architecture professor Daniel Winterbottom and a group of his students from University of Washington to create a healing garden at the VA hospital in Seattle. A beautiful, brilliant concept: healing gardens in places where joy and peace are not typically experienced.

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry. Comments and questions are always welcome!
Happy tangling!

Kerfuffle-ABoB

2016-05-16T23:53:00.002-04:00

This week's Diva Challenge (#268) is "A Bit-o-Black," or "ABoB" as I like to call it. We are to incorporate a bit more black into our tangles than we usually do. This suggestion is great for encouraging us to imagine tangles with a "tweaked" look--a makeover of sorts. Like we are adding strategic mascara to our tangles for an increased dramatic effect.

When I think of tangles that utilize a heavier dose of ink, knightsbridge is always the tangle that first comes to mind. I think of several others immediately thereafter, but knightsbridge is always first. Yet I rarely use it. It seems like such a simple pattern; I tend to go for more more complexity when selecting tangles. Yet when I see it in others' work, I always love knightsbridge's crisp contrast and how beautifully it works into and enhances a composition.

I also decided that for this challenge I wanted to use one of my original tangles: kerfuffle. For some time now I've been wanting to create something featuring a tango of kerfuffle and knightsbridge—I thought they'd dance really well together!—so this challenge is what prompted me to action with this concept.

Kerfuffle (combined with knightsbridge), skye (by Margaret Bremner),
and keeko, with perfs and a black stripe inked in.
Like most of the work that I share, this is a traditional 3.5" Zentangle® tile.

This challenge for incorporating more black into our design process also provided me with the perfect incentive to try out Margaret Bremner's new tangle skye. The inked-in negative space of this tangle called out to me, providing all the incentive I needed to spend some time working on the tricky line-work of skye.

Celtic knots appeal to me deeply, and when I was an elementary art teacher, not too long ago, I successfully taught hundreds of fourth-grade kids how to draw simple Celtic knots. Yet I found skye to be rather challenging. It took a good bit of practice to feel like I really understood the stroke strategy and could implement it effectively. It takes concentration and patience, and even then, some luck! My rendition has a few irregularities in it, but they don't bother me.

I enjoyed creating this tile. All the filling in was apparently not so good on my hand; I have had a few painful twinges in grasping things tonight. But I am glad I accepted the challenge, and I'd like to try another!

As for kerfuffle . . . I came up with this tangle about a year ago. I have shared the stepouts in a few places (real-world and virtually through online communities), and am happy to share them here, but that will be another blog entry on another day. :-)

Thank you to everyone who commented on last week's post/tile. Feedback from viewers/readers is what makes sharing my thoughts and art so much more worthwhile and fun!

Drupokerootupe

2016-05-09T23:41:00.000-04:00

Hello again!

For the first time in a very long time, I made time to not merely just read the Diva's challenge and contemplate it, but to complete it at the start of the week! Let me tell you, it felt really great!

Have you tried this week's challenge, a DuoTangle challenge featuring pokeroot and drupe, yet? These two tangles are not ones I use often. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever featured drupe on a tile or taught it in a class. Having used it to meet this challenge, I have discovered how much I like it.

So, without much fuss, here it it is.

Weekly Challenge #276: DuoTangle of pokeroot and drupe.
Hence my silly title:
"Drupokerootupe"

Now that I have shared that, I have so much more to write about! But all in good time. I need to pace myself. I have been wearing myself out this spring with all sorts of things--travel, hosting dinners and parties, keeping up with my teens and getting ready for--gulp!--graduation, and . . . TEACHING! I have had some great opportunities to share Zentangle come my way, and I am so happy to have been able to work some workshops and classes into my schedule. I'll tell you more and share some photos soon.

Happy tangling!

"Oooh—Shiny!" Week: Thursday

2016-03-03T23:45:00.003-05:00

So today I utilized the tip I gave you yesterday, and I tangled on a metallic sheet of paper. This pink paper with a pebbled metallic finish is from a short roll (7.5 inches tall!) of wrapping paper that I bought a long time ago when I was holding a jewelry sale at my home. I love that roll of wrapping paper, and wish I could get the exact same thing in lime green and turquoise or aqua, too.

In order to tangle on something with a bit more substance than just the paper, I cut a posterboard "tile" and adhered the pink paper to it, wrapping the edges to the back.

Before I tangled it, I tested pens on the paper. I was so disappointed with the way it looked tangled in black; I was about to get out a completely different metallic paper to work on (cardstock, actually). But then I grabbed a white paint pen. I liked it, though it looked thin and watery--like pale pink. So I tried my trust Posca Uni white paint pen, and BINGO! Wow. It popped. What a difference! Who knew that white on metallic pink would show up so much better than black? So the lesson here is to audition different colors and pens to see what works best on your surface. (Like you didn't already know that!) I did add some black accents at the end, and they really helped to add some definition. I am wondering if I want to add some black in the thickened part of the lines in the diva dance sections.

Here's my piece for the day:

I started with spuncstrada, one of my newest tangles. I added some zingers,
and then cadet in the lower right. bales in the upper left, and diva dance
in the upper right and lower left. I finished it with some tipple at the edges
of the cadent section. This piece is a 6-inch square.

I was utterly thrilled that I had two comments yesterday! I was beginning to lose my motivation, thinking that no one was stopping by. Thank you, Chrissie and Cheryl!

This week is flying by! I really thought I'd have more time to tangle this week and would be posting several things every day, but at this point, I accept that I might not get to as many ideas and examples as I'd hoped to this week. Oh well! I'm okay with saving some for later.

"Oooh—Shiny!" Week: Wednesday

2016-03-02T23:58:00.003-05:00

I have about 10 minutes to sneak this in...and no tangled pieces from to share.

My suggestion of the day is to find some metallic paper or yardstick (correction: that should read "cardstock"!!!!!) to tangle on. I located some in my stash this evening, but did not get around to tangling on it. You see, I was caught up in an obsessive search for colored pencils.

It's not that I couldn't find any colored pencils, though. I have plenty! It's that a few of my sets have been missing pencils, and every now and then it BUGS me. Today was one of those days that it was driving me crazy, so I spent some time searching for them. And my diligence paid off!!! I found all the ones I was looking for . . . except one. ONE! One blue Intense pencil from my tin is STILL missing. Before tonight there were three missing; why was the third one not with the other two that I located??? I was also missing some pencils from two Prismacolor sets. Guess what. I found them, too!!! But that one elusive Inktense got the best of me tonight, and I just realized how late it is.

I wish I hadn't gotten so caught up in my search tonight. But I am glad I found the pencils that I did find. I hope that in my ongoing quest to set up and organize my dream studio, that one pencil will eventually show up. Deep down, I know that I don't really NEED it. I just hate knowing that it is not where it should be. Why do incomplete sets bother me so much?

P.S. Still laughing that my computer thinks your should tangle on a yardstick.

"Oooh—Shiny!" Week: Tuesday

2016-03-01T23:55:00.001-05:00

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.

"Oooh—Shiny!" Week: Monday

2016-02-29T23:40:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my goal of posting every day this week, my first "Oooh—Shiny!" auxiliary example was completed today at a brand new business: a non-profit coffee house in my community called "The Empty Cup."

Today was the grand opening of this long-aniticpated venture, brought to you by the Adoption Foundation of TN. In their words, "The Empty Cup is a new kind of coffee shop that will be a gathering space with excellent coffee, local food, a market place, and live music. But it goes beyond that. The goal is to rethink how adoption fundraising is done. The Empty Cup will become a sustainable source for adoption fundraising. As people pour into The Empty Cup, they will pour back out to local families in the form of adoption grants.
Why is it called The Empty Cup?
As the community pours into The Empty Cup by purchasing coffee, donating time, or visiting the marketplace, the coffeehouse will pour its net profits back out in the form of adoption grants. That’s why the cup stays empty."

This is my kind of place! I first learned of it nearly 2 years ago, so it's taken a while for everything to fall into place, but TODAY was THE DAY! And I was so excited to be there with my two teens at 7am when they opened the doors for their first day of business.

My daughter and I got our coffee drinks (a cappuccino and a caramel latte; my son doesn't do caffeine in the morning . . . he even turned down a hot chocolate when I suggested he order one!) and we had to head out quickly to get to school, so I went back later in the day to enjoy a more relaxed cup of coffee in the cozy, eclectic environment of The Empty Cup. Before I left home for my second visit, though, I started a tile with a rubber stamp, some copper pigment ink, and copper embossing power. Not only did I emboss the image (which has very fine striations; the photo does not show it well), but I also sponged the ink around the edges of the tan Renaissance tile, and dipped it in embossing powder to create a ragged, copper, heat-embossed edging. I rather liked how it turned out! I don't love how the scan turned out . . . it is shiny, not dull, of course.

At home I used a fine-tipped black Permapaque (by Sakura) to tangle inside the star, and I gave it an aura with a Faber-Castell pen in sanguine. The rest of the tangling was completed as I sipped my coffee at the coffeehouse. So relaxing! The bottom right corner looks different not because I forgot to add step 3 of the tangle fassett, but because I rather liked the way that section looked before I competed the final step of the tangle. It's okay that it doesn't match everything else . . . it has a cool look of its own.

The star stamp is an Alesa Baker Design from Impression Obsession (D9436).
The tangles are Zentangle®'s auraknot and fassett by Lynn Mead.

Once I had added the white perfs at the perimeter of the star, I wasn't quite ready to leave, so I took out a Bijou tile and scattered some dots on it with a copper Permapaque pen. The dots didnt look great (old pen?), but I decided to use them any way. They looked better after I outlined them, and I just kept going. There isn't much that is metallic in this one except the rings drawn with my gold Uniball Sigma pen. The gold is a bit brassy, and I don't love it on this tile, I still enjoyed drawing sez with a variety of black and brown pens. I finished it off with tipple.

Whoah! It is dangerously close to midnight. Time to post!
Leave me a message if you have any questions or comments! See you tomorrow!

Fillling in for the Diva...

2016-02-29T06:43:00.001-05:00

Hello! If you are visiting here from this week's Diva Challenge, WELCOME!
If you are here for any other reason, WELCOME!

I am so excited to be the guest writer for Laura Harms' "I am the Diva - Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT®)" blog this week! You can read the my official post with the challenge I came up with here. I also challenged myself to post a blog entry here in my own blog every day (!!!) this week, sharing additional examples and ideas.

Let’s see if I am up to the task! Visit often check on my progress. :-) Disclaimer: when I talk about posting every day, please know that I give myself until midnight every day. I am a night owl, and sometimes can’t get my creative energy focused until the day is nearly done.

I will return later today with my thoughts and example(s) for the day...for now I am off to attend the Grand Opening of a very special place. What kind of place has a grand opening at 7am? Tune in later to find out!

Happy Monday!

Now or never?! Now.

2016-01-31T23:43:00.000-05:00

Hello and Happy New Year! Time to start this blog up again! It's still January for a tiny bit longer (well, maybe 15 minutes!) so I am going to consider it still appropriate to wish you a very happy, healthy, creative, and prosperous new year full of laughter, friendship, comfort, peace, joy, love, fun, meaning, and beauty...and anything else you might want to squeeze into/out of 2016.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. I did. In November we celebrated our first full year in our new home. What a difference it makes to be living in a place that fits us so well! It still feels "new" to us, though we are quite settled in now. In November we also celebrated the sale of our previous home. Woo-hoo! Much of my attention in 2015 was spent getting the old house ready to put on the market, as we wanted to make it the best home we could for potential buyers. New paint, new carpet, a renovated master bath . . . and then there was the attic that we needed to empty. The more we did, the more work we found to do. We finally listed it in late July, but even after that we continued our efforts. This is why I only made time for one blog post in 2015. So much of my time and energy were spent managing the old house, settling into the new one, and entertaining a lot more than we ever did before! To add to that, my eldest is in her final year of high school. Need I say more?

2016 is off to a grand start. I am so excited to have several things lined up already in the Zentangle realm! I will be revealing more over time, but my big announcement for this blog post is that I will be teaching 4 classes at Stamp Escape in Pigeon Forge in April! Two of the classes will be Zentangle Foundations, which is the class that covers the basics; "Zentangle 101" as some teachers refer to it. The other two are longer and more advanced. In one class, we will create ZIA Knots, and in the other we will explore using stamp and scrapbook supplies to enhance Zentangle-inspired art. Click here to learn more about Stamp Escape, and to see my classes, click here.

In the meanwhile, here is a recent shot of some Bijou tiles I have been working on for a swap . . .

There will be more announcements soon! Stay tuned!

When? How?

2015-05-20T20:11:00.000-04:00

When did I stop blogging? (Oh...well, that would have been last August.)
When do I begin again? (Hm-kay...I'm trying to now.)

How do I get started when it's been such a crazy long time since I last posted?
How do I "cover" the last um....9 months???

No, I did not have a baby! ;-)
The 9-month timing is a coincidence.

But we did go through a major life change. We bought a new home. And moved. After 17 years at the same address!
This was a biggie for us. I loved our previous home...it is a great house in a neighborhood we love, with wonderful neighbors and a convenient location.

We did not want to relocate. But we needed something different in a home. So...we searched around and until we found what we were looking for. We ended up buying a home on the other side of the same neighborhood. It's exactly what we needed! *Happy sigh!*

I can't pretend that moving was easy. It was an ordeal. We got thorough it; enough about that. I'm sure I'll write more about it later.

There have been other things on my schedule as well...I might eventually get to some of them. For now, I have a tile to post for this week's Diva Challenge, # 218: White on Black on Found. And I am a bit flummoxed because I realize that in creating it I unintentionally used the same basic string as the last two tiles I posted! REALLY???!!! Couldn't I have used a different composition?!

Well, I could have. But I didn't. And I want to move forward. So I am sharing it anyway:

hypnotic, a hybrid hybred with some beadlines thrown in,
a hint of tipple, and floo.
Drawn on a black Zentangle(R) tile with a white Signo pen.

Comments are always deeply appreciated.

Twing Fling

2014-08-18T09:03:00.000-04:00

Here's one of my latest tiles. It is inspired not just by Diva Challenge #180, "UMT - MacDee by Anneke Van Dam" but also by one of my favorite Zentangle groups on Facebook: Square One: Purely Zentangle. This new group, established by two CZTs, is devoted to the original format brought to us by Zentangle^®: the 3.5-inch square tile, tangled with black ink and shaded with a graphite pencil.

cadent, twing, and MacDee

I deeply appreciate the vision of founders Chris Titus and Jenny Perruzzi for having the vision to establish Square One: Purely Zentangle. I love seeing all of the innovative compositions all done with the very basics. I look forward to the weekly focus on one particular tangle. The current tangle focus is verdigogh, so I'll be working that into a tile soon.

I encourage you to check out Square One: Purely Zentangle and join in. It's a great way to connect with other tanglers and strengthen your Zentangle practice.

Happy Tangling! Leave me a comment if you wish to let me know what you think!

Amy