I have been looking for products to help with Zentangle Tile storage and related documents storage so that I can easily see them. Part of the problem is that repetitively handling the tiles spreads the graphite all over, thus dulling the light areas and smearing graphite onto the back of every tile in the stack. I have recently been storing standard  3.5″ square tiles in an vintage floppy diskette holder and in the Zentangle Keepsake box. If only there was a way to put all of my Zentangle Tiles and documents together in a binder to be easily flipped through and protect them from further damage at the same time. Hmmm…I found some great solutions! [Read more…]

I received an unexpected gift from my husband one day in an Amazon box. It contained “One Zentangle a Day – A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration and Fun” by Beckah Krahula. I was excited to begin and worked my way through the book, devouring every word and doing every exercise. All I bought to begin was a set of Micron pens and a sketchbook. I admit that I took longer than 6 weeks to complete the course because I wanted to. Ms. Krahula instilled in me that I had freedom to modify the tangles and expand my personal creativity and challenge myself artistically in addition to copying them as shown. I think that was brilliant! Some days I’d do the exercises twice if they were particularly challenging, or if I wanted to spend more time experimenting with a particular tangle or methods in shading the Zentangle® Tile.

This book jump-started my personal Zentangle Journey, which I believe will be a long one with twists and turns that I can only begin to imagine. Before I had finished working through One Zentangle a Day, I began teaching family members how to Tangle.  I wanted to share the joy that I was finding in the creative process. I wanted others to feel the peace of mind I was experiencing. One Zentangle A Day is well written, easy to understand and logically ordered. I believe it belongs in every Tangler’s library and I highly recommend it for new Tanglers who cannot take a beginning class taught by a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT). Myself, I took the Basic Zentangle 101 class about halfway through reading this book because I wanted the experience of taking the class first hand, and I found Kierstan Betancourt, CZT in my area. I am so glad I took the class because I learned so much. It was well worth it.

One Zentangle a Day explains everything that’s needed to learn how to get a rock solid start in Zentangle, and where you can go with it all in one book!  After the main 6 weeks of lessons, the book delves into creative ideas for your art like creating your own fabric prints and art, working with mica and resin, along with a small gallery of other creative ideas for your new skill.

I had a deep inner creative itch that was not being scratched before reading this book. Thanks to One Zentangle a Day, I now have a Daily Zentangle Practice. I think that developing a daily practice is really what this book and Zentangle is about. It brings an inner calm and peace that I had not known before. My mind is clear and so much quieter.

I strongly recommend this book to everyone I know, even if they have not tangled… yet!

Click here to buy it on Amazon and get started soon. You’ll start seeing everything in a whole new way!

Followup: It is now about 6 months later and I am now a CZT in the Portland, OR and Centralia/Chehalis, WA areas. Zentangle has changed my life! Take a class, it will change yours–for the better! I still love this book and heartily recommend it to my students.

I found a product at JoAnn’s crafts that is a great way to display 6 Zentangle tiles. It is an acrylic plastic photo cube that is 3.5″ interior dimensions in all directions. The product is also available online at other stores, but at a much higher cost than at JoAnn’s. I paid $3.99 for mine.

The product is called : Studio Decor brand 3.5″ x 3.5″ Clear Acrylic Photo Cube.

The first thing I did was to fill it with 6 tiles and showed it to my husband. He and I both had the same idea, create a ZenCube from 6 blank Zentangle Tiles. The patterns would have flow from one side of the cube to the others. I am working on the project now and will keep you posted!

Update: I completed my first ZenCube! Photos to follow!

What better way to enter ‘the zone’ and pass the hours than to tangle while flying across the country? I was happy to not be playing computer games for a change on that flight back to Portland, OR. I was nearly finished creating a Zentangle tile and planned to create more tiles when my Sakura Pigma Micron 01 spewed its awesome ink onto two fingers on my left hand. I should have quit tangling after the pen oozed its luscious black ink out the tip, but no, I couldn’t stop. I wrapped the pen in newspaper supplied by the steward and slipped the malfunctioning pen into its cap and placed it into my handbag, I pulled out another Sakura Micron 01 pen.

Everything was going fine as I was finishing up the tile, then spurt! The second pen did more than slowly ooze its ink. It leaked fast and made quite a mess. The business-suited gentleman next to me reached into his briefcase and pulled out some paper napkins. I cleaned up the best I could at 35,000 feet.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my Sakura Micron 01 pens, I buy them by the baker’s dozen from ScrapbookPal.com and take advantage of the free shipping for orders over $25. On future flights, I will store my pens in plastic baggies in my suitcase and practice my tangles in my sketchbook using my matte black Fisher Space Pen – I’ve used it on several flights without any problem! This was my experience, your mileage may vary.

Update June 28th, 2014: I could not resist tangling again on a cross country flight from Providence, RI to Portland, OR. This time, I stored my pens in a plastic baggie and brought my own napkins. I would like you to know I had no problem what-so-ever with leaking pens this time! The woman sitting next to me said she would pay me $50 cash on the spot for my custom tangled tile/pencil storage bag that I tangled at the CZT Seminar. BTW, Molly Hollibaugh did a great job teaching that fabric tangling class! I should have taken my traveling companion up on the $50 offer! This is but one example of many ways to make money with Zentangle. I have been stopped by staff when teaching tangling in a hotel lobby and was asked if my work was for sale. At that time I was too reserved and unsure of myself to say yes, I will sell you a tile of your choosing.