Bridging the Love

I am a lucky girl.

Last weekend I was invited to teach some beading classes at Beads'N More in Akron, Ohio, which is over 3 hours away. (One of the shop owners is Estelle Goodnight, who is also a CZT!) So my other half, Daved (also now a CZT!) drove me up the road, and also acted as my 'store manager', as I was able to bring a trunk show of patterns and kits to sell during the classes.  It was a great weekend, with wonderful people, and creative energy flowing all around. It was a special experience to be in a shop that bridged beading AND Zentangle energy. (Thank you, Estelle and Alyson!)

As I was keeping very busy teaching the classes, Daved had lots of time to sit and be still. There were times it appeared that he was doing nothing, and for the most part, that was kind of true. But as I watched him be still, I called to mind something Rick Roberts had said during the recent CZT seminar: To pay attention to what is NOT there: the open space. Very often it is the stillness and not doing, that brings us to see the next step to take.

It wasn't until the second morning that I saw what was happening in Daved's 'open space' of the day before. As I sipped my hotel coffee, and pulled out some blank Zentangle tiles, we began a chat. He described to me a tangle that had come to mind in that open space of the day before. He hadn't put it to paper, and I was seeing that he would leave that up to me:)

What happened was a tangle he calls Bridgen.

There are tangles a bit like this one, but what makes this different is the process of the sequence. For instance, in Tink, the circles are drawn first inside a string section, and then randomly connected. In Bridgen, the string IS the basis of the tangle. All of your marks are made one after the other, connecting right onto the string itself. (This part is fun, as path decision is already made.) Once you have covered your string, then (step 6), make the next circle inside a section next to, or far away from the last circle you made. Then make another "bridge" mark (step 7) to connect them, letting the new line fall under the line that is already there. This will result in a Hollibaugh effect, of items falling behind. Remember, the bridges can be curved or straight. Find your own rhythm: do you like to make a circle then connect? Or do you like to make the lines and cap it with a circle? Are you in a mood to fill up the space or leave some blank and open? I love how the process of a Zentangle can show us these little things about ourselves.

Thank you, Daved and the space. I've been getting joyfully lost/opened up in this one!