Beadstores and Zentangle...

Hey everyone, I realize it's been 40+ days since my last post. In the past month, Daved and I have made a decision to open a bead store in Dayton. It’s a long and wonderful story of how we ended up as stewards of a new place, but that’s for another day. The store is basically in existence for one reason: to give the Dayton bead/jewelry making/playing community a place to gather, learn, teach, party, relax, hang out, and yep, buy beads. We like our beads!

What does all this have to do with Zentangle? 

I know without a doubt, that if not for having been involved with Zentangle, it might have seemed impossible for us to take this on. Each day I am aware that no matter what decision needs to be made, it’s possible for it to come from an allowing and open space rather than a constricted “should”. The whole place is being designed one wall at a time, one piece of furniture at a time, one logo at a time (we tried so many!). The space is also being added to by lots of participants who are committed to helping it become something inspirational and meaningful for all who use it. Whether it's new chair covers, or bathroom decorations, or where a table might sit, each of these elements are cared for with an intuitive heart and eye by lots of people, so that each piece and placement connects to what has come before it. I can't tell you how many "visions" I've had for this space. They have all changed, and it looks nothing like I pictured it before we began. This is the thrilling part! Letting it all go so that it can become what it is meant to be. There is a plan somewhere that is not mine. It feels like we are all paying attention to what that might be, without knowing exactly what it is.

    We don’t know when the shop will open. Of course we have a date in mind, but we’ve had other dates in mind that didn’t happen. We are working diligently to move forward, one step at a time, feeling our way to what the next step is.

   So even though it's a bead store, it's so much more than just that. I am grateful for the experience, wherever it came from, and for me, Zentangle has been the cherry on top of that experience. 

   If you want to peek at the process, we are documenting our progress on our new blog. And I promise, that even though I may not have time to do tangly posts here at this time, I am living Zentangle every minute!

Thanks to everyone.

Carole

   

Crossing over

I've had beads on the brain lately, and I guess it shows...
Lampwork has its own special beauty in the bead world, as each bead is its own work of art. My friend Carolyn is a lampworker who has tons of smaller beads, so we thought it would be fun to design a piece of jewelry that could use a bunch of 'loosies'.  These are beads without partners or sets, that have a beauty all their own, but don't always find a place in beadweaving. I have a good selection of different sizes, bought mostly because I couldn't resist their beauty, but couldn't figure out what to do with them. This necklace actually uses about four different lampworkers' beads. Carolyn's appear in the strands, and I wish I could remember who created the larger beads.
    This design is named Village Lampwork Necklace, as it took a village of artists to create it. I feel very lucky to be inspired by the artists who created these beads, and reminds me once again, that inspiration makes the world go round. And it often takes a village for things to come together.
    Thanks to both the bead village, and the Zentangle village! There is nothing more fun than cross pollination!

I never know

This week's Diva challenge is centered on JJ LaBarbera's tangle, Huggy Bear. I thought it would be fun to fill every section of the string with the same tangle. In true Zentangle® fashion, I had no idea what this would end up looking like. I don't ever feel confident starting out with a dotted grid, as I don't ever space them out very evenly. But that's all the more reason to love this art form... I never know what will happen! If I was able to space out the dots evenly, I most probably would be tempted to have more control over the whole thing. As it goes for me, the lack of control is usually way more fun!
   Once I had my basic circles going, other things began to happen, so I just followed the lead of my little voice of intuition. No thinking, just moving. No second guessing, just moving. No judgement, just moving. Always a metaphor for life itself. The fun really is in the process. The outcome might be pleasing, too, but if I had known where I was going before I got there, I would have lost a lot of the joy of the journey. Expectation can be a real buzzkill.
   I had a great time!!! Thanks, JJ and Laura!

“One does not discover new lands 

without consenting to lose sight of the shore 

for a very long time.”

Andre Gide

Challenge: Fortuneteller (What If?)

This week's Diva Challenge (#64) is to begin with a string of a square pie: the tile is divided into 8 sections, creating 8 triangles to fill with different tangles. I tend to like the curlier strings, so this was a good challenge for me. Laura mentioned that she watched for the opportunities to blur the lines of the string, and I love doing that, so there was a comfort level in that process.
   I had fun doing it, and then had fun looking at it when it was finished. But while on a long phone call, I was looking at it again, and the question came: WHAT IF you made the outside border black? I usually try not to argue with the WHAT IF so while I was still on the phone, I inked in the border. Hmm.
   Sometimes you just have to take the risk. It's a small risk, as there is always another chance with another tile and another WHATIF. It's not about what it looks like, it's about the courage to leap and accept the outcome as part of the fun.
   I am posting both just for funsies, so you can see how it worked or didn't work:)
   Thank you Laura, and thank you little voice inside that is always asking the WHATIF.

Flippin' for Fengle!

Fengle is a dance for the pen!

It's fluid
It's rhythmic
It's beautiful
It's versatile
But what I like most is: It makes me ask "what if I..."

I usually do Fengle along with a string. I begin the first Fengle in the middle of a string section. I stretch the S's out to reach the edge of the section, then finish the basic shape of the Fengle. I then move to another string section and make another one. Most often, by the time I make my second or third Fengle, they are bumping into each other, and flowing behind, so I let that happen. I then start filling in the Fengles, but usually not one at a time. I might do a few stroke on one, then move to another, so by the end of the tile, they are pretty much melted into each other.

   Those 'what ifs' occur often, as there are many little spaces to fill in and discover.

   And the SHADING!!! There is nothing more fun for me tangle-wise, than finding places to shade after the pen has done its dance. Fengle is one of the most fun tangles to shade, as it automatically creates shapes that magically emerge as you go along. Even more shapes emerge once the shading begins! This is when the dance heats up for me. I turn my tile often, looking for the shapes that I don't see yet. Twirling and swirling, just like Fengle itself.
   Thank you, Maria Thomas, for this lovely gift. Thank you, Laura Harms for posting it as a challenge, as I am so inspired by what everyone has done with this tangle this week, and it's only Tuesday!!

Zendala LOVE!

The new Zentangle® Zendala prestrung tiles are finally here, and it was worth the wait!!!! Right now they are available through a Certified Zentangle Teacher, but soon will be available at zentangle.com. I finally got to sit down and play with this wonderful new product. I've always love using Zentangle to create mandalas. Creating a mandala string can be very daunting. And even though I found a method to help me with that (described on page 10 of Suzanne McNeill's book, Zen Mandalas), I LOVE these prestrung tiles! No thinking, just tangling. Each set has 21 tiles: 3 blanks, and 18 prestrung--2 sets of NINE different strings. The tiles are the same paper used in the official Zentangle tiles... smooth and creamy. I especially love to use the Micron black and brown together.
   If you like the art of Zentangle, you have to give these a try. Doing a Zendala can take you into a deeper level of relaxation. There is something about repeating the same pattern the same amount of times in a circle that is really calming, yet more focused at the same time. It never ceases to amaze me what happens in this process. Time melts away. Lists disappear. Just a sense of being with what is at the end of your fingertips. Pure joy.
   Thank you, Zentangle team, for this amazing gift! I can't wait to teach the next class... coming soon so stay tuned!

Paradox pressures

This week's Diva Challenge is brought to us by Marizaan van Beek. When I saw her challenge tile, I fell in love with it and couldn't wait to start my own Spiral vs Paradox challenge journey.
   On the first one, I drew a spiral string in pencil. I then made another pencil string, cutting the spiral into a sort of pie. This created squares instead of the usual triangles one usually sees with the Paradox tangle. I then picked up the pen and instead of going over the string, I wondered "what if" I did the tangle sort of open-ended in each square. Usually, the edges of the triangle or square is inked and the Paradox is created inside that. I tried it without inking each square's boundaries. It was VERY disconcerting and had me very confused as I went along. But, my algebra teacher in high school wrote in my yearbook: "If confusion is the beginning of learning, then you should be the teacher, not me." I never did learn algebra properly, but I did come away with a healthy respect for confusion and what you can allow for in that space! Regardless of the result of this tile, I had fun trying it out, and it gave me a real appreciation for the usual inked edges...

The next one was a little easier to follow, as I did use the triangle shape and I did outline the spiral and the triangles inside it. Using the traditional practice of always starting (well, mostly) in the same corner, this had a very different flow...

I hadn't gotten it out of my system yet, plus it was a rainy Monday afternoon and my friend had the idea to go have coffee and tangle. Now that's a way to spend a rainy Monday: a big creamy cup of Irish Mocha and a Paradox spiral. There was too much chit chat to pay attention to where each triangle started on this one, but the end result feels exactly like the lovely afternoon.

   Thank you Laura, Marizaan, Loretta and Zentangle!!