Saturday's Discover Zentangle class

This past Saturday we held a "Discover Zentangle" class. Our three students were wonderful passionate women who were bursting with creativity! Two of these women already had great enthusiasm for Zentangle and came with some experience, but had never taken a class before. The other woman had no prior experience but came with an open mind. By the end of the class she said she was hooked!

We started off the first tile by teaching four of the essential tangles.  With that foundation, we were able to move into more complicated tangles and techniques.  We taught a mono-tangle for our second tile – which was a hit! By the time we got to the end of the class we were taking requests to learn more! It was a great class and a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning. The women each created beautiful Zentangles, shown here in this mosaic!

One of our students was so kind to share her artwork with us. She is a quilter, check out her amazing blog here:
sistahstitchalot.blogspot.com  


Thank you to the ladies who attended our class and we hope to see you again soon!

Lauren and Chelsea

The Journey to Becoming a CZT

When Lauren decided to go to Massachusettes to learn this thing called “Zentangle” I was honestly skeptical. She asked if I wanted to go too, but I turned her down. When she returned from her seminar I thought she had joined some ridiculous cult, like she had drank the juice! She was ranting about how wonderful this is and what a gift she had been given. Of course, then I was intrigued.

Lauren introduced me to Zentangle immediately after she returned. Her enthusiasm for it was so compelling that I couldn’t resist. I felt like I inhaled some of the fumes from the juice she drank! I signed up for the next available CZT training!

So now that I have completed my CZT training, I wanted to share some of my experience from Providence, RI!

First, Rick, Maria and their entire crew were incredibly kind, incredibly talented and incredibly generous in sharing this gift of Zentangle. They were welcoming and honest. They shared their stories. They shared their gift and I am so grateful for being a part of it all.

The last three days were jam-packed with information, inspiration and tangle-ation! I learned new tangles, and I discovered inspiration for tangles I have learned in the past. I was given the training to properly pass this gift on to others while maintaining the beauty and integrity of Zentanlge. The seminar inspired ideas I never would have dreamt previously.  I met lots of wonderful people and was blessed with the gift of viewing and sharing their artwork. I have a whole new admiration for Zentangle and I am bursting with enthusiasm!

I am now returning home as a Certified Zentangle Teacher! I am proud of the training I have completed and I can’t wait to share Zentangle with the world!

Here are some photos from my journey:

This is a mosaic of everyone's first Zentangle tiles 

 Here is Rick Roberts, one of the founders of Zentangle

 This is one of my Zentangle tiles, with a new tangle called Punzel!

This is a collaborative Zentangle that everyone contributed to. Each person added one tangle and it was raffled off to one lucky winner (sadly, not me).

Another tile I created at the seminar

Best wishes,

Chelsea 

Bon Voyage Chelsea, enjoy the punch!

Today, like a parent sending their child off to overnight camp for the first time, I took Chelsea to the train and saw her off to attend CZT seminar #7.  For those who don't already know, CZT stands for Certified Zentangle Teacher.  I was fortunate to attend CZT Seminar #5 in Whitinsville, MA last February. What an amazing experience.  For three days, I was surrounded by a group of talented and passionate tanglers from all over the world.  After a brief phone conversation where I relayed to Chelsea all of the fabulous things I had experienced, she remarked, "well, I guess you drank the punch".  And she was right, I had drank the punch. So now, Chelsea has probably arrived in Providence. Hopefully soon she will drink the punch too.


Before leaving, Chelsea shared this gorgeous tile she created:

Black Zentangle Tiles

Back in the spring, when black tiles were first made available to CZT's we ordered a boatload! Initially I tried them out with my Sakura white Gelly Roll pen, but had  difficulty in creating evenly weighted lines and obtaining the same detailed results as I was used to with my Sakura Micron 01.  I spoke to Maria about this over the phone while placing a Zentagle order a while back.  This is what she said...when using the white pen, hold it, so that it barely touches the tile.  Place it at a 90 degree angle to the tile and gently stroke the tile.  She also told me to practice on the back of the tile first by signing my name and tangling around a bit before starting.  Signing it first gives you a feel for the pen and a sense of ownership. We share these tips with you.


This weekend, while fasting for Yom Kippur, I completed the following black tiles.  I call them the atonement series. Enjoy!

Discover Zentangle in October

We're back...

After a brief hiatus, Tangled in the Beltway is back.  We have been working on many new and exciting things and we're looking forward to sharing them with you.  Join us for our upcoming Zentangle class on October 22, 2011.  Chelsea will have just returned from attending CZT #7 class in Providence, Rhode Island and we are looking forward to celebrating with you.