Merry!?…Happy?!…Whew!

December 16, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 16 Comments

Needless to say, I am feeling a little behind this holiday season. Evidence points to the fact that while I generally have finished my Christmas shopping (always before Thanksgiving!) and the decorations are up and the house looks mighty festive…the packages are not wrapped, and things have not been mailed. But, in my defense, I was a bit under the weather for about a week, and that set me behind. And, I have been a bit busy at the shop (which is a good thing.)

I started doing the Diva Challenge at #161. Now that we are at #297, that seems like such an age ago. I had already done 2 of the past Christmas Challenges…so I filled in the rest for this weeks Challenge – Holiday Bash. So here, is a recap:

Diva #1 was Simiplicity. What better way to show simple and Christmas than a white ornament tangled in the basic tangles in black. Although it did need a bit of bling with the glitter glue (and that was mostly to hide a weird glue incident when I used the wrong glue to stick the sides together.) I glued 2 pennies in the middle for weight.

Diva #52 was “Give”. I cut out a hole lot of stars based on Cris Letourneau’s Star pattern, to attach to cards and gifts this year. They are super quick to tangle up, especially when I cut and pre-scored them with my Brother Scan n Cut 2.

Diva #100 was New Tangles and A Diva Dance. While Diva Dance isn’t a new tangle anymore, it surely does make a great tree base in my card with a quilled angel and gothic calligraphy lettering. I am still working on my calligraphy skills…

Diva #148 was Merry Happy. Celebrate the season in your own way. I found a cute set of metallic pens at Daiso (Japanese discount stores where everything is $1.50) so I decided to give them a try. 8 colors, but they didn’t really look different on the black paper I tried, but they looked festive in a Squid nonetheless. Hard to tell that is a lot of different colors on the scan, in person it is pretty subtle as well.

I also realized while I was writing this, that I had not completed Diva #198 “Keep It Simple”. I guess that gives me something to do this week! (Brilliant)

We had some fun classes this past week…starting last Saturday with an Ornament Extravaganza. We did 4 different ornaments and folded the Zendala gift box for later tangling.

A festive Zentangle 101 class with bonus Crescent Moon study at the end:

And tangled on paper bags in tribal styles on Thursday:

On Monday, we had our annual San Diego/SoCal Friendship Group Christmas meeting, where Wendy Gray led us in the making of this lovely lotus fold “Squash Book” to hold Zentangle tiles. It was a lot of fun!

I am working on the January Schedule today, so that should be up by Monday. If you are in the area, be sure to come hang out tonite and art to your hearts content. Open studio from 4-9 ($5 drop in fee). Bring whatever you are working on, and have some festive cheer!

If I don’t post nest week, Merry Christmas, and Happiest of Holidays to you and yours!

Take the High Road

November 10, 2016November 10, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

Recently, whilst in Venice, I was reminded about how change can effect the things that man makes. Venice is a man made island, and it is slowly sinking under the weight of buildings and an influx of tourists. But in its own right, it is adapting to an environment of charming decay, and they are trying to figure out a solution to the problem. Part of that solution may be to limit the influx of cruise ships that port there and release their populations for a day. That may stay part of the problem, but there are also engineers trying to figure out solutions for the infrastructure. They have “high road walkways” in St. Mark’s Square for when the tide is high and floods the square, as part of a temporary fix as well. In the long run, to keep Venice, it will take a combined effort to make things work so the city/state does not sink.

I think the same thing needs to happen with us in the good old USA now. We need to take the high road, band together, and be part of the solution. Complaining, riots, posting and sharing untruths to social media, and having a tantrum because we did not get what we wanted are part of the problem…not the solution. Let us be better than that. Let us work toward a better world. Do not let us sink.

What brought a lot of this to mind is this weeks’s Diva Challenge (#292) which was a Use My Tangle called Eaxy by Nadine Roller, CZT. It was not the tangle so much, as the medium I chose to complete it in. On my trip to Venice, I purchased several hand made journals, so I selected one of them to work in. It is a lovely red leather with hand made paper, sewn in small signatures.

I love hand made paper, but it can be a little tricky to work with. This one is a bit soft. I tried some water colors on it for a background.

And it did not really spread like I would have liked, it just sat there on the page. I had to iron it after it dried…yes, I iron paper. Not particularly pleased with the outcome, but I have a better idea now of how the paper acts.

Had some fun working up a new sample Christmas ornaments, possibly to share in a class. Cut the shapes from bristol paper with my Brother Scan n Cut 2.

Just did my basic Zentangle 101 tangles on it (may be a 1st class for a girls scout troop.) After they were finished, I glued 2 pennies inside for weight, and then glued them together and added a hanger. kind of cute.

The pen in the picture is the Pentel Arts Hybrid Technica. A roller ball pen with nice black ink, in a variety of nib sizes. I find the smaller sizes to work better than the larger ones. The 08 seems to skip a lot. They are not any cheaper than the Microns, but I am thinking they might be better for travel.

I found a new origami video for a 12 pointed star on YouTube that I had to try…it was long, and looked pretty complicated. But, I did have some important points about origami reinforced. Precision in folding is key! This one started out with a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet of copy paper, and you had to turn that into a hexagon. My hexagon using her method turned out a bit wonky…so the first one was a complete bust. I cut a hexagon using my Scan n Cut 2, and that one worked out a lot better.

My new friend Chloe came to visit the shop with her mom and dad…we had some fun chasing her fog and getting some cuddles.

And…Election Day was not a total bust for me. We went to Palm Springs to take Mike’s mom out for her 83rd birthday. Lulu California Bistro does up a completely adorable cotton candy in a huge champagne glass for special occasions!

That is all I have to report this week.

Oh, and Hug a Veteran this Friday…

Remember…the high road.

A Ghostly Squid

November 1, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 10 Comments

¡Feliz Dio de los Muertos!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween. We refer to it as “Birthday Eve” for the man of the house, and due to a distinct lack of trick or treaters the past few years, we decided to make it Date Night with Dinner and a Movie. We found out that Yard House has all day Happy Hour on Mondays during football season, so we had cheap appetizers and beer, and went to see Inferno, the new Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon movie. It was pretty good…and we got to relive our recent trip to Venice, too. (We have watched the end of Casino Royale a few times since we got back as well!)

Happy memories!

I feel like I was no where near as productive this week as I was last week, so not a lot to share. This week’s Diva Challenge (#291) was a Halloween special…so I broke out my new black journal I bought in Venice and tangled a ghostly looking Squid, al la Btl Joos (by Sandy Bartholomew Steen.) I am still trying to make friends with working on black. I love the look but I just do not feel like the pen works that well for me some days.

Had a lovely make up class for the Summer Tans (Tints on Tan Technique) last week, and the practice pieces came out lovely.

I think all three of us did a spectacular job, and I can’t wait to see the finished larger pieces.

I am still working on my Christmas card, and working on “the purge” at both the shop and the house studios. I keep misplacing things…it creeps me out a little, and I know I have bitten off more than I can more than likely finish in this lifetime unless I really stop goofing off so much!

I think I am going to print this out as a reminder to do more art:

Keeping it short and sweet this week!

Stay Crazy My Friends.

Moving On Down the Road

July 21, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 9 Comments

It has been a week for moving…mostly moving my feet! I have caught the Pokemon Go bug, and have been clocking more than 10,000 steps a day, which has really gotten me back on track with my exercising. I know, I know…its a silly little game, and isn’t really all that important, but any little trick I can use to get my butt off the couch and moving works. And…this week I hatched our new tangle mascot…lol.

We have become rather attached to him, so I was inspired by this weeks Diva Challenge (#276) entitled “Space Trucking – Moving Tangles” to do my interpretation of this cute little ball of Hollibaugh (which I am calling variation PG114.)

And Olivia, my step-daughter and shop minion, joined in the tangly fun too:

While I don’t normally tangle in a vehicle, I do tangle a lot on the road, at my local Starbucks or on longer trips as well. I spend a lot of time, killing time, in airports, working in a cute little 4×6 Midori MD journal. I still need to tangle/decorate the plain cover (it also has a protective plastic cover,) but here are some of my musings from a few of my trips:

I also have an affinity for coasters, especially when they have a “doodle spot,” like this one from the Garage Brewing Co.:

Oh, and by the way, don’t tangle on coasters with your Microns…its a good way to bleed them dry. I always carry a few Pentel G2’s or other Gel Pens in my purse for this.

We had an awesome Zentangle 101 class last Saturday evening, and the class was nice enough to let me capture their mosaic so I could post it. Everyone had a blast.

The words were from a meditative focus from the leader of this particular group. I think they fit in quite nicely!

The August Schedule is up…be sure to check it out!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Dueling Tangles

May 11, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 7 Comments

Another busy week here at CharKat’s! I started a new planner this week, and I seem to be getting a lot more done, which is nice. I hope the honeymoon lasts with this one. It is a bit more compact than my last one, and fits in my purse. Yes, I know there is technology that I can use in its place, but I like paper…I like to use a fountain pen to write, and I like to make notes and tangles and sketches and jot down ideas…so the technology is a time suck for me, because…SQUIRREL! (or FaceBook or Pinterest, or Candy Crush) So I am making more of an effort to stay off the technology!

This weeks Diva Challenge (#267) was a Duo Tangle: Pokeroot vs Drupe. Now, I am not particularly fond of Pokeroot. I don’t really use it much (make that ever) so this took a bit of prodding to get me to do it. ‘Nuff Said…

On Monday, the SoCal Zentangle Friendship Group met at CharKat’s, and I showed them some of my cool projects (the finished ones) from TangleU and led us in a couple of tangles. We learned a new tangle from Zentangle HQ, called Ellish (if you haven’t seen it in your newsletter yet, it will be coming soon!)

And K-leesi by Sharon Robinson.

Speaking of TangleU Projects…here are some books I’ve finished from Cherryl Moote’s Class:

They are still blank on the outside, but so cute!

And I am seeing a lot of finished t-shirts! All so different, and so pretty. What fun it is to wear your art. Here is one is black and white from Izumi Sato, my fellow SoCal CZT:

And this pretty, almost electric looking colorful one from Karen Sandoval:

Judy Englehart submitted this lovely:

And this bright bit of spring from Julie Gladstone:

If you want to color your own t-shirt, I still have them available in my online store. I can ship international, but you will need to email me your order instead of going online (charkattangles@gmail.com) Click here to get to the store, and don’t forget the Gell Roller for Fabric and Fabrico markers for color!

I am putting the final touches on my larger piece for the May 21st class (May Flowers featuring the tangles of Helen Williams) and I am really liking what I’ve done here. I don’t normally post works in progress, but I thought this might be the time to make an exception!

I think that bottom flower looks a lot like this Japanese beauty, so I am probably going to color it the same.

And on that note, I need to skedaddle! But, I’ll leave you with this:

The String’s a Spring!

April 19, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

Wow….when I have a good and creative week, it really does start to roll! Too bad that doesn’t carry over to me getting dressed and leaving the house sometimes….

But, it is spring here in beautiful Southern California, and while its been a bit on the windy side, we are already experiencing warmer than usual temperatures. Our darling Diva tasked us this week with using a Spring for a String (#264) and since I am working back through Helen Williams’ e-books, I thought I would work up some ribbons with that spring. Morning Glories with a little of Helen’s Mooka-Style and a pretty green ribbon to tie it all up with. This is a little bit of what we will be doing in the May Flowers Class on May 21st. That class will feature several of Helen’s tangles on a larger format, including her new Compass Daisies! I simply love her work.

I know what you are thinking…wow….those colors are beautiful! They actually look even better in person. I was experimenting with my new Peerless Watercolors for this, on Fabriano Medioevalis paper in the 4.8-ish inch square.

Peerless Watercolors are saturated sheets that are activated with water. Instead of pigments, they are mineral dyes. There were originally developed to hand tint photographs around the turn of the century (like more than 100 years ago…) and the formula has not changed. The colors are translucent, except for the Spotting Black, Opaque. They come in cards that are about 6 x 2.5 inches, and you can just use a water brush to work with them. They are a little strange to work with in their native form…so there are a variety of ways to make them into neat, lightweight, portable palettes to work from. Jane Davenport has a great video and information on that here. But…me being me, I took my own creative license and made mine a bit different.

To give you perspective, that is a hair tie as a closure. 3″ x 4.5-ish. I have acetate between each page for protection and as a mixing pallet, and only cut a 1/2″ piece for each place. It weighs about an ounce, and is easily held in your non-dominant hand while working in it, so page flipping is no big deal. The pieces of card are stuck in with double sided tape, and when it runs out, I can just pull it off and put in a new one. As you can see, the color of the card is not really representative of what color they are, so a swatch test is necessary. I used some old watercolor paper I have had for probably 20 years (and the puppy had chewed on when I still had a puppy) so the net cost of this was…well…just the paints. I also stuck a few extra pieces of watercolor paper in the back in case I got an urge to try something, and the inner cover liners are also watercolor paper.

Not that I haven’t been busy prepping samples for the May classes, and packing for TangleU next week, but I’ve been on rather a book-making tear. In addition to my Peerless pallet book, I also finished my working notebook/travel journal for TangleU. In an effort to not bore the people that aren’t interested in bookmaking, I will show you the highlights. I’m still trying to figure out how to make another listing for just paper craft-type things, so you don’t have to be subjected to this…

I’m pretty impressed with it, and have started keeping track of my “lessons learned” for each of these types of projects, so I can continue to improve them. This one has 4 sets of pages (for a 4-day retreat) with each set having one watercolor page with a “tile frame” mounted on the back of it (still using up that puppy-chewed paper!), 10 sheets that are lined on one side and blank on the back, trimmed with Washi tape and some stickers, and a double-sided pocket folder that I also decorated. The closure is a button held on with another smaller button through an eyelet, with the same cord braided and beaded to loop around the button. This was mostly made from a WeR Kit I found in my drawer, and I bought one button and 4 sheets of 12×12 scrapbook paper. So again, it cost me nothing but time, really, to make.

AND, on that note, I really need to sleep. Baseball season makes me stay up later than I usually like to keep up with my beloved Giants, so I tend to be a bit more sleep deprived than usual.

Stay Crazy My Friends!