A Crux of Good Intentions

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 7 Comments

Good intentions go a long way sometimes. I intended to post a blog last week from TangleU in Portland, Maine, but just got further and further behind while learning some amazing new things.

But, so you don’t feel slighted, here is my Diva Challenge (#265) for Stripes. The string is all stripes, so I tried to fit as many border style tangles as I could think of…and even some that weren’t borders to begin with!

And…of course, on to this week’s Diva Challenge (#266) with a UMT (Use My Tangle) of Crux. This version is by Henrike Bratz. There is another tangle of the same name out in tangle-land…but this is the one Diva posted this week.

This is on watercolor paper, using one of the tiles I created in a class at TangleU. Twinkling H2O’s sure make it sparkle, but I’m not sure how much of that translates into the scan. It looks kinda creepy here…

Maybe its a giant green squid, I dunno…in person it really looks like it is levitating above the paper.

Speaking of TangleU, I had a great time. I did vend this year, with my Tangle Me Crazy T-Shirts, Fabrico Markers, and Pentel Gel Rollers. (All of which you can purchase here.)

I learned a lot, and made a few cool books in Cherryl Moote’s class with the help of my friend, Hello Kitty!

I also got to hang out with my friends Nancy Dawes and Sheila Jarvie, which is ALWAYS fun…and our men hung out together while we were in class!

I haven’t finished many things from the classes yet, but here are a couple…And I am not sure this first one is really finished, I may add some more tangling. Primsacolor Premier pencil on Mi-tienes paper.

And the Zero Drawing Technique, tangled and watercolored with Peerless Watercolors.

And, my lone tile…done with Molly Hollibaugh’s direction.

I tangled this hat from Ann Grasso Pattern Art. I am going to do some more on the rest of the hat as soon as I find that head that is hanging around here somewhere….on the back, it says “CREATIVE.”

No trip to Maine would be complete without a little lobster…I think these guys were subject to some extreme torture, and this is all that is left…

Busy weeks ahead, make sure to check out the schedule for some great classes this month.

Stay Crazy My Friends!

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!

Going Global

April 15, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 4 Comments

Ok…first things first. The May 2016 schedule is up! Journals are the first Saturday, and the Monthly Special is on the 3rd Saturday this month because I will be out of town. But…you won’t want to miss this one…May Flowers featuring the Tangles of Helen Williams. I love her flowery botanical work, and while I am still working up a sample for the class, here is a teaser of one I did previously.

Check out the full schedule here – Zentangle Classes & Schedule. The Buy It now button for classes is at the top of the page now. (Thanks Square for changing the online store around…not sure if I like it or not yet!)

You can also find all kinds of cool stuff and supplies in my online store. CharKat’s Creative Insanity – Online Store!

Ok…enough of my blatant advertising and down to the matter at hand.

This week, I got thrown for a loop (almost literally) with the Diva Challenge (#263) when she asked us to use a Globular Grid. I freaked out just a little with all those small spaces. So I grabbed the biggest round tile I found, a “card” from Dick Blick, and my compass, and made bigger spaces. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try out some of the Fragments from the new Zentangle Primer, Volume 1.

It looks great to me, from a distance, with my glasses off. (Of course, we are all our own worst critics!) A note about working on “cards”…this paper had no tooth and was very difficult to shade. It is about 6”, and I used a bit bigger pen, so that was part of the problem for me, I think. Anyway…learning/teaching moment!

We had a lovely time on Monday at this month’s Zentangle Friendship Group. We pre-scrunched pieces of paper bag to make a type of Kente cloth, using tangles. It was pretty fun. This is 9 x 12, so I did use brush pens (hence the chunky designs) and tried a few different things.

A design note: to try this, you need to scrunch and scrunch and scrunch your paper bag. Then, I ironed my with a hot steam iron and let it dry. I imagine its is not a super-permanent paper, and I did not spend a lot of time on it. I am going to try a few other things with some other pieces that I treated with a preservative. I’ll let you know how that turns out!

It’s been a busy week. On Wednesday, I attended a quilting workshop with Ami Simms, and boy was that fun. I should have pics of my quilt posted in a week or 2…woo hoo.

We’ve has some great classes this week at the shop, too! You really should join us.

And on that note, I need to finish getting ready for tonights Zentangle 101 class and Iron Maiden at the Forum tomorrow night!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

That Green Time of Year

March 15, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

Yep, that’s right…it’s March! I love the month of March. Not only is it the month of my birth, but the weather starts being nice again, the sun is out, the grass is green…and…we all get to be Irish for a day.

We had a couple of really fun Celtic themed classes over the weekend, so that led right into this week’s Diva Challenge (#259) “A Touch of the Irish.” This was one of those pieces I was particularly proud of when I finished it. I have not forged into the ZenGems craze because I did all this stuff 20 years ago when I was designing jewelry, but I broke out my Prismacolor Premier pencils and some luscious hand-made Garza Papel (from Spain) and pulled this off.

I know…huh? I keep looking at it..lol.

If you want to see the steps I took for the gems, check this out…

I didn’t get a blog up last week, it was my birthday…I joked to one of my students who is a professional cake decorator that she should bring me a birthday cupcake (since I am watching my girlish figure) and she arrived with this:

That is one HUGE cupcake…and it was really tasty too.

I did get the Diva Challenge (#258 UMT Rautyflex) done too, although I just did it in my Tangle Journal.

There was some unusually beautiful skies here this week, with pretty vapor trails. I loved how they made a pretty perfect X there…

I will have the April Schedule up by the end of the week. I am working on a sample for a class, so be sure to save the date (April 2) if you are in the area. Origami meets Zentangle, and it is so fun to fold!

That is all for now…Stay Crazy My Friends!

I’m Not Gone…I’m Molygon!

February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

Whew…you would think taking some time to work on stuff would be more productive! But…I feel like I haven’t gotten much done. And I still need to do my taxes!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I started giving a class where we do these step outs and then use the tangle, so you have a visual reference and a neat-o mini binder to keep them all in. So, what better way to knock out my Diva Challenge (#253) for the new tangle, Molygon, from Zentangle HQ. Not only did I practice it real well by doing the step out, I was able to make a cool reference tile, right on the page.

And, the bonus is that it is on my “to-do” list to complete at least one page a week for my reference. Ta-done!

I also worked up this cute frame for the Valentangle class. Based on Joanne Fink’s Zendangles, it will be one of two options for the class on the 13th. Register here, pick your option for either the card or the frame. I need to prep the frames, so preregistration is a must!

Got a major UFO (unfinished object) out of my studio this week, and hung for use. I like to up-cycle things that may no longer seem “fresh” and make them useful again. This ugly dart board case was just that object. Mike swears he bought it about 30 years ago, and it definitely had seen better days.

Some Chalk Paint and trim pieces later, with a little Zentangle magic sprinkled in, and viola! It is now presentable!

One important takeaway from this project. Gorilla Wood Glue does NOT dry clear…I may eventually touch up the paint where you can see the glue, but I was just so darn happy to have it off my workbench I didn’t even care!

Lastly, I have a sneak peek at my prototype for some t-shirts you will be able to buy online or at the shop. Color them yourself…way cool. (this is a finished one, tangled a little and colored.) I just finished my “wash test” to make sure everything worked fine, so next it’s off to the printers to get them made.

Looking forward to seeing people at the shop!

Namas’cray…stay crazy my friends!

New Year’s Renewal

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 13 Comments

I would like to think of every January 1st as a time to review and renew my goals from the previous year. Goals are a good thing. They give you a road map to follow. But sometimes, that road changes.

My road took a sharp left turn last summer when I decided to open CharKat’s Creative Insanity. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be in business. It has been a challenge, that’s for sure. I love what I do, and I know that will spread out and bring more people in this year!

There is also renewal in this week’s Diva Challenge (#249). This is the 5th Anniversary of the challenge, and we have been tasked to a DuoTangle of Diva Dance and Auraknot. I already had this tile with a star on it, that I had sprayed with Shimmer Spray…so I thought it was particularly festive for this auspicious occasion!

I know the holiday’s got away from me, and this is my first post of the new year. I have, however, been pretty busy on tangly-type stuff!

First up, this cute little cactus. I was experimenting with stitching on the tile. Cumbersome! You have to poke the holes first….

Then, another one of Dorian Eng’s cute ornaments that she did a video for Sakura on. This time on Renaissance Tan, with blues.

And then this nifty 8×8 scratch board piece.

I did a little coloring to see what that was all about.

I also had some kids over to the studio, and we had some fun making tangle journals and learning tangles. These are mine. The glue was drying on their decorations, so I didn’t get photos of theirs.

And in keeping with this year’s mantra (Finish What You Started) I pulled a few tiles out of the UFO bin and put some new spin on them:

This one is on Fabriano Medioevalis paper…it has such a nice feel to it. I used Ann E. Grasso’s 8n1 Stencil for this.

And Diva #247: African Artist by Swiss CZT Tina Hunker:

So be sure to check the schedule, lots of fun classes coming up.

Namas’cray – stay crazy in the new year!

Keep It Simple

September 18, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 12 Comments

As I sit here in LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) typing this, I had this resonating in my mind. keep it simple. That was my mantra this week. While I overpacked my art supplies for this trip to Tangle Island 2015, and may have under packed my clothing, I really have a feeling of peace that I have everything I need.

That was my theme for this week’s Diva Challenge (#235) as well. Our task this week was Stripes as a string. I had some cut watercolor paper left from another project, and noticed my Twinkling H2O’s on my work bench, so I painted a border and stripes. I also just got a Rotring Isograph pen I wanted to try, so I used that. I think it came out pretty cool, but simple.

Diva #235
I seem to have been pretty productive this week. I also finished some AT. Tiles for a swap in a FaceBook group.

ATC Swap - ABC
And last Saturday, I hosted my September Special, Patriot Tangles, at the shop. We learned a couple new tangles and did this cool mixed media collage.

Patriot Canvas 1
And not satisfied with just the one, I had prepped a 2nd canvas while I was experimenting, and tangled that too!

Patriot Canvas 2
We have lots of fun classes coming up, so be sure to join us if you can!

That’s all for now, off to Vancouver!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Deadlines

July 9, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 5 Comments

I really am not very good at working on creative things under a deadline. Great ideas in my head rarely translate to the paper when I am rushed. But…I did it.

This week, I had the privilege of being included in the Cross Country Clearprint artist collaborative project. It is a pretty cool project taking place in a Clearprint Velum Journal, with artists from all over the US making art on this very unique paper. The rub for me was the one week time frame to come up with something and execute it. I used so many different techniques that I lost count, but I can tell you that the Metallic Gelly Roll pens work wonderfully on this, as do the iridescent Pan Pastels (with some matte fixative in between steps.

It just so happened that I only have 3 colors of Pan Pastels, and this week, the Diva is on vacation…so guest blogger Jen Crutchfield put out the challenge to work in 2-3 colors….so I think this fits the bill for my Diva Challenge #225. (And there really are only 3 colors…besides the black, white, and gold I tangled with: blue, red, yellow.)

Been working hard at getting the studio/shop/classroom ready to open, but got to take some time last week to work on a project with the Girl Scouts (Troop #1124) up in Lake Elsinore. These are my dedicated Zentangle students, and we had a great time working in some neat little journals I made up for them. (Journals are from a kit from Classroom Direct, the interior design is by me.)

And now, back to work. Trying to become the Queen of Social Media today with the advertising campaign for CharKat’s Creative Insanity.

I’m also putting together some cool paper samplers for the shop and my etsy store (which I started and never did anything with.) I’ve been cutting up paper and road testing it all for “tangle-ability” to see which ones come out the best. Stay tuned for that!

Stay Crazy My Friends…and hope to see some of you on the 24th!

Go Small or Go Home

June 28, 2015June 28, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 2 Comments

Some weeks are a bit more challenging than others…I should retitle this post “Better Late Than Never…”

Lots of action this week revolving around opening the new place (CharKat’s Creative Insanity at 27309 Jefferson Ave. Suite 102 in Temecula!) so putting pen to paper has been a bit of an effort for me. This is a lot more involved process than I ever thought it would be, but shout out to my new Landlord for taking a chance on a new business venture. I think we are going to have loads of fun there, and make lots of stuff!

Diva’s Challenge (#223) was pretty simple this week – Umble, but my brain is too tightly wound. That being said, I decided to mess my brain up by working something that looked MUCH larger on a smaller tile. Think Bijou…and thanks for the cool present from Jenny Perruzzi I used to cut the cute envelope for it. (Sorry, Jenny’s shop is down for a bit while she fixes her “laser.” I know you just did the Dr. Evil on that, didn’t you?)

You may also notice that the number of blog posts multiplied on the new site. I love WordPress…they made it very simple to import my old Blogspot posts, and everything ported over famously! If you are new to my site, be sure to look at some of the older things, some of them will be featured in future classes!

The Square One focus tangle this week was Akuras. I like this tangle, and see lots of possibilities in it for fun stuff!

I had a private lesson this week, with a really nice lady named Laurie. I didn’t photo her tile (forgot to ask) but here is the one I did while we were learning!

I have gotten a lot done around the shop this week. I finished 2 big things on my to-do list – a “spinner board” to teach hands on with, and a mosaic board to photo class works with. The spinner board is rather pedestrian and not all that exciting, but here is the mosaic board. Completely upcycled, didn’t cost me anything but time. I got to use my new sewing machine I traded in for last summer, and a frame I’ve been carting around for nearly 20 years. The bad news part is that I killed my stapler (and slightly damaged the frame) but the good news is I am finally buying a real point driver to take my framing to the next level.

And speaking of framing, I need to get back to work. I bought a bunch of frames at the thrift shop this weekend to frame Zentangle® postcards to put on the walls at the shop.

And…I have been digging through some of my supply boxes in the home studio, and found these really cool stone donuts…wonder what this might turn into?

Stay Crazy My Friends!

How Do You Know When You Are Done?

June 17, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 4 Comments

The conversation used to go like this…

Whatcha doin?

Nothing…

How do you know when you are done?

So I figured it out today as well. I started the tile for this weeks’ Diva Challenge (#222) on Monday, and promptly got “art block.” The prompt was Colours of the Rainbow and I wanted to finish another of my already strung Zendala tiles from TangleU, and I really like color on black, so I grabbed that one. Now last week, I had no problem at all throwing all kinds of color in my tile. But this week, I was stumped! I did eventually get into it, and then I started thinking I needed to keep adding to it. But ya know what? It’s Done. Enough. I like it how it is and I think if I keep OCDing on it, it will detract. But…alas, the Stardust pens (the black light ones) don’t scan in their color that well, so this week I had to photograph it.

I worked some more with the alcohol inks this week. I can’t decide what was more fun…coupons at JoAnn for the inks or the trip to Home Depot for more tiles.

I bought a whole bunch of ornaments last Christmas, so I have a lot of raw materials for this. Here’s a little bit of what I did:

The dark stains on the 2nd side were from a failed attempt at a Pinterest find (Sharpies and alcohol…didn’t work, and didn’t come complete off. I think these are coming out pretty neat, so I’ll do a bunch more, maybe a class?

Speaking of classes, the schedule is up in the Class Schedule page. And even better news, the actual brick and mortar location for my very own classroom/art gathering space goes live on July 1st. The Grand Opening is tentatively scheduled for July 10th. I am very excited, and more than a little scared! I’ll have loads more information next week, and hopefully more students!

I am already schedule to have the Girls Scouts from Troop 1124 again, and I planned a fun little project for them. We are going to start some Tangle Journals (which should give them some nice space to practice in!)

And last, but not least, Square One Focus on Flux this week! I love flux and all its variety!

Stay Crazy My Friends!