It’s Been a While…

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 20 Comments

Wow. Yes. It has been quite some time.

It has been on my list of things to do for several months now, but I was scared.

Afraid to start again. Afraid of explaining why I left off when I did. Will anyone still be here when I come back?

Let me start out by saying depression does a lot of things to you on the inside, even when it seems like you have your shit together and everything is fine on the outside. It started out as that, when I closed the shop at the end of May. I felt like I had failed. I had thrown in the towel. I quit.

But then I realized it was a learning experience. I had other opportunities open up then, and have been really enjoying some things. But in the back of my mind, I felt guilty. Like I had abandoned what I worked for.

And that is where I figured out what was wrong. It had become work. A slog. It was not fun anymore. I brought me no joy to tangle. I laid down my pens for a few months.

I started knitting… a lot. I bought a lot of yarn. I knitted more. I started playing with yarn dyeing.

Then I started thinking about paper again. I wondered what I had been missing. I dabbled a bit, but nothing serious. I started participating in the Diva Challenge again when she had her Back to Basics (#366) and got busy with those. Slowly at first. I pulled out a handmade journal that my friend Nancy Dawes gave me, and started working in that. I labeled the inside cover “Starting Over – September 2018.”

I decided to participate in the Inktober Tangles 2018…I thought that would give me a goodly amount of practice to get my “zen” back.

And I started to feel like I got my mojo back. So here I am. And here is Diva Challenge #375, Use My Tangle (UMT) Burtz by Fabienne Blumberg, along with a cool new tangle, Ratoon, by Zentangle. I’ll have more on that in a future blog.

Lots of other things have happened since my last post. I feel like this is kind of a confessional, but in a good way. Forgive me readers, for I have been a sloth.

I went to Dublin and Boston with Mike (he was working)…twice.

I taught at Midsummer Tangle 4 in Buffalo, New York, and got to visit Canada and Niagara Falls.

Went to a couple of concerts (Shinedown/Godsmack and Scorpions) with my favorite guy.

And went on a Rick Steves My Way tour to Italy for a couple weeks.

Oh, and not to leave out, we celebrated a great big birthday for Mike…60! And went to a great wedding in Ohio for my God-daughter, Monica, and her beloved, Cody.

I think that about covers it for now. You are up to date. I am still overwhelmed and trying to figure out how to get caught up, but in the meantime, the washer just buzzed…so back to that.

I’ll be back soon.

Give Peace a Chance?

July 13, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

I sit here writing this with a lot of turbulence in my brain today.

I’ve just come off a very awesome week of working at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Fan Fest as a volunteer. It was a lot of fun helping people get the most out of their visit to beautiful Southern California. The weather was perfect and there were only a few negative folks around. All in all, everyone, including me, had a good time. (Excuse my bright, shiny forehead, but it wasn’t easy taking a selfie at the world’s largest baseball with all the crazy lights they were using.)

And I carried on having a great start to this week, with a guest Diva (#275), Suzanne Fluhr, CZT. Suzanne is an awesome blogger, and I enjoy reading her travelogs very much, so when she wrote this week’s challenge, she did so with a heavy heart over all the hateful things that have been going on in our beautiful country as of late. Suzanne wanted us to Give Peace a Chance. I love that song…and it played over and over in my head while I was working on this:

I wish that everyone on the planet would take a minute and step out of their own lives and just be nice to other people. I trust that this can happen. I meditate on it frequently.

The conflict in my brain today comes from my desire for peace, and my desire for safety in my community. In the past couple of years, the homeless population in our town has increased quite a bit. Well intentioned people give them food and money, instead of directing them to the social services that can help them, and now suddenly we have a problem. I’m sad for their plight. I truly feel for them (and its been a bit on the warm side here, so that makes their comfort here a bit uneasy.) I know there are many programs here set up to help them, but as we all learn the hard way, you have to want help to seek it. But what do we do? It is a bit of a conundrum.

Just Trust Peace.

On the shop notes for this week, we have some fun stuff on the schedule. Rock and Tangle is Friday night (the 15th) from 4-9 pm. Regardless of what you are working on, come on down and play! I have all kinds of fun things to try if you are in a slump. Making stuff always makes you happy!

Black and White Summer is shaping up to be a great time too. Saturday, the 23rd, from 10-3, I have an awesome technique to share with you. Bring your basic tangle supplies, I will supply the rest. My good pal Karen did hers ahead of time since she will be out of town, so here is a preview:

She says it is not done yet, but I think it is shaping up quite nicely! I am working on a small set of my initials, so far I finished K. Hopefully will have the C done soon!

I should have the August schedule up by the end of the week.

A parting shot from the traveling exhibit from Cooperstown (The Baseball Hall of Fame.) There be Giants there. Say Hey Willie Mays!

Stay Crazy My Friends.

Courage in the Wake of Adversity

June 15, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

Yes…I know that waxes rather profound as a title. This week has been a rather sad one all over the world, but one thing the tragedy in Orlando has done is bring people together in the face of adversity. I would like to think that, as a world, we can be, stronger together. And that would take some courage for a lot of people, to put aside their prejudices in the name of peace and just downright accept EVERYONE.

Pointing fingers, blaming, and looking for scapegoats accomplishes nothing. But we all know that. I’ve recently read a lot on the Responsibility Foundation. Their main goal is to Educate, Engage, and Elevate the ideal of Responsibility, especially in today’s young people. Everyone takes accountability for their actions…there is no blame for the things that “happen to you.” I like this idea, and its ideals. I’ve long thought that people take too little responsibility for what happens in their lives, and constantly look for someone else to blame for their woes.

But these things all take COURAGE. And in the Army Values, that means to me, Personal Courage.

Personal Courage as defined by the Army, is to face fear, danger or adversity.

It’s not always easy. But then, life isn’t easy either. All we can do is take responsibility and have compassion. These things are free.

I know you don’t come to my blog to read, but you do come here for my art, and for that I am grateful. I use Zentangle and other art forms to calm my mind when things are in a state of adversity and that is often reflected in my work. So when The Diva sent out this weeks Challenge (#271) to interpret Beads of Courage, I meditated on that for a while.

Beads of Courage is an arts in medicine program that helps kids with chronic or life threatening illness tell the story of their medical journey. Each bead represents something different. A different procedure or appointment, or special circumstance. For example, when seeing a doctor or getting a poke instead of getting a sticker when they leave, they are given a glass bead for each thing. (blue for doctor, black for poke… some other beads are yellow=night in the hospital, pink=respiratory support, magenta=trip to emergent care, teal=tube insertion or removal, rainbow=therapy; physical, speech, occupational, respiratory) and every child’s string is different and unique to their story.

This has been very personal to The Diva, as her ADORABLE little Artoo has Moebius Syndrome, and spends *lot* of time in hospitals and at doctor visits.

So this week, I combined my meditation for Orlando with Beads of Courage, and came up with this:

I hope the sun shines on the families affected by this, and any other adversities.

I should have the July Schedule up by the end of the week. I have air-conditioning! Come in to escape the heat and relax. Rock and Tangle this Friday Night!

Stay Crazy My Friends…Make Stuff…You will feel better!

And one final note…To quote Rush, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

Sorting Stacks

March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 10 Comments

First off, I hope everyone had a

As typical, mine was quiet, as Mike was at work. I did get a lot done, and the house got cleaned!

This week’s Diva Challenge (#261) was issued by guest blogger Jan Reiter, CZT, who challenged us to Stack Bijou. Now, I have to tell you, I was a little intimidated by this. That seemed like a lot of work! And we know how famous I am lately for not finishing anything. So…I rummaged through all my “pretty paper” collection that isn’t particularly good for tangling on in great quantity, and cut up 6 “stacks” and a Bijou-sized (2×2 inch) tile. And I stared at it for a little while. Then I went to town…and I tangled them from the biggest to the smallest. It went a lot faster than I thought it would, but then I always make things more complicated than they need to be!

This was a lot of fun. And believe it or not, the Bijou-sized tile and the far outer frame are from the same paper! Since brown was my “theme” I went with a sepia Micron too, so that was nice, and a copper Gelly Roll on the accents.

UPDATE: I realized while I was filing this weeks photos after I posted the blog that this Diva Challenge marked 100 & 101 consecutive challenges!

So you know I haven’t been slacking, I have been busy with shop models for upcoming classes. I know you want to join us this Saturday when Origami meets Zentangle! The project is based on a design from Hans Werner Guth, called “Jump” and tangle inspired by Dorian Eng, CZT.

To sign up, head on over to the Class Schedule Page!

I have been participating in a Round-Robin tangle with 3 other CZT’s and received my tiles back yesterday (and I’m sending the next batch out today, I promise!) I think they came out really cool, and it was a lot of fun working with everyone on this. We all have really different styles, and that melded together very well.

And…So you don’t think I missed last week’s Diva Challenge (#260), I did that in my journal in church this week. Yes…I listened to the talk…and yes…this helps me concentrate on it rather than making my grocery list in my head or thinking about what I am cooking for lunch. I love Shattuck, it is such a versatile tangle!

And, for everyone that knows me, no week is complete without a little rock n’ roll! We headed to Las Vegas last week to see Billy Idol at the House of Blues. I was deaf in my right ear for a good while since we were next to the speaker, but what a show, and what great seats! It is hard to believe he is 60! (hubba hubba!)

Back to packing for TangleU! Here’s a sneak peek at what you will be able to score at CharKat’s after I get back…

Tangle them…Color them…Embellish them! Wear Your Art!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Challenging Myself

September 29, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 12 Comments

Well…I am Diva Fabulous this week, as I am the Guest Blogger for the Diva’s Challenge (#237). My prompt was to use a stencil and some liquidy substance of color to make a string and tangle it.

I have been using this particular technique for a while now, and had quite a few test tiles from things I didn’t think worked particularly well, but I was reticent to toss them in the waste bin. So…I decided to dig out this one, I did with a stencil from The Crafters Workshop and some Walnut Ink. It was a cool, fall color, but I got a little over zealous with the spray, and it bled a bit. (It’s the dark brown spider web looking one in the top of the picture.)

I also had a bit of a conundrum trying to figure out what color to use to tangle it. I think it was pretty dark, but not dark enough, if that makes any sense. I kept with the spider web theme, and black and brown micron, and a white Gelly. It looked a bit odd to me, and I added some shading, and I think it got better. Its a 6 x 6 inch piece, so I used 05 Micron on the black, and an 01 brown for the lines behind the white.

I have been trying really hard to look at what everyone has done on this challenge, and unless you are on Flickr, you should see some feedback and thanks from me for participating (not a member on Flickr…go figure…)

Trying to get back into somewhat of a routine after a summer of traveling. I’ve had some cool classes with a few lovely people this past week, and have really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things.

We have a fun schedule coming up this next week, with Rock and Tangle on Friday night, where you can preview a few of the Halloween projects we are doing on the 10th. I could not narrow it down to just one project, so it will be a bit of a free for all, with skulls and pumpkins and masks (oh my!) If you plan on coming, and want to tangle a vinyl pumpkin, they are on sale at Michael’s for 50% off (might even be 60% by now!) Pick one up and come on down. Studio time is from 10 am -3 pm, for $25 (plus whatever materials you get from me, probably not more than $10) and I will be there to coach and guide you through which ever project you choose. I’ll be in the shop all week (for the most part) working on samples!

Speaking of this week, it is still the tail end of concert season for us, so we are off to LA on Saturday, and Santa Barbara on Tuesday, to see the Scorpions! I am so excited, as this will be the 3rd and 4th time in 5 years we have seen them, and they rock pretty hard still. They hold a special place in our hearts, as that was our first “concert date”, so they are “our band”. This is from 2010…

I think I need to sleep at some point tonight, so I better get on with that!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Kicking Rocks

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 6 Comments

Kicking Rocks…not out of frustration these days, but to find cool ones to tangle on!

I have recently returned from a lovely Zentangle retreat with the totally awesome CZT’s of Vancouver Island (Tangle Island 2015) and while I was there, one of the “Make & Take” activities was tangling on rocks and shells. I picked both, naturally, since I have to try everything!

So I thought it was rather serendipitous when this week’s Diva Challenge (#236) was to tangle on something you do not normally tangle on (like anything that isn’t paper for most people.) Since I tangle on anything that holds still long enough, I just went with what I was working on. A rock…and an oyster shell. I used a lot of things on these, but would like to point out the Twinkling H2O’s that the shell is highlighted with, and the Sakura Decorese Pens that work really well on non-porous surfaces. These pens were designed for nail art, and the ink stays a little raised.

And some more of my Tangle Island projects (4 down, 14 to still finish!) First is a found objects collage. I may or may not really be done with this, as I should probably still tangle on it a little.

And a nifty little tangleation of Cadent.

We also spent a few days in Vancouver, mostly to go see AC/DC at BC Place. That was a very emotion moment for me, knowing it was the first time I have seen them live, and probably the last time too. I very much doubt they will continue after this is over, and I can’t say I blame them.

And we did a bit of walking on the day of the concert…16 kilometers worth! But I really enjoyed it, and even found some tangles!

And the beginning of fall colors.

I gotta get moving now, have a class on Black Tiles at the shop today!

Stay Crazy My Friends!