New Zentangle® Products!

The folks at Zentangle have been super busy coming up with cool new products! I just got a little box today and rushed to put them up at my Etsy store.

 

• Zentangle Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) in White or Black
• Zentangle Tiles in Black
• White pencils and gel pens for tangling on black paper

I've also added:

• a Sakura Microperm Permanent Pen Set (these are great for tangling on slick or non-porous surfaces)
• an Official Zentangle Kit... with some EXTRAS
• a Total Addict's Zentangle Gift Bag (you want it all, right!?)

I don't have examples yet using the new products, but there are samples and tips in my Yoga for Your Brain book (pages 45-47), that use white on black paper.

I also have lots of copies of all my books, including the "vintage" AlphaTangle and YogaFYB (which Amazon lists as "out-of-stock" and someone is selling for $30 - wow!)

• AlphaTangle (vintage, black cover)
• AlphaTangle (revised, red cover)
• Totally Tangled (the classic)
• Yoga for Your Brain (the workout)
• Inspired by Zentangle (the fabric book, I have one project in there)
• Zentangle for Kidz! (teasing! It's coming soon...)

Some people have had trouble getting some of these books from their local shops. There is a good reason, really! Design Originals (the publisher) was just purchased by Fox Chapel Publishing and all operations were being switched over at the SAME time that the books were being re-printed. Yikes. Mini-nightmare. It should be resolved soon though.

AND, in other news, my real-life, brick and mortar store, WINGDOODLE, celebrates its 10th Birthday this Saturday!!! How amazing is that!?! There is a Munny decorating contest (I'll write more about that this weekend) and food and merriment - so if you are around Sat. afternoon (in NH!), please stop by and help us celebrate this momentous occasion.

So to use this as an excuse for free stuff... and to reward you for reading all the way through this post... here are some Birthday Presents for you (good through this Sunday night at midnight - or whenever I check my email on Monday). :-D
There are no special codes, but you must mention your freebies in your note when purchasing on Etsy, OK?

• Buy Inspired by Zentangle, get a free Fabric Gel Pen
• Buy any two of my books, get a free vintage AlphaTangle
• Buy any Zentangle products, get a free tangled 2.25" button/pin

ZT in VT

Email, 3 days ago:
Hi Sandy,

Just wanted to let you know that you might like to take a road trip to see us at Flood Brook School (K-8) in Londonderry, VT. We have come to see you, it's your turn to visit us! I've introduced Zentangle to our art teacher, Casey Bailey, and she has taught the kids. Casey is using the paper puzzle pieces that she got from the Vermont Council of Arts a few years ago. It is sooooo cooooool! You have to come and see what's happening here. Casey is also loving teaching it this time of year since the kids are quite excited about the year ending and this tends to calm them down and is not messy!!

... It is so nice to see zentangle all around me. I'm a teaching assistant in Kindergarten and have taught the teacher in our classroom zentangle. We've been having a blast with the kids (and each other). Oh, the places we will go.......

let me know if you want to visit!

Jane MacKugler

CZT 6 


And what do you think I said?! Of course - I went to Vermont!
The Flood Brook School is a wonderful, artsy, little school - I mean. there is art everywhere! The art teacher was doing Zentangle with a group of older kids when I arrived. They were tangling on giant puzzle pieces.

A few of the big kids' puzzle pieces on a hallway bulletin board.

One of the reasons that Jane contacted me, and why I drove the two hours out to VT, is because i am working on a website to go along with my new book ("Zentangle for Kidz!"). I had intended to have a place where I could put extra projects and such for kids who enjoyed the book. Then, I started getting amazing art from tangling kids. Hmmm... that should be on the site. Then I realized, parents and teachers would be using the book and had lots of tips to offer too. More stuff for the site... So I will post the pictures I took of these kids' tangles on that site too. And I will let you know when I have it pulled together enough to go "live".
You have to see these close-up! The kindergarten one has spiders and little poem parts too!

Puzzle pieces done by the kindergarten class.

As I was leaving, I got to experience one of the school's traditons. On the last day of school, the teachers cover the tables with shaving cream, crank up the music, and let the kids "draw". I captured a little video of the kids dancing and drawing Zentangles in the foam! It was so wonderful. I know - I'm torturing you - but I can't post the kids on the internet. I'm so sorry! I'll watch it one more time, just for you.... yes, it is still wonderful. But I can post a close-up of one of the foamy creations:

So, just imagine "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz playing really loud, kids laughing, bouncing from one table to another, hands looking like white gloves, smooshing the foam smooth, then joyously drawing huge swirls and zigzags... I know many CZTs like to have quiet, meditative Zentangle experiences for their students... but I admit, for me, Zentangle is about creative, playing, sharing, and JOY! I really wanted to join in the fun!


On the way home, we stopped in town to get lunch at this really cool cafe. All these buildings belonged to the same business (cafe, restaurant, quilt shop, art gallery...). I don't even know if there is a name for this style, (Steampunk Western?) but I love it. And there were so many interesting patterns in the details, the shingles... I stood in the middle of the parking lot, in the pouring rain to take these shots for you. ;-D

Something Light and Fluffy

 

I am so excited that my peonies are blooming! Big whoop, I know, but it means that my garden is still alive. I am not a failure at this growing plants thing! And peonies are just so amazing. They die back over the winter and then suddenly, this tall plant is there, with ants crawling all over the buds... pretty small buds... that just EXPLODE! in pink, fluffy petals. I am NOT the pink, fluffy type of person, either, but I can't help but smile when I see these flowers. How in the world do all those petals fit into that teeny bud!? It's like a popcorn kernel...

In honor of my peonies (nice work, ladies!), I'm going to post "Mumsy" from Yoga for Your Brain. This tangle starts with a simple squiggle center and then grows and grows and grows... until you run out of space. Someone needs to create a tangle called "Plant Stake". ;-D

And because I am temporarily obsessed with pink, fluffy flowers, I just had to show you these rhododendrons that are blooming in front of my cottage! This is evidence that pruning is overrated! Perhaps it is also evidence that I have a dual personality? I admire a trim, neat plant that hibernates, obsesses, creates in obscurity, then explodes forth with a masterpiece. And I also admire the hardy, lazy, New England "weed" that grows anywhere, next to any plant, and effortlessly sprinkles day-glo pink petals all over the lawn. Go figure. Either way, it is nice to have role models.

This calls for cupcakes!

I finished the edits for Zentangle for Kidz! this week, changed the cover colors and sent off the CD. Seems like there should be bells ringing and a party, eh? Perhaps when the book is printed. And cupcakes, I need cupcakes! Here's a little piece of one page to show you how I decided to do the color:

I think I have said this before... but this was a really fun book to do! I can picture some of you jumping up and down saying, "But you had to run away to a hotel TWICE for this book?!"  Hmmm, true. Perhaps that adds to the enjoyment? :-)

This one will be only 20 pages, with the standard Design Originals binding. The colors and printing will be lovely. And of course, the price will be under ten bucks. You can buy copies for all your kids, your grandkids, your friends' kids... (and yourself!) It will be out in July, in time for CHA in Chicago. I would so love to go to CHA! It's the same week as the CZT Retreat in N. Andover. Would I be insane to try and make it to both events? Don't answer that!

To celebrate finishing this book and getting a few more items onto my Etsy site, I had posted a "special" on Facebook, but realized I should extend it to all of you folks too, right? The DEAL is: Buy a copy of Inspired by Zentangle - Fabric Arts book from my Etsy store, and get a FREE Pentel Fabric Gel Roller Pen. (Be sure to make a note on your order that you saw this on my blog). This is the fabric pen that I used to decorate my apron that is featured in the book. Of course I also have the pens for sale on the site.

And I had meant to post this last week, but I got caught up in finishing the book... This note and these photos are from Donna Lacey - a freshly minted CZT. I sat next to her, and her pet rat, at the training workshop a few weeks ago (she had an awesome Zentangle journal!) Well, the rat wasn't... real... but he was charming. A few days after the workshop, Donna and Herkimer (the rat!) visited my store in New Hampshire:

Herkimer loved your shop.  Spent probably an hour there looking at books and deciding what I just HAD to have!! 

Herkimer flirting with SherRee.

Perhaps we should hire him for PR?

Baby, You can write on my CAR!

Last fall, I taught a class at Artisan's Workshop in New London - for the employees. When it ended, one employee approached and said "You have to see my car!"

These photos don't do "Chuck" justice! It was amazing to walk around and see the variety of tangles and illustrations. Yes! There is a moose on the roof! I love the frog on the front, and you might recognize my fish (from Totally Tangled) on the side?

 This car was lovingly tangled by Jenna Carter - and I hear that she is still adding Zentangles!

You want Chuck, don't you? I know, he's so cool! You can have him too...
Jenna wants to sell the tangled car so she can travel around Europe. Her plan is to leave at the end of July. So if you are interested in owning a totally tangled transport of your own, it can be yours for $4,500. Which is actually a really great deal, come to think... the Tattoo Gnu sold at auction for $6000.

Here is an email I just received from Jenna:

Thank you again for helping me out, it means the world to me to be able to take this trip and know that Chuck is in good hands :0) We're planning on going everywhere while in Europe for about 5 months, we may not come back! Mainly just backpacking around and towards the end picking up a job in one of our favorite countries. Very exciting! It's me and my boyfriend who are going together, we want to learn about life and culture and experience things while we're still young :) 

She has a point. There is a lot to see and the world seems to be changing very quickly. Anyway, if you are interested in contacting Jenna, let me know and I'll connect you.

CZT Weekend

I took a break from coloring my latest book and headed down to Whitinsville, MA for round 6 of "Who Wants to Be a CZT?" I've been putting off posting about the experience because I find it so hard to put into words! When I attended a few years ago- in the very beginning of this tangled web - there were 50 of us and the whole experience was shiney and new. And kind of terrifying. No one really knew what they were doing... including Rick and Maria. A lot has changed. This training workshop is now a well-tuned machine!

The past two times that I have been here, it was winter and dark, so I never really noticed the outside of  Rick and Maria's house. The pillars have tangles on them, but check out the great cherub above the door. How cool is that? This house is filled with amazing art and funny touches. I think that not being able to see Maria's studio will be the biggest drawback to having the future training workshops at The Hotel Providence. (Although staying at a five-star hotel might make up for it...)

This session had something like 67 students! Even the window seats were filled. I met ladies from South Africa, Tasmania, and some of those square states in the middle of our country. All good news for folks outside New England who want to learn to tangle. I was rather floored by how many of the attendees had taken classes with me, including one from Virginia and one from Quebec, or had found Zentangle® through my books. A few even admitted that they had found the books accidentally while surfing Amazon. It made me blush every time someone said, "You're Sandy?! You wrote those books?!" and I got to sign lots of autographs. Someone suggested I should get a commission from R&M for sending so many people to become CZTs. Interesting idea.... ;-D  Being famous for a few days certainly does wonders for one's confidence and is helping me get over my shyness/introversion. Although I still feel like I could sleep for a week! I talked to so many people I barely got a chance to eat and on Sunday, I actually missed both breakfast and lunch.

I was really impressed with all the new products and innovations that the Zentangle folks have designed. A few new items are round tiles for Zendalas, trading cards (with the Fabriano Tiepolo paper!) and all the tiles in different colors. A set of nine coasters that form a ZT puzzle... stickers and tattoos, t-shirts, and most ingenius for the CZTS, a square demo pad of newsprint that is glued along two edges. This makes it possible to turn the pad while working on an easel. I got to try it out... and purchased two for my studio. Nice!

 This collage of tiles is displayed on boards covered in canvas (with a tangled border). Straight pins under and over each tile hold them in place without piercing the paper. More genius. Maria "whipped it up" at the Gel conference. The art brought by the attendees was incredible too - gourds, ATCs, and embroidery... wowza. Quite an amazing group of people. I look forward to seeing what they bring forth. As I was leaving (or trying to leave!), people kept thanking me for sharing my experiences and expertise with them. For signing books and giving advice... I was laughing when I said, "Thank YOU for listening! Once I get home, it will be very hard to find anyone the slightest bit impressed by me!" :-)

So, now, it's back to the books. Or "book". Which was technically due last week.... This book is turning out to be my favorite so far. I decided to do it with the ZTs all just B&W with a smidge of red in the instructions and the usual shading. The kids and their accessories are cartoon color with shading. The "minions" (Lilah Beans) are treated as tangles, despite their helpfulness. OH! And speaking of books - this is very exciting... at least it is to me... Design Original's parent company is exhibiting at Book Expo next week in NYC. And guess what book they chose from ALL the DO books to act as representative at the show?! YES, you are right!! "Yoga for Your Brain!" Mine, mine, mine! Whoo-eee! Wouldn't it be cool if some magazines wrote reviews and stuff? I would SO love to be there... Yes, I know, calm down and go to bed and then get up and scan and color and finish this book...

Easter Zentangle!

An Easter Zentangle with a bit of a Halloween twist!
I know it is a bit late, but I cracked open one of the leftover eggs that my kids had dyed last weekend. Is this a perfect Zentangle web, or what?! We couldn't have done this if we had intended to. (I think this was my four year old's handiwork).