PUF: the Magic Tangle

Abra-cadabra! I'm back! I think I've mastered this disappearing act. I just need to work on reappearing more often.

Happy June! We are not quite halfway through 2018 yet. The months are slipping by! Travel for various reasons has kept me busy. I've made it to Ohio every month this year so far leading up to June, and I am sure I will be heading up there at least once this month. I do enjoy my trips up I-75! If you stick around (i.e. subscribe to Tanglefish!), you will probably learn many of the reasons why.

But on to the topic of this blog post: puf by Carole Ohl, CTZ™, is a charming tangle. I was excited to see that it is the focus of this week's Diva Challenge (#364). Puf really does seem to be magical in that it transforms from basic bales, a grid-based tangle that tends to turn out rather flat in appearance, to a dimensional and somewhat organic outcome! The original grid gets lost in the lines; it's rather exciting to see it transform! Here's my finished tile:

At the bottom of this post, you can see some pics of the tile in process.

In this next paragraph it might seem at first as though I am veering off topic, but watch how I magically tie it in:

During one of my trips to Ohio this spring (this particular trip was for a FIRST Robotics Competition Regional Tournament with my son's team), I made a little phone call to Bead Stash, a bead store in Kettering, Ohio. I wanted to see if they had any Tangle-a-Day Calendars in stock. Yes, I know it sounds odd to call a bead store to ask about a Zentangle®-inspired calendar, but I knew what I was doing.

Oh JOY! The owner of the store answered the phone, and confirmed that she had one copy left in the store. So I drove about 40 minutes to pick up the calendar and meet the owner—none other than the creator of the Tangle-a-Day Calendar, Carole Ohl herself!!! The same CZT™ who  came up with puf, as well as a bunch of other fabulous tangles such as featherfall, tuftid, floatfest, and inapod. You can see these and other tangles on her Open Seed blog.

What a great store!

I was so happy to meet Carole!!!

See how it all ties together so beautifully?! It was lovely meeting Carole in person, after having been a fan of hers, her tangles, and her wonderful Tangle-a-Day Calendars for several years. It was a short visit, as I had to return to the team at the robotics tournament at the Nutter Center at Wright State University. Those who know me well will not be too surprised that I found a Tim Horton's nearby so I could enjoy a latte pick-me-up on that beautifully rainy afternoon in Ohio. And invest strategically in a little bit of ground coffee to bring back to Tennessee.

I stock up when I can! This keeps me happily
caffeinated at home.

My son and I in the Team 1466 pit. He is the team's "Pit King"
I'm not quite sure why he has my old Ray Bans under his saftey goggles!

And here is my challenge tile in process, so you can see how it began and progressed:

 

I'll wrap this up with a few photos I took on a walk this evening with Joseph and Pausha. The clouds were glorious, and I thought it was funny the way Pausha appears to be exhaling the sunset in the 2nd photo. Almost like a fire-breathing dragon pointer!

 

I welcome any comments!
Happy Tangling!
-Amy

Check it Out, I'm Checking In Again!

Happy New Year!
I am happy to report that despite my silence in 2017 (one post the entire year?!?!?!?!), I am alive and well and looking forward to doing more (and blogging about it) in 2018!

2017 was a fun year, and I actually wrote lots of blog posts about what I did. In my head. Never made it to the keyboard with those blog posts, so they were never published. It was a very busy year!

I miss writing, so spending some time here in my Tanglefish world is on my list of goals for the year. There's really no good reason for my absence, as I am still creating, still teaching occasionally (and hopefully a lot more in the months to come) and still enjoying a wide variety of fun adventures that I'd be happy to share.

My freshest news (because I don't want to start off with stale news, of course) is that I am now a Magnabilities Consultant. I JUST STARTED. Less than week ago. My starter kit from the company arrived just yesterday! And I haven't even opened it yet because I want to plan something special for "The Opening." I hope to have some friends over, to explore the goodies together.

But here's the overview: Magnabilities is a line of jewelry that features circular interchangeable inserts that can be swapped out according to your outfit or your mood. Fun stuff! I am really excited to try to share this line of jewelry with family and friends. I will probably  be blogging a lot more about it, but I want to show how this line of jewelry relates to my passion for Zentangle®. (And my pride in our beloved Pausha.)

And here are some custom inserts that I designed —in just a few, quick minutes!—to go along with some Magnabilities base jewry pieces (a pendant and a bracelet). There are many pieces in the line to choose from, and there are hundreds of insert options, but what REALLY excites me about this line is that you can DESIGN YOUR OWN using your own artwork and/or photos!

These are the two tiles that featured in the custom insert designs. The bottom tile has two custom designs, because I featured two different areas of the same tile.

This is just a quick update to get the ball rolling here at Tanglefish again. I wish you all a magnificent 2018! Namaste! Or, rather, Magnamaste!