San Diego CZT Meetup

Had a really incredible and fun day yesterday (Tuesday) - the Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT's) in San Diego had their first meetup.  We started planning it a couple of months ago - took a bit of time to coordinate a date what with 6 busy schedules.  We did miss one CZT that was not able to attend due to illness - Rho, hope you are on the mend.

There is something special about a group of CZT's getting together - good conversation and camaraderie and inspiring talent to be shared.  Each with our unique magical story of how we came to find Zentangle and knowing the shared experience of how it has enriched us plus the fun and joy we receive being able to share it with others - how special is that?

Meet the CZT's of San Diego County - l-r back row  Denise, Cecie, Izumi, front row Jennifer and yours truly. Thanks for a great day looking - forward to the next time.

click image for larger view

Note: If you are a CZT in San Diego County and have not posted your profile on the Zentangle Teacher List we don't know how to reach you.  Please email me at tinkeredart [at] gmail [dot] com so you can join us next time.

Update: Per Ann's comment request a photo of the tiles  and a little info on the font.

click image for larger view

The tiles were a small welcome-to-my-studio gift for my fellow CZT's - their initial - each with only tangles that begin with it.  The tile holders are Snapshot Dots - you can read more about them in my previous  Zentangle Display Options post.

 To answer Ann's other question - the letters are not stencils you can purchase, but it's very easy to make your own with your word processor.  My preference is to use fonts where the outline provides the largest area to tangle.  Coopers Black is a nice wide font that comes standard with most word processors.  You can also find some nice free fonts online.  The font used for these tiles is Pretoria Gross - not a free one, but one I really love - available at My Fonts.

A couple tips to get you started - select the outline option when formatting your font - it will print just that, an outline of the letter - will save you lots of ink!  When selecting your font size some folks might not know that you are not limited to the sizes that appear in the drop down list.  Just place your cursor in the font size box, delete the number and type in whatever number you need to get the size you want.  You will need to do bit of experimenting to find the right size to fit on a tile - that size will also vary a bit with each letter and font.  It's a lot of trial and error sizing, printing, and cutting out to test on a tile.  Once I had the right size I printed them on heavier card stock and cut them out - easy stencil whenever I need one.  The same technique works for making words or phrases you might want as stencils.