Just in time for summer travels, here’s a great tip for keeping your Zentangle® tiles clean and handy in your pocket or bag for any time when you’re on the go.
All you need is one or two of the old plastic diskette storage cases – they’re the perfect 3.5-inch size for protecting the official tiles. If you can find a few of them, you can carry completed tiles in them until you return home.
We happened to have some nice colored Belkin cases my hubby dug out of our diskette archive for me but the standard clear plastic ones work just as well. These hold about a dozen tiles, plus the Legend from the official kit.
Belkin 3 1/2-inch diskette storage cases filled with blank Zentangle® tiles ready to use. These cases hold about a dozen tiles.
A view of the plastic storage case, opened.
Stick the case inside a Ziploc® baggie with your Sakura Micron pens, soft lead pencil (and blending stump if you use one), and you’re good to go!
Got any tips for traveling with your Zentangle® supplies you’d like to share?
PS – Speaking about travels, Happy Canada Day (July 1st) to all our friends and rellies due North, and Happy 4th to everybody here in the USA! Robert and I celebrate both 🙂 Safe travels, good eats, and fun times y’all.
June 30, 2011 | 
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Great idea, Linda. Thanks. I’m heading out this Sunday for a week’s vacation. I’ll take some of these along and plan to be fruitful!
Where do you get those great Zentangle tiles?
Hi Nicole, you can purchase official tiles from the TanglePatterns.com STORE tab. I highly recommend you get the official kit, then you can buy refill tiles when you run out.
zentangle.com!! Or, you can buy them from a Certified Zentangle Teacher if you have on in your area. Check this list to see if you do…http://www.zentangle.com/teachers.php
I always travel with Zentangle tiles!! I use a hard drive case that you can find at an office supply. For a photo, visit here…http://openseedarts.blogspot.com/2010/07/traveling-tiles.html
That’s a great idea too, Carole!
Fantastic idea! This would be a cute idea when you give a zentangle work as a gift, too–you could write your salutations on the plastic, and it wold protect the wrapped tile until it was opened.
You can buy similar ‘diskette’ cases through Zentangle. They’re called Go-Tangle and hold 8 or 9 tiles.
Hi – I use an external hard drive zippered case. It’s just the right size for tiles and has a net pocket that will hold 2 or 3 micron pens, my pencil and blending stump. Not as colorful as the diskette case but a good, handy solution for traveling!
Great tip for storage, it’s been driving me nuts trying to figure out how to carry them with me without damage. I like the hard drive case also. I will probably use both!
I’ve been traveling with a metal case with clear insert on top- I bought a bunch from Oriental Reading years ago and love that my ATC and pen, pencil fit in so nicely. Recently I saw that another tangler used the same metal case..smile.
What a wonderful idea! I’m gonna have to go dumpster diving (jk) in my own basement see what treasures I can find! Thanks for the ideas!!!
That is a fantastic idea. Do you know where you get the grid paper that a lot of the instructions are done on? I would love to do them all myself and have a file with them in
Thanks
Hi Michelle, visit the DOWNLOADS page – there is a selection of templates to choose from including some with grids. They’re all free.
Thanks for that Linda
Linda, these will be a great addition to my traveling kit because I always worry that the completed tiles will get bent or dirty. I too use a hard drive case for my supplies and find it extremely useful. I have a blog post about it at http://thebrightowl.blogspot.com/2011/06/have-zentangle-will-travel.html
Thanks again for all the wonderful tangles!
I have looked high and low for an external hard drive case. Office supply stores, no. Discount stores like Walmart Kmart, nope.
Where can I find one?
Thanks
Help, where can I get a few of these diskette cases?
OK, so I should have read the whole website! Thanks Linda for the idea as it works really well. Please delete my previous comment. A good place to find the diskette cases, are at garage sales or computer repair shops. Thanks. Ann
Zentangle tiles are terrific but they aren’t the only paper surface that can be used for creating your tangles. For travel I use a 3.5 x 4.75 spiral-bound Artist Sketchbook. I put it and my pen and pencil in a zippered pouch. I do tangles in my sketchbook while on airplanes and alongside a river bank or anywhere else I choose. Also, you could slip the sketchbook, pen and pencil inside your purse so you always have it with you.
WOW!! This is a great idea. Being a pack rat I know I have some of these around. My zippered pouch was getting a little stuffed.
Ooh, this made me think of another great idea!! I know I probably have one of those binders around for storing diskettes too. One of those would be a great way to display some finished tiles.
I have an amazon kindle and would have loved to be able to put some of the zentangle tiles I have seen to inspire me on my travels. Does anyone know of such an ebook ?
I have a Sony eReader and I have turned documents into .pdf files and then download them to my reader.
I use a portable hard drive carrying case as my Zentangle travel kit. It holds everything you need to make the minutes tick away between appointments or on the bus to and from work…
@Joyce Staton sounds like you have a good idea but I can’t quite picture it in my mind. Is there a way you could post a picture or describe it more. What size is it? Does it have pockets or compartments to separate stuff? Is it soft or hard sided? Just wondering because I’m a pack rat too and I might have something similar around here somewhere but I’d just like a little more information please. Thanks so much
Raven
Hi Raven, if you search Google for “portable hard drive case” you’ll see exactly what Joyce is talking about.
@Erin O Just so you know I tried your link to your blog all that came up was “blog removed.” Sounded interesting though.
Raven
I’ve just corrected Erin’s blog link so you can locate that now too.
Linda
Thanks so much!
Raven;
Did you find one? Mine is hard sided logitec one, it has two mesh pockets inside and a little strap like a camera case. Hope you find one that works for you…
Thanks Linda for the help clarifying this for Raven. Sorry it took so long to reply..
Joyce,
I have so many ideas now that I have to step back and decide which one to use.
Thanks for all the helpful ideas everyone. There such a wealth of information available. This is just fantastic.
I found out about Zentangles about two weeks ago when I was looking for doodling fills. I am so hooked it’s not even funny. It’s much more relaxing with the tangles I’ve learned and with the shading everything looks so great! Turns out I was all ready doing something like a string before I started my doodling. Loving to tangle!
Raven
I’ve only been tangling for about a week and I’m obsessed with it! What a great idea! On my way downstairs to see what I can find that will work! Thanks for all the great ideas!
Loved the idea about creating a travel kit for tangling. Made a beeline for Staples and located the external hard drive cases. One big problem! The Logitec brand they carried measured only 3 1/4″ across which is too small for tiles. I settled for the zippered CD case which is large enough for the Zendalas too! I cut out half of the sleeves and added a very wide piece of elastic with Velcro to the left inside for pens etc. Works great and still small enough for my tote bag. I’m thinking the external hard drive cases might be getting smaller? Just be sure to measure before buying! 🙂
I posted a basic tutorial on how to sew a travel case for your pens and tiles on my blog: http://studiosix7.blogspot.com/2013/07/tutorial-zentangle-travel-case.html
Enjoy!
I found a Coach floppy disk carrier on eBay. Perfect for my tiles and holds about 20 or so. It was a little pricey, but totally cool. For my ATCs, I use a card box I kyped from my daughters Magic the Gathering card storage and you can find those at any gaming, card, or comic book store. I use a Katsuwa dr. Ion pencil case that holds a whole lotta pens plus has room to stash some tiles in…http://www.jetpens.com/Kutsuwa-Dr.-Ion-Super-Mega-Pencil-Case-Black/pd/3937
I found a site that tells how to make a pencil case out of an old DVD holder. I was thinking this would be great for Zentangle – you could even store a few tiles under the clips where this author has put coloring pages for her child.
The site to make this case can be found here:
http://stacyvaughnblog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dvd-coloring-case.html
Thanks Claudette, cool idea!
For my portable tangling, I use a zipper freezer bag with a square of really tough cardboard inserted for easy leaning. Sometimes I decorate it appropriately or cover it with tacky paper. I enclose my last few tiles, and some each of white, black and coloured tiles so that I have a choice. I`ve made a few of these for friends and other interested tanglers.
Nice idea, Rosemary!