"It's a String Thing" #29 Tiles

Audrie Weisenfelder said that this one "zipped right out" - a great comment as we are catching some "Z's" for this week's challenge.

The curves are lovely in Zin and the smaller grid is adds a nice contrast to the larger tangles.
Audrie also has it posted here on her blog along with another version of her tile.

Peggy Kohrmann said that she enjoyed learning new tangles and Zedbra might become a favorite.

In addition to the crisp lines of her tangles, Peggy's shading finishes them off beautifully.

She also used Gell pens on black and look how she has Zingers spring from the Z-trick - very nice!

Susan Green said that she only had a round tile with her when she worked on the challenge - 

She adapted the string line to the round tile and its lovely.  Zinger around the border is really fun!

Sue Agnew sent in two tiles - on this one she said, "For Z-trick I oriented all of the triangles the same way (instead of opposite ways like the designer intended, which gives it a more Cruffle effect) and then I did the Puf thing on them also."  That's amazing...

For this one she used just used Zedbra and Zinger ... and see how she lined the spaces instead of darkening them in?

Sharyn Penna said that she loves triangles and "was going for size progression at first but somehow my focus went to the pattern mash-up and shading in the center."

What fun to follow where your tangles lead.  She has a very nice variation of lines in Z-trick here too.


Annie Taylor said that she did this challenge "a couple of times and enjoyed each one."  Here is the one she sent in -

She added pretty detail to Zinger and Zin.  The bold Zedbra against the finer Z-trick is striking.

Celeste Hickey was so excited to finish three tiles she sent them all in - one more beautiful than the next!

She writes, "As you see I can't get over Zinger and Z-trick reminded me a lot of Fassett so I made it into Fassett on one."

Now that is very clever!  Celeste's details and borders are just beautiful.

Anna Houston anchored her tile with Zedbra in the middle - a pattern on many of the tiles this week.

Anna makes Zin bubble up from the tile with her fabulous shading and just a touch of black. Zinger looks like it is rising off the paper too!

Cathy Cusson took this challenge like a champion.  This is what she said of it -

...quite honestly, that string was not one of my favorites. I can't exactly say why, it just wasn't. I started several times this week. Then finally made up my mind to just "do it". It was definitely a challenge! So instead of fighting the string and trying to hide it - I did the opposite and highlighted it.

Congratulations Cathy - it's great!

Annemarie said that she really enjoyed working on this challenge - and her tile reflects that...

It looks like a happy Zen-explosion - so much energy and movement!  She also posted it here on her blog.

A warm welcome to Suzanne Wilka - this is her first tile for the challenge -

Suzanne's Z-trick climbs and curves and crawls - and Zinger springs from it - how fun!   She also has her tile posted here on her blog.

This is Kylie Vitnell's first submission -

She used a very nice selection of tangle patterns and lovely shading.  Welcome to you!

Rhonda Koplin added an interesting twist - she shaded with a color...

That is a clever idea and it looks wonderful!

A warm welcome to "first timer" Eden Hunt too!

What a very pretty tile - beautiful line work and her shading is exceptional.  Eden posted it here on her blog as well.

Ingrid Coventon said that she loves Zinger and Zedbra and the other patterns were new to her.

She managed such a lovely balance of patterns, light and dark spaces, curved and straight lines - it's gorgeous.


Jenna Wheatman sent two tiles this week.  The first is actually a ZIA piece using fusible fibers.  It was too pretty not to post!

Here is her challenge tile -

This is pure Jenna style - grand in its first impression and even grander as you study the detail!

Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow wrote this about her tile -

Another fun challenge thank you. I call this piece, Butterfly Among the Roses.
The thorax & abdomen areas of the butterfly were made using the Zebdra design
The antennae of the butterfly were made using the Zinger design
The outer wings of the butterfly were made using the Zin design
The inter wings of the butterfly were made using the Zuan Shi design
Then of course the cute little roses were made using the Zen Bud design.

It is a lovely, lovely piece.

A very warm welcome to Rosanne Cannito!  This is her first submission -

Rosanne alternated her patterns to give her piece a really nice balance.  She also posted her tile on here on her blog.


Ragged Ray wrote - 

 I remember these tangles from Week #8 - so decided to work primarily with the one I couldn't get to grips with then - Zin. And this time I loved it. I did one of my mix-tangles-together this week - so bits of each popping up within the frameworks of the other. As a whole it felt quite geological - fractures and diamonds and then in the middle of it all the calm stems of two Zinger!

Yes, it is all of that - and then the fabulous shading finished it off beautifully!


Margaret Bremner said she assumed she'd use Zedbra (her creation with Laura Harms) but in the end she 

"went with others: Zander, Zapateado, Zewm, Ziggy, and Zoya."

Margaret's pattern choice and placement are striking - and so is her shading.  Do visit Margaret's blog - her tile is posted there as well as her endless stream of amazing art work.



Charlotte Carpentier submitted her tile with some very happy news.  She will be a CZT in June - congratulations to you!!

She chose to use white on black and accented with a pop of blue.  It's very pretty.  She also has it posted on here on her blog.

Vicky Brison said that she really enjoyed this mix of tangles -

She also said that she couldn't seem to "resist the Dr Suess versions of Zinger!"  That is a great way to describe her variations of the tangle pattern - so playful and fun!

Cheryl Rotnem said that these tangles were a challenge but she wanted to participate and learn from it -

That's a great spirit to have - and her tile is a wonderful result of her resolve.  She also posted it here on her blog.


Joan Delony said that this one if for me - could that fractal tree have anything to do with it?! Thank you!

The finer lines of Z-trick and Zinger compliment the dark swatch of Zedbra and Zin just so.

Brenda Urbanik sent this note with her gorgeous tile - 

I used Zinger, one of my very favourites, and then I tried Zedbra (first time) and Z-Trick (first time) and I LOVE them both. Oops, lost the string there somewhere:))
I also just had to add some Fescu, they just belonged there...

She came up with some wonderful touches - the alternating light and dark rows in Zinger and the sparkle on Zedbra as well as how her string line got lost in the wonder of it all!

Joyce Evans used sparkle on her Zedbra too - and curved lines...

Her large grid for Z-trick and the star burst effect she achieved is very pretty.  Joyce also has her tile posted here on her blog.

A N D now...after all of that tangled goodness... 
the tile honored this week was submitted by Lonnett A

Along with her wonderful work, Lonnett sent this note -

Dear Adele,
this week I enjoyed the challenge so much! During tangling l heard wonderful music - and the tangles flew on my tile automatically.
Pure relaxation!
But first I had to familiarize myself with Z-trick, Zedbra and Zin.
This time I like Zedbra very much. It has a very special look and I like the black and white contrast. It´s so great to use it as a frame! Also I like to use Zinger here.
A wonderful Challenge with the possibility to learn wonderful new tangles again.

Her tangles really do reflect the mood she described - and include lovely details.  She added sparkle to the layered Zedbra border that wraps neatly around the corner.  Zedbra and Z-trick break away and tumble into the white space.

Congratulations Lonnett!  I have a little something coming in the mail for you.

Many thanks to the talented tanglers who sent in their work for the rest of us to enjoy.

Special thanks to Courtney Franz for String 027 from TanglePatterns.com and used with Linda Farmer's kind permission and to the creators of the patterns used this week that include:

Zinger, an official Zentangle® pattern
Z-trick by Yamit Fridman
Zedbra by CZTs Margaret Bremner and Laura Harms
Zin by CZT Linda Farmer

Check back tomorrow for "It's a String Thing" #30.  
We will be using a page from Sindy P's new book Real Life Strings.  Just in case you missed it, click here to read my glowing review :)