"It's a String Thing" #57 Tiles

The tangles were beautiful this week and lent themselves to some gorgeous results.  Let's take a look~

The first tile arrived from Hungary's Lily Moon ~

First of all the Renaissance tile color works so elegantly with the black and white.  Then the details she added are just spectacular - the stippled shading on Dust Bunny, the lined Drip Drop, and the dimensional looking Dekore, just to name a few.


A very warm welcome to Susie Falkler.  This is her first time tangling any of these patterns and the first time submitting a tile ~

That is wonderful news and this is a wonderful piece.  She creatively tucked Knightsbridge into Drip Drop and even added sparkle and shading!


Lori Byerly called this "another challenging challenge".  She wrote ~

I started with dekore and what I got so reminded me of something my grandmother would wear that I went with the jewelry theme. It's posted to my blog here.

That is a very lovely tangleation of Drip Drop.  She worked Dekore into the oval of the string line and what a pretty shape that gave it - along with the darkened background and beautiful shading.  That invokes such a warm remembrance of my grandmother too.

Janice Johnson quipped, "I am including my entry for this week's challenge. I have titled it "Collecting Dust". I did include Drip-Drop, but it is more of a Drip."

That is a lovely collection of Dust Bunny and Dekore in the middle of Drupe is a fun touch.


Kirsten Bish wrote ~

Enclosed, please find "Bird Family" this one took me over and told me what it wanted to become!!! The tree is the tangle WUD there was no artist assigned to it in tangle patterns. Fun tangle, thanks!

Wud is actually a tangle by CZT® Joni Feddersen.  Kirsten's description of her process is inspiring - "this one took me over and told me what it wanted to become!"  That is a true Zentangle® experience!


Ilse Lukken said ~

All new patterns to me again – I really love Drupe! Fitting them all into string 056 was quite difficult, in the end I decided to leave Dekore out – and I might not have followed the ‘proper’ string lines… But, it was a fun challenge!
I put it on my blog as well.

The proper string line is the line you follow :)  And follow she did, with lovely tangles and a beautiful balance of light and dark spaces.  Note how one Drupe runs into another.


Joya found this string "weird" at first, then said, "but while tangling I got more and more pleasant with it."

That Dekore is gorgeous as is the depth she achieved with Drupe.  She also posted it here on her blog

Cheryl Rotnem wrote ~

What a fun challenge this time again! Dekore was the only tangle I'd never done. But it sure was a fun one. I love Dust bunnies. I just couldn't give it the feel of something better. Oh well, that is just how it goes, when you tangle.

This has a great 'feel', Dust Bunny and all!  Drip Drop looks like rain for the flowers.

Christine Forrester wrote ~

I had to learn all the tangles for this one and have struggled with them.
I am again sending 2 a black and white and a coloured version. I can see with much more practice that they would be great for greeting cards.

These are beautifully done, both of them.  The purple Drupe keeps drawing attention, doesn't it?  Lovely.

From Ragged Ray ~

And so to IAST #57. A fabulous string. And such versatile tangles and all new to me. I choose to string Drip Drop along the line, and bring aspects of Dust Bunny and Dekore into my two Drupe sections. I think I lost my way with the top Drupe, my arcs didn't meet up that well. But it's a great tangle and seems uncanny that the beginning crossed centre looks a lot like our Union Jack which could be set to change if Scotland choose independence next week! Anyway, my tile seemed quite busy, or perhaps just more decorative than usual for me, so I did a second one which I've posted on my blog.

That is everything she described and more - delightful details and dimension abound.

Carmela wrote ~

At first I found this string very busy with all the lines and loops and curves, and when I see the choice of patterns I didn't tought I could make something nice of it.
But at least I think my tile is very airy and a little bloomy and surprising to me.
Thanks for this nice challenge! i challenged myself with it. hahahah
You also can see it on my blog. 

Just reading her description made her process sound like so much fun.  She certainly "made something nice of it".

Nagy Ferenc sent her tile via a link - to view it you can click here.  (I was unable to download and post it.)  She closed her note with "Best Regards / Baráti Üdvözlettel"


A very warm welcome to Cat Trask ~

I'm a newbie to Zentangle. I'm stuck at home this week because I had surgery on Monday. While surfing, I happened across your Tuesday "it's a string thing". I know this is nothing like the tiles you usually get, but I thought you might like to see what a newbie did with your challenge...What a great way to learn!

This newbie "knocked it out of the park" as it is said.  She even shaded her tangles, overlapped them, clustered them.   Imagine where she will go if this is the beginning - welcome!


Cheryl Stocks wrote ~

Attached is my response to your challenge this week. It should be on my blog beforeTuesday,
I like Drupe a lot and I used some other favorites this week. I think if I used the drops again I'd try to place them closer together. There's only a hint of dust bunnies--they're hiding in the background in pencil.

On her blog, Cheryl calls this Drupe flower and that is a very fitting name.  The Dust Bunny lurking in the shadows is a nice soft touch.


Annemarie wrote~

I used a til that I had colored before with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays. I saw these first at the blog of Alice Hendon, Creator's Leaf, and I was very pleased that I could buy them in Holland too. Got them last Saturday and am playing with them all the time.
So, your String Thing had to be done on a tile with it.

Sounds like something we can all look into.  She doubled her string line, added color and highlights as well as shading.  She also posted it here on her blog.


Kristen Kostelnik Killips wrote ~

I hope you've had a lovely week. Here in Michigan it's starting to feel like summer is over, which is a serious bummer! I'm sure you are still feeling very summery down in Florida. This week's challenge was great fun and, as usual, I learned some new tangles...

Note how she ran the lines of Drupe through to the little loop of the string line.  She tangled some very pretty Dekore variations.  Kristen also posted her tile here on her blog - her new blog!


Lucy Banta wrote ~

Glad there are no mistakes in zentangle seeing as I left out a major
element in drupe! Still happy with the result, though.
Here is the post on my website.    

That is correct, no mistakes, just creative opportunities.  Linda made the most of her opportunities and ended up with a beautiful tile.  She fluffed a large Dust Bunny in the corner and followed it along the string line surrounding Drupe.  That is a nice touch.

Ingrid Coventon asked if she expressed herself well because "Mr. Google translator" sometimes gives her "strange translations."  Yes, she did ~

Again I made a simple tile. Sometimes I exercise myself in the art of omission. Do you also say that in America? It comes down to about "less is more". For me that is a great exercise for my always crowded head. And this time I think I succeeded. It was fun to play with these accessible tangles. But unfortunately there was no role for Dekore in this tile.

As a matter of fact, dear Ingrid, you do an admirable job with your English.  I dare say better than I do at times!
Ingrid tangled large patterns and her balance of light and dark line make this very striking.

Caroline Moore said ~

I'm finally getting one to you before the deadline!!
This was fun, as dekore was the only tangle I had tried before. One of the things I love about your challenges is being encouraged to try new tangles.
I wanted to use more drip drop but ran out of room!

That is wonderful to hear - and fun! - to learn new tangles each week.  Caroline also continued in Dust Bunny fashion along her string line and border and Zinger springing from Dekore is colorful and clever.

Colette Horsburgh said she was just given a set of  Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight pens and "can't get enough of them!"

The color just pops off that black paper, doesn't it?!


Cathy Cusson wrote ~

Great sting for this week! I also love the tangle drupe. I had gotten some new pens - sort of an ink pen variety to review on my blog so I decided to give them a go. I am not real happy with their performance for tangling, but I do love the colors. 

More color and there is just something pretty about a purple Drupe...

Deanna Spence sent this beauty~

A Drip Drop string line, layers of Dust Bunny, and detailed Dekore - what a wonderful tile!


Sharyn Penna said ~

It's sprinkling now, a far cry from tornado warnings with a black out. Our trees are beginning to show colors of fall. There's a saying in New England, if you don't like the weather, wait a minute and it'll change. My tile remix me of rain, snow, clearing skies and a once trusty, now inverted umbrella.
Instead of Drupe, I used Dracus (dubbed by Margaret Bremner when she combined Drupe and Fracus). It's always so much fun playing with the string thing prompts! 

How fun to use one of Margaret's tangleations along with her Dust Bunny.  Sparkle set off that tangle and the Dekore filled loop rises off the paper thanks to beautiful shading.


Sue Agnew wrote ~

I liked the way Dust Bunnies came out with kind of a Drupe flair, although I was hoping that shading the inside of the curve would make the scallops sort of "stand up" and I'm not sure they did. I also am not sure I like Drip Drop filled in jet black, but once you've started there's no going back. (I usually like my tiles better when I look at them the next day, anyway.)

Leave it to Sue to figure out a wonderful way to add sparkle to Dust Bunny! The jet black Drip Drop serves as just the right back drop for the double Bunnies.


Donna Flynn said this was really fun ~

Donna carried that Dust Bunny line around her tile too.  She also used Drupe interestingly as more of a background for the other tangles in the foreground and then added some dramatic color.



Audrie Weisenfelder writes from Arizona ~

...The weather here is still really hot. We've had some more Monsoon activity, bringing much needed rain; but it hasn't lowered the temperature much. It's 9:30 at night and still close to 90.
Anyway, here's my tile for the present String Thing. I almost didn't send it in, as I'm really not very happy with it...It's here on my blog

She goes on to say that she was not too pleased with her efforts and almost didn't send this in.  That would have been a shame because the rest of us would not have been able to enjoy her work.  Thank you for following through.  Perhaps someone reading this will be inspired to send their work in as well.
 Audrie's Drip Drop is light and lovely and Drupe, elongated on one side, gives the tangle a fabulous look.  Note, too the swirl of Dust Bunny with a trail.

Kia Richardson expressed similar sentiments ~

Here is my entry for It's a String Thing #57. I must say, it's not one of my favourite efforts, but it is what it is. I think this is the first time I've actually used the four suggested tangles, three of which I've never used before.

With positive results - and that is the only kind in Zentangle after all!  She learned three new tangles in the process and shared her work.  Now that is an accomplishment!


Margaret Bremner, CZT wrote ~

...I only used two of your suggested tangles. You'll see Drupe, which is a bit of a favorite, and Dekore, which was unfamiliar but has elements quite similar to Rosé (by Linda Farmer).

I found that little droplet hanging off the rest of the string a bit of a challenge so I filled in around it with more Drupe! Curiously, I began with the partial Drupe (three 'prongs' on the right) expecting to use more than two tangles.

Neighboring Drupes, if you will, and they play together so nicely.  Line, sparkle, shading, and the element of pleasant surprise - now that is a lovely tile.


Peggy Kohrmann wrote ~

Used a Zentangle tile for the first time this week and I love the surface. The shading seems to flow so much better on the tile too.
Drupe takes a lot of time but it may be a new favorite, I enjoyed blowing up the one portion.

The tiles are unparalleled when it comes to tangling - the Micron and pencil take to them so well.  Peggy demonstrates that here with pretty patterns and elegant shading.

Jenna Wheatman said that all of the tangles were new to her.  She is also masterful at weaving tangles together, so it may require some study to see that she did use all of them here ~

The Dust Bunny Drupe is a remarkable tangleation.  Line weight and shading add to its beauty.


And now, the tile for honors this week was submitted by
Jane Glotzer from Colorado ~

Jane has been earnestly working on her tangling and submitting tiles for about half a year now.  Each week she says she looks forward to learning from the other tanglers who send in their work as well.  This week, we have a few things to learn from her :)

She wrote ~

Well...2 Drupes, 2 Dekores, a bit of Dust Bunny and one little Drip Drop! I did my Drupes before I read your Tips for Tangling post, so as you can see, they have straight starting lines. I did try a couple of rounded ones on another page, but I ended up liking my straighter ones best, so that is what I am sending in...I certainly plan on rounding them in the future! :)

Dekore and Dust Bunny were both new to me, but how fun...I like the way the Dekore and the Drupe look so nice together and counter balance each other...great tangle selections, Adele, and I for one appreciated the more curvy string this time around!

Have a great week...as always, looking forward to the display on Monday...(very interested to see how others shaded Drupe and Dekore...)

Congratulations, Joan.  I have a little something coming in the mail for you.

Many thanks to all of the talented tanglers who sent in their tiles.
A huge thank you to the creative minds behind the string and tangles use this week ~

TanglePatterns String 056 by Jill Dobis
Drip Drop by CZT Debbie Perdue  (who first introduced me to Zentangle)
Dekore by Kari Shultz
Dust Bunny by CZT Margaret Bremner
Drupe by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts

Check back on Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #58!