"It's a String Thing" #60 Tiles

This week we used Diane Sexton's string line and four tangles that begin with the letter 'X'.
The results are eXceptional.  Let's take a look ~


The first tile arrived all the way from Hungary.  This is Lily Moon's ~

Note how she wrapped Xplode around the rounded string line and shaded in the space to give it dimension.  Each line of that tangle is shaded and the shading on Xav is fabulous.  The little white dots are a very nice touch.


Lori Byerly said ~

It always amazes me how some patterns at first glance don't seem to go together well, but with a bit of doodling and creative thinking it all seems to work out. Actually, some of my favorite tiles come from your challenges. :)
My tile can also be seen here.

And they are some of ours as well.  Lori tangled Xav so creatively and she made Xplode look simply elegant.  Hats off to her sumptuous shading!

Carmela said that she had a challenge of making a "nice combination" with these tangles and as a result "All the patterns are standing lose in the tile."  She added, "On my blog you can see it also"

It is refreshing, as Carmela put it, to see all the patterns standing alone.  Sometimes that lends itself to a greater appreciation of the patterns themselves.  She included four  lovely variations of Xeni along her border.  

Colette Horsburgh said, "Oops. I got so excited by the string, I forgot to look for the rules about which tangles to use."

She tangled white on black and although the patterns are not the specific ones for the challenge, Colette made the string shine through in her tile.

Joya wrote, "Here's my tile for the actual String-Thing-challenge. I also posted it on my blog."

Shaded Xav, wonderful details on X, a string line of Xeni, and beautiful bursts of Xplode, all wrapped up in a border of perfs.  This is a really lovely mix of the tangles.  

Sharyn Penna said ~

New tangles, every one of them, so I wanted to use them all. I really like the look of Lila's X tangle, but I need to play with it more before I decide if I like working with it. The other three x-tangles I just loved.

They way Sharyn shaded this makes it look as though it could be picked up off the page and the texture felt.  She included a great tangleation of Xav, a curvy Xplode, and Xeni with stripes and sparkle - so very creative.

Sherrill Herron returned with this pretty piece ~

She said that all of the tangles were new to her.  She got to know them well and paired them with other tangles for clever combinations.  

Ingrid Coventon sent her tile along with a metaphor for life ~

In the attachment my tile for ST#60. I must have had one of my lesser days because I am not happy with the result. It is a very restless one. There is no focus point, so the eye keeps wandering over the tile... But as with bad days, unfortunately they are part of our lives, we have to deal with them and face them. That's why I still send this tile.

Such is the benefit of tangling.  It reflects our moods, days, times in our lives - a true form of expression.  It captures a moment in time.  I applaud Ingrid for sharing her tile along with her note. The acceptance of a more difficult time/day reflected in a tile does not take away from the beauty of the work - very much like the silver lining in every cloud.  

It is very possible that at second glance, or perhaps the next day when Ingrid revisited her tile, she may have found beauty where it escaped her eye before.  It is a striking tile - stark contrasts of white and black, waves of Xav, tangleations of Xeni, and shading of Xplode.


Annemarie said that she found this one "quite difficult" and wrote about it here on her blog.

When she was finished with it she sprayed some ink on it to "brighten it up."  Xav along the string line is very nice as is the aura on Xeni and X.  Note her extra triangles around Xplode too.  

From "sunny France" Juul sent this ~

She mentioned a lack of energy this week and found the string and tangles difficult to work together.  In good humor she added, "That's why it's called "challenge" isn't it?"

Juul drew delightful tangles and the free floating X is a very nice touch.  

Susan Theron wrote, "As always I enjoyed making this." 

And it shows in her happy tile.  Note how she shaded around the perimeter of Xplode and what a very different look that little detail gives the pattern.


From Lucy Banta ~

She said that she was anxious to see how others positioned the tangles and sent along the link for her blog post.
A field of Xav, orbs of X, and the Xplode popping from the corners  - Lucy's lovely details.

Cathy Cusson wrote, "I kept this string somewhat "loose". I couldn't decide whether to add more or just keep it light, in the end light won out."

Cathy's shading accents the tangles and adds to the airy feel of her pretty tile.

Kelly Rickert said~

This tangle was a blessed relief from studying for my upcoming midterms in grad school :/
I have never used any of these tangle patterns before. So I decided to see if I could use all of them. I left out the lines on the Xav because I liked the way it reminded me of a twisty skyscraper :)

Xav does - especially the way Kelly tangled it in a cube-like manner.  Xplode behind X is fabulous.

Sue Agnew wrote ~

I kind of corrupted the string in this one ... and I kind of corrupted Xavier's tangle (please don't tell him!). It was just that I was in the mood to make circles. I didn't expect to like Xplode, but I did! I practiced but didn't master making those curvy cursive Xs for Xeni, so I gave up on it (for now).

Now, that is not a corruption of Xav - that is a terrific tangleation with Sue's signature sparkle.  The white space is wonderful too.

Cat Trask wrote ~

I did two for this weeks challenge. I was only going to send one,
but then I thought maybe you should choose which one better fits this weeks challenge.
This was the first time I've tried using black paper, and I'm not really happy with that one.
I don't know how to "shade" on black paper for one thing.
I think it's time for me to find a teacher. There is so much to learn.

 Applause to Cat for working on black.  It is a very different process and she managed very well.  And as she intimated - there is not substitute for finding a CZT and taking a class, or two, or three!

On her white tile, the detail lines of X and Xeni shine - as does Xav as the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon - so well done!

Janice Johnson said ~

Here is my entry for this week. I decided to do a single component of Xeni and XAV with Xplode in the interior of the tile. I actually ended up doing two Xeni images and they ended up looking spirally to me.

Yes, Xeni sprirals in a spectacular way as Janice tangled it here.  She added aura, varied the thickness of her lines, and topped it off with lovely shading.  Note her sparkle on Xav and how she left the triangles on Xplode light.  

Peggy Kohrmann wrote ~

I love that we had X this week and had some great tangles to learn.
I think one of the things I like best was the many variations that were available on each tangle. X was difficult to make work, but I liked the variations, so it finally came together. Your tangle Xav was the only one that I had done before, so I had fun reminding myself of it. I felt like Xplode was an automatic line that was difficult not to put everywhere. I may have found yet another favorite. The Xeni tangle had so many looks that it was difficult to know which one that I wanted to use. Since this turned into a chain look, I added another chain so that it looks a bit more grounded.
Shading and open space helped finish out the tile. 

Yes to all of the above!  Peggy's partial Xplode peeks out from the corner of Xav and it is strikingly simple - and very complimentary to the other beautifully detailed tangles.


From Ilse Lukken ~

Isle's tangles and lovely lines are accented by that wonderful white space.

Kristen Kostelnik Killips sent a note with a very exciting idea.  She organized a "Meetup" - a group of fellow tangle enthusiasts that 'met' through their common interest via the website by the same name.  She wrote ~

We finally had our meetup, 5 ladies including me. 3 out of the 5 of us completed the challenge and we took one picture to share with you. It was really nice to share the experience with others and see how we all approached it a bit differently.
Here is our compilation! Also on my blog .

This could be a whole new way to participate in the challenge - a sort of book club idea, but for tanglers working on "It's a String Thing".  That is very exciting!

The results are wonderful and so delightfully different.

Marita said ~

I used only three of the four tangles. It felt finished and somehow made me think of a kite. The kids also thought it was a kind of kite!
Thanks for your inspiration and greetings from the Netherlands!

That is a nice image - and that the kids agreed is fun too.  Marita also put her white space to work as it accents her very pretty tangles.

Joan Delony said that after a long five days of not tangling, this is just what she needed ~

It looks like a welcome back celebration - vibrant color, explosions of Xplode and a lone lovely Xav - fabulous!  She also posted it here on her blog.  

And now, the tangle for honors this week was submitted by Arizona's 

Jane Glotzer!

Her explanation of her tangling process was so informative, that I include it here ~

Well...whew...this one gave me a whole mess of heartache--:) but in the end I am really very pleased with what became my third!! attempt at this week's challenge...
I first started by doing the entire "background" with Xav...but when done, I decided there was just way too much going on...but I did get a really good feel for your fun pattern...
Second version had smaller, multiple Xavs in the "balloon" shape in the upper left corner and I thought the X in the circle would be next, but then I didn't like the scale of my Xav, so I began #3 (good thing I started early this week!!)
LOVE the X inside the circle...started there...boy that pattern creates some fabulous things when you least expect it to, and I'm sure there will be many variations...the examples with the auras in the spaces were very cool, but mine were small and tight, so I just darkened in the triangles creating all the cool stars...
More mental struggle ensued...what to put in the other spaces? Had tried a bunch of things already! Nothing seemed like it would fit...but somehow I got onto the idea of deconstructing the auraed Xplode for the middle area and liked how the orb "overlapped" it..."ok, now this is starting to come together" and then I thought I'd try one giant Xav for the balloon, and even though you don't get the cool circles that form when you have multiples, I ending up really liking that too!
Lastly, decided on some simple Xplodes coming from the corners, a bit of shading and voila! what was so hard about that? :)

Jane's description of her process as well as her finished piece are so well thought out that adding my own would take away from it.  The key to her journey is in her opening sentence - in the end she was really pleased with it.  That is pure Zentangle joy :)

Congratulations, Jane.  I will send off a little something in the mail to you.

Many thanks to all the talented tanglers for sharing your work for us to learn from and be inspired by.

Thank you to Diane Sexton via TanglePatterns for her string and to the artists behind our 'X' patterns in addition to my Xav ~

X by Lila Popcheff
Xplode by Margaret McKerihan
Xeni by Jacqueline Janssen