"It's a String Thing" #70 Tiles

This week's string featured curved lines that tanglers either found a challenge or pleasure to use with the two festive patterns Verdigogh and Pauline's Pigtail (PP).  In either case, the joy of the season was evident.  Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from the UK's Jenna Wheatmann.
She said that she used PP "the same way" Verdigogh works ~

A close look and the tips of one branch taper like PP and the other squares off.  The thin mid lines, shading, and sparkled berries are striking.


Carmela said that she found it "difficult to fit in the patterns in the string."

She managed very well though and her tile includes beautiful renditions of the tangles.  She also posted it here on her blog.  

A very warm welcome to new CZT Kath Gregitis.  She wrote ~

When I started out, I thought the tangle would look more seasonal. However, it has been dreary and cold these past few days, and my tangle morphed into something "under the sea." I know the challenge asked for just Verdigogh and Pauline's Pigtail, but I thought a little Quipple...and color...was needed.

Kath created her own escape and it is a refreshing one - it brings to mind the tropics in this wintry season.  Note how the tipple she added to Verdigogh turned an evergreen into seaweed.


CZT Joan Delony wrote ~
I love drawing Verdigoh, although my version is more of a "long needle" pine...
I tried a couple of versions of combining Pauline's Pigtail with Verdigoh which you can read about on my blog. Ennies and color were added for a more festive look.

She wrapped her Zendala in Ennies and notice how she has Verdigogh spilling from PP.

Later in the week, Joan sent another vibrantly colored tile.  Her wispy rendition of Verdigogh is very elegant.

Cheryl Stocks sent a "seasonal entry based on the challenge"...

It is a sensational seasonal tile.  Notice how Cheryl tangled Verdigogh with short, thick lines and the difference that makes in the look of the pattern.


Lori Byerly said ~

When I first started working with verdigogh, I didn't like it much, but I'm starting to get the hang of it and I like it more and more. It's very organic and looks a lot like the trees here in the Northwest US.
My tile is also shown here.

Lori's Verdigogh has yet another fabulous look to it - thick needles with rounded ends and shaded ever so carefully.  The sprout of PP is a perfect compliment to it.  

Felicity Strohfeldt has reason to celebrate this week.  She is celebrating her 70th birthday with "It's a String Thing" #70 - talk about perfect timing!  She wrote ~

...What a lovely choice: Verdigogh and sweet Pauline’s Pigtail. Verdigogh is familiar, Pauline’s Pigtail is new, but the tangle is cute and exciting to tangle. To me both tangles suggest joy and celebration and this time I felt that a splash colour would work well in the artwork.

I’d also like to dedicate this tile to my family and friends, who will be sharing my special day with me, tomorrow.
Here the holiday season has begun, so here’s wishing you and all the other tanglers, happy holidays!

Felicity's tile shouts "joy and celebration" and for right reason!  Adding red berries on the ends of the Verdigogh needles is wonderful.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FELICITY!


Sharyn Penna said ~

Such a great choice of tangles to play with! Pauline's Pigtail has been on my to-do list of tangles ... it reminds me of spider plant babies ... my string turned into a base to contain them all.
Thank you for a joyful prompt! 

Verdigogh is thick and full and dabbled with berries.  PP does resemble a spider plant shoot and the idea that they are held in a container fashioned from the string line is very ingenious.


Kathryn White, despite the flu, sent in her tile this week ~

She tangled Verdigogh along the lines of the string and topped some off with PP.   Touches of gold add shine.  She also posted it  here on her blog.

She also posted her daughter Tonya Barlow's tile.   There Tonya wrote ~ 

The string looked like a window to me, and Pauline's Pigtail reminded me of Dr. Seuss. Here's looking through a real-world window into the Seussian fantasy land and a single Truffala tree.

Can you hear the people of Whoville singing?  That is magical.  The bold lines of the "window" frame the tangles beautifully.


Ilse Lukken said ~

Thank you for this festive challenge!
I was hesitating what surface to make black: the one under Pauline's Pigtail or the one under Verdigogh. I couldn't leave everything white, it felt I needed to put contrast in this tile. Finally, I decided to make the middle part black and do some shadowing over Pauline's Pigtail. Now that it's finished, I'm not sure if the black is too much of a weight over Pauline's (now squashed ;-) ) Pigtail. Luckily the last one still looks airy ;-)
The tile is on my blog as well.

PP does look very airy and the black space is a nice contrast.  It also makes Verdigogh stand out and even adds dimension to it.


Christine Forrester said ~

Thank you for this lovely challenge. I loved Pauline's ponytail......
I did it first in black and white and it just called for some Christmas glitter and some colour.
I really love it but the camera does not do it justice.

Both tiles are pretty in their own right.  In the first notice how Christine overlapped Verdigogh and even PP.  The glitter and color in her second tile is so very festive and bright.


Natasja Rijsbergen wrote, "What a beautiful and lovely tangle is your tangle Pauline's Pigtail.
This tile brings me in Christmas mood!!"

Natasja created a Christmas mood in her tile - PP ornaments and all!  They are just beautiful.  Notice the detail in her shading of Verdigogh  - she shaded under each overlapping line.

Ingrid Coventon said that for a "festive touch" she used "some color this time" ~

Ingrid's tile is festive and colorful and delicate.  The four PP in the corners and Verdigogh along the string create a beautifully balanced look.


CZT Judy Wanner wrote that she is getting "happier with ever so lightly drawing the string." She continued, "PP "wreath" takes up the center space and part of Vertigogh actually is on a string."

That is an accomplishment as we all know - to use the string as a suggestion.  Judy demonstrated that well here as she noted that Verdigogh is on the string and PP is tangled in the center space - and beautifully so!  The dots are a pretty addition.


Portia Hyde had a sense of that too, as she wrote: "Predictable, simple and I stopped because it felt right."

That is truly a festive tile.  Notice how Portia added dots to carry on the swirl of PP and her dramatic shading of Verdigogh is grand.



Sue Agnew said ~

Here's #70. It was an interesting challenge because Verdigogh and Pigtail are similar in the sense that they make use of the over/under thing. Because of the similarity, I wasn't sure they could play nicely together, but I think in this tile they at least show each other mutual respect.
I hadn't tried Pigtail before, so I did one just sort of randomly. Then, because I love precision and order, I drew a circle with a dot in the middle and sent out six equally spaced "leaves". And tried various permutations and combinations, but didn't like any of my experiments as much as my initial random one.

The two tangles play very well together - similar enough, yet different enough as Sue demonstrates so well here.  The continuous line of Verdigogh is very elegant.  Sparkle and delicate lines give PP an especially pretty look.

Janice L Johnson wrote~

Here is my tile for this week's challenge. I really liked the string, the tangles were a big challenge. I am not sure I did Pauline's Pigtail right. I like the look of the tangle but not my example of it. Verdigogh always gives me problems and I tend to avoid using it. Thank you for issuing this challenge and forcing me out of my comfort zone.

Janice describes timid approach  and she has a wonderful tile to show for it.  She has three variations of Verdigogh here and PP is just right!
An important reminder :) That is the response to any tangle: when drawn it is "right" just by virtue of the fact that you drew it and made it your own.


Susan Theron said ~

This was a difficult one! My verdigogh sometimes looks as if is needs a comb! But I did enjoy experimenting with the tangles. If you use your imagination: it is supposed to be a pillow box on a bed of verdigogh.

Susan tangled a lovely Verdigogh and notice how the berries broke away from it and filled the background.  She accented her string and border with soft shading and added twirls of PP.


Lily Moon found this to be more of a challenge for her.  She wrote ~

Here is my tile for your weekly challenge. This challenge was hardest for me because when I'm tangling I choose patterns of different structures about the best contrast. But these two tangles are is almost same construction.

Despite adding that she wasn't as pleased with the result - the result is very pleasing indeed.  Lily's PP in alternating corners are long and lanky. Splendid shading of Verdigogh gives the tangle such a different look and the white spaces and tipple are very striking.
Lily also posted her tile here on her blog.

From Peggy Kohrmann ~

I really liked both the tangles this week and enjoyed placing them. I will watch others and try to figure out how to shade and shadow these multi legged creations! Added a bit of color with the berries variation, it seems more holiday mode.

"Multi legged creations" - that is a wonderful description of these tangles.  Notice how Peggy tangled Verdigogh to fit the middle section.  By doing so, she gave the appearance that it grew into the space.


From Ragged Ray ~

I got very carried about with Pauline's Pigtail - it's such fun to draw. I put lots of them puffing out all over the present-shaped string. On a Verdigogh background. I think I started to go a bit crazy with all those little lines - so I followed up with a more stripped-back tile which I've posted on my blog .

She very cleverly created a thatched look with Verdigogh  in a grid.  Puffs of PP in bright red - what could be more fun?  Do check out her second tile by clicking the link above in her note.  It is a beautiful contrast.


Christiane Plate with wishes for a nice "3 Advent" wrote, "While listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas songs, those 2 tangles came out of the paper..."

Christmas songs for inspiration and two lovely tiles to show for it.  She captured the magic of the season with each one.


Elena Müller wrote ~

The challenge this week used two festive , delicate and beautiful patterns. Because the weather is sad and rainy with us , I decided to use a lot of color for my Tangle to get a better mood.

A tippled string line with PP in the center and Verdigogh sprouting underneath is playful and very fun.  This certainly would improve a mood!

CZT Sue Jacobs had a vision for the string line.  She wrote ~

It's been a busy week with all the holiday events. I had to carve out a little time to get this done. Of course I was thinking about the holidays when I was doing this so I visualized two glass ornaments where you could see through to the tree branches behind. Not sure if I achieved this but it was fun

Yes, she did achieve just that - and what fun she must have had.  Sue even added a lighter Verdigogh in the 'ornaments' as though you were seeing them through the glass as she noted.
Sue also posted her tile here on her blog.

AND now, the tile for honors this week was created by
Heike Mosebach from Germany ~

Heike Mosebach said that she "had to think of tillandsias during the drawing of the tile."  (They are much like the spider plant that Sharyn mentioned above.) 

Heike playfully tangled little Pauline's Pigtails springing from the larger ones and peeking from under the string line.  A very full Verdigogh curls along the lower string lines.  

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



Many thanks to all of you for sending in the absolutely beautiful and festive tangles this week.

Thank you to the creative minds behind the string line and patterns this week ~
Beth Snoderly via TanglePatterns for String 073
Maria Thomas for Verdigogh
and many thanks for learning and enjoying my Pauline's Pigtail.

Stop back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #71 !