"It's a String Thing" #72 Tiles

This was a wonderfully happy week - Christmas celebrations and the anticipation of the New Year - all topped off with a bit of tangled fun with a beautiful string and two festive tangles.
Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Carmela who wrote ~

...To me it looks like a heart and i loved it.
Mooka and Uncorked are also beautiful and favorite patterns, but freestyle is with these patterns easier.
I made a few variations of the patterns and for the contrast i made the background black.
Then i used some shadow and i enjoyed it very much.
Christmas greetings...
[on]My blog

The dark background makes the tangles stand out and highlights the many variations of the patterns Carmela beautifully tangled.


CZT Kath Gregitis said, "I just purchased a set of six colored Sakura pens, so I thought I add some red."

Christmas ornaments come to mind with Kath's delicate tangles and red accents.


Lori Byerly said, "...I used a couple of tangleations of uncorked - one lashed down and the other free floating. You can also find my tile here

Merry Christmas"

Lori tethered the large arc of Uncorked, anchoring them to the lower corners.  That is a fabulous idea.  Notice how the dark undersides of those lines mimic the "free floating" tangles in the corners.

Cat Trask wrote ~

This weeks challenge was a blast! I really enjoy both MOOKA and UNCORKED!
I thought I would try it on some tan paper. I think it turned out pretty good for a first effort.

Yes, it is very good for a first, second, third - or any effort :)  Cat's pretty patterns, shaded and highlighted, have a glow about them.  Notice how she shaded with many fine cross-hatch lines in Mooka.



Sandra, along with Christmas greetings from Germany, said ~

I just wanted to calm down a bit in these christmas days and so I tangled a tile for your challenge :-) I always wanted to try Uncorked but I didn't use it before and Mooka is one of my favourite pattern. So it was a great pleasure to tangle this tile.
I posted it to my blog too.

This is bold and delicate at the same time.  The dark spaces, delicate loops, and perfs dancing freely all add to the festive look.


Audrie Wiesenfelder wrote ~

Belated Merry Christmas, and Best Wishes for a Healthy, Happy, Peaceful New Year.
...here's my response to this week's String Thing; a little on the simple side, but I like it...the link to my blog:

It is marvelously simple and elegant.  Audrie morphed the two tanlges together and notice that she darkened Uncorked and added weight to one side of her Mooka lines.


Ilse Lukken sent Merry Christmas greetings and wrote ~

Mooka and Uncorked are two well-known patterns, that I don't seem to use very often. So, it took me a little time to figure out how to put these in string 072. The result doesn't look as balanced as I wanted, but it was a nice excercise!

Ilse struck a nice balance of dark and light, especially with the heavy black sections around the perfs of Uncorked.


Jane Glotzer sent wishes for a "very happy new year" along with her entry.  She added,

"Mooka and Uncorked were fun, celebratory tangles to work with this week (and so celebratory that some "champagne" bubbles just bubbled right out of the top of the tile!) I had no idea where the challenge would take me this time, and I was actually surprised with where I ended up! I got to this point and while I wanted to add some more Uncorked somewhere, the tile told me it was done! So very zentangly..."

Yes, it is so very "zentangly".  I cannot add much more to Jane's wonderful description except to say that I agree, it is celebratory!  Happy New Year!

Lily Moon sent lovely wishes for a "wonderful and joyful" Christmas and "good health and a very happy New Year."  She used tan paper for this tile and posted it here on her blog ~

Lily's Mooka and Uncorked are just fabulous.  In addition, the way that she aura-ed on either side is the most wonderful idea.  Notice how she used brown, white, and black and then shaded and highlighted the area.  Could you just picture an entire tile completed that way?  What a marvelous touch.

Natasja Rijsbergen said, "This is a great challenge. I love both tangles... And both tangles were new for me. I will use mooka in more of my drawings.  I wish you all the best for 2015!"

That is a gratifying comment as one of the goals of these challenges is to learn and use tangles that you might not otherwise try.   Mooka is not an easy one to grasp and Natasja clearly enjoyed this tangle.  Her drops of red with just a bit of sparkle add to the fun!


From Beverly ~

Beverly darkened the string lines and unfurled the tangles from there - beautiful lines of Uncorked and Mooka with shaded accents.

CZT Kathryn Crane-Thielen wrote ~

This challenge was quick and fun but I had to work at it. Since you mentioned about the holidays being in full swing and with Christmas over, I decided to add some zing with gold sparkle to bring in the New Year. I incorporated the 2 tangles, Mooka and Uncorked together.

Kathryn's Mooka and Uncorked intertwine and sparkle with the gold accents she added.  Happy New Year!


Heike Mosebach said that she liked the two tangles so much that she drew two tiles ~

That doubles our pleasure, doesn't it?
It looks as though she effortlessly blended the two tangles together and enjoyed the process.

From Ingrid Coventon ~

It was a great pleasure to draw this tile. I love Mooka and Uncorked. I used the string upside down, because I was attracted by the heart shape. I hope you can still imagine the stringline. Although you can't see it, it is still there.
I started with the center Uncorked. Then for Mooka I started on the left of the heart shape and went on to the right, and back to the left and again to the right and so on. At last I drew the smaller Mooka's on the very left and right side of the tile after I drew the smaller Uncorked on both sides of the center one.
I wish you all tanglers around the world a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.

That is a New Year's celebration!  Ingrid's description of her process in tangling this helps when viewing her masterpiece.  The dark spaces are perfect for complimenting her wonderful variations of the tangles.


Portia Hyde sent in two of the three tiles she completed and explains ~

Attached are first and third tile. #1 is pretty heavy duty, #2 was dark and stormy and I went for light and airy on #3.
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year.

Heavy...perhaps she was referring to her shading and dark lines.  Striking is an alternate description.  Notice her fabulous fanned black lines - straight on the sides and curved in Uncorked.

This is light and airy and very pretty.


Kathryn White sent "Blessings for the new year" along with her tile.  She also posted it here on her blog.

What a wispy, wonderful Mooka she tangled - and the perfs along one side of each Uncorked arc are just lovely.  

Sharyn Penna said ~

This prompt was so soothing after all the holiday prepping and celebrations. I just cozied up and tangled away.
Wishing all a happy new year!

Sharyn's tile is soothing to behold.  She and Mooka are good friends and that shines through in her piece.  The three large Uncorked are so very pretty in the foreground.


Lucy Banta, CZT, wtote ~

Here's my Mooka and Uncorked challenge this week. I love these two tangles, and wish I had more time to be creative in weaving them together. Maybe in the new year
Thank you and here's the link to my blog post.
Happy New Year!

That is very creative - a pleasant blend of the tow tangles and beautiful shading.


From Birthday Girl, Sue Agnew ~

I just used Uncorked, because I've never been able to bond with Mooka. I'm uncomfortable with its ambiguity (moebius-ness?) ... I think last time it was used in a challenge I removed the ambiguity by drawing it more like Uncorked with the bottoms joined. I suppose it would be good discipline to work with it, but today is my birthday so I can do what I want.
In this one, I was trying to use the fine lines to indicate shadowing, rather than using the white areas to indicate highlights. In retrospect, I think small areas of "sparkle" are much more effective ... but I didn't want to redraw it or risk messing it up by trying to fill in more fine lines.
I was also taken by your variation where you put ovals in the negative space. When I very first started Zentangle I was in love with pearls (used to do Onamoto all the time), so it was fun to "return to my roots" by doing one with pronounced negative space and pearls filling it.

Because it is her birthday - and because it is Zentangle - Sue can do whatever she wants :)
And what she did is just fabulous..the perfs, the dark spaces, the fine lines, the interwoven arcs.  She "did the tangle proud!"


CZT Joan Delony said ~

I drew this tile about 5 different ways. I really like drawing Uncorked and Mooka. This is the first of the 5. I can't say it's my favorite because I am happy with them all. You can see the others on my blog.

Joan's appreciation of the tangles shows in her tile.  The string line is visible and wonderfully accented by the lovely patterns.  Be sure to check out her blog to see the others she completed.


Susan Theron sent a note of thanks and wishes for a Happy New Year with her tile ~

Susan's Mooka is long and graceful.  She added an elegant balance with two variations of Uncorked.

Elena Müller wrote ~

Here is my tile for this challenge. I'm not sure if I have the pattern Uncorked strictly followed; my intention was to give it a three-dimensional effect. It was fun.
I wish you and the other tanglers a Happy New Year.

Elena's Uncorked does have a dimensional effect especially with the sparkle that she added.  Her Mooka compliments it very well.

Felicity Strohfeldt sent "compliments of the season" and added ~

 I enjoyed getting to grips with these two tangles and getting some practice doing them. As you can see I turned the string around, as this is the time of friendship and love and the string tugged at my heartstrings.
Here’s wishing you and yours a prosperous and happy 2015. Looking forward to the challenges 2015.

Notice what she did with the tangles.  Felicity added Uncorked to the ends of her Mooka loops - what a wonderful idea.  She made some arcs dark and added deep shading - great touches.




And now, the tile for honors this week was sent in from northern Germany near the Baltic Sea.

Congratulations,  Henrike Bratz!  


Henrike has been very busy with creative endeavors and short on time - she wrote,

I was so very busy producing and selling straw stars, I had hardly any time for tangling. But now there has come the time to relax and I did your string thing #72. I called my tile “follow your heart” which seems to be a good motto for 2015!!!

It is an excellent motto and an excellent accompanying tile.  The deep dark background makes her tangles pop and they are just beautiful.  Just look at the details in each of her Mooka strokes.   She tucked Uncorked here and there in various sizes and topped both tangles off with tipple.

 Henrike also sent last week's tile - much too pretty not to post ~

I have a little something coming in the mail to you, Henrike.

Many thanks to all of you for making time to send in your wonderful work in the midst of the Christmas season.

Thank you to TanglePatterns for String 072 by CZT Rita Nikolajeva and to Maria Thomas for the marvelous Mooka.
I am happy to know that my beloved pattern Uncorked provided enjoyment.

I wish you all the happiest and healthiest of New Years.

Stop by Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #73!