"It's a String Thing" #88 Tiles

It was "all about the eights" this week.  We used an 88 inspired string and four tangles with similar shapes to the numeral 8.  Let's take a look at the fabulous results ~


The first tile arrived from the Netherlands' Carmela with "lovely greets" ~

Thanks for this not so easy challenge, but i made it!
See it here. 

Tangled Tidbits -
*8's along the string's curved sections with weighted lines
*wonderful aura

A very warm welcome to Dolores Baker.  She wrote, "Attached is my first attempt at this wonderful idea! Thanks so much for organizing this!"

Tangled Tidbits -
*aura-ed string lines
*light and dark areas around Tipz
*nice variations of Pia

Another very warm welcome, this time to Beth Broadway ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*changes in line direction for Pia in each of the string's loops
*terrific curves of Tipz




From Sarah Antoinette (and here on her blog) ~

Had fun with this one and felt good I used both tangles and learned a lot too. Thank you!

Tangled Tidbits -
*orbs of Tipz
*wonderful back drop of Pia

From Talia Maynard ~

What a fun string! And surprisingly difficult to fill. I tried a simple interpretation and used lots of black space. I hope everyone thinks it works!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*stark light and dark spaces work beautifully
*sensational shading
*elegant look to the tangles

From Cheryl Stocks ~

When I first looked at the challenge this week, I thought it would be pretty straightforward--the 8s in the string would be 8s and Tipz would fit right in...The tile was having none of that! I chose the 8s Parte Dos, which required my keenest concentration. I chose Canson's light grey drawing paper, a nice dense 250g weight, which slowed me down and a nearly dried out Sharpie, which I managed to coax some life.
All in all, this one caused me to take my time and focus, which I REALLY needed to do today!
On my blog too!

Tangled Tidbits -
*circles for 8's - how fun!
*elegant shading
*touches of darker spaces and lines add wonderful balance





From Christina Luis~

As usual your challenges push me out of my comfort zone. But I had fun with it.
Here it is.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*detailed Tipz
*pleasing contrast between the smaller tangles in the background and the larger loops of Pia


From Susan Theron~

We live in a country [South Africa] of load shedding and has to do what you can while there are electricity! Here is my contribution and also on my blog.

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautifully shaded background of 8's
*nice light and dark balance for the two string loops
*line directions changes for Pia


From Annie Taylor ~

A lovely string and some of my favourite tangles, especially Tipz - can you tell??
I really enjoyed the process (even though my tile isn't one of my best ones.) If I only had a few more hours in the day, I'd give it another go but, heyho, I don't! As always, I look forward to seeing the different ways that my fellow tanglers tackle the challenge and thank you for finding something fun for us to do every week.
It's a glorious sunny day today here in southern Spain and I send you the cheeriest of greetings.

Tangled Tidbits -
*oodles and oodles of  terrific Tipz
*just a peek at Pia
*sensational shading


From Bhamathi Pai ~

Thanks for introducing me to 2 new tangle patterns!
Pia was easy to pick up and I think it's a great filler pattern. But Tipz was what I enjoyed the most!!
And your daughters did a splendid job on the String too.
I have attached my tile.
[Blog link]

Tangled Tidbits -
*Tipz in two directions
*lovely lines of Pia
*bubbles of beautiful 8's

From Ragged Ray ~

I felt drawn to work with just one tangle this week - Pia. I love the way it invites so many variations on a simple theme. Mine came out with the string looking a bit like linked dewdrops reflecting a different pattern behind. And it was only when I finished my shading that I remembered watching a television drama earlier this week about the early scientific breakthroughs using DNA to solve crimes. And I realised how like that helix at the centre of all life this tangle was!

Tangled Tidbits -
*a marvelous monotangle of Pia
*shading sets off the string loops
*variations of Pia that come to life as the tangle passes through the string loops


From Audrie Wiesenfelder~

 The string your daughters came up with is quite nice, and I liked 2 out of the 3 tangle patterns. But 8's has never been 1 that I'm especially fond of; I can never get it to look the way I would like it to look. So I decided to skip it, and just use Pia and Tipz. But after I finished my tile, I decided to give 8's a try. So I just added a little bit of it to the original tile, and it's not too bad. I'm including both tiles, and they can also be found on my blog.

Tangled Tidbits -
*It is a treat to see both versions.
*the string used as Pia - very clever
*super shading



From Traci~

...Love these tangles and the string. They kind of look like lamps or ornaments...

Tangled Tidbits -
*white background accentuates the tangled loops
*wonderful variations of the tangles
*bold contrasts



Our community grows with another warm welcome for Bobbie Hayes.  She is a self taught tangler from northern California.  She wrote,

...  we don't have CZTs available so I'm doing this "alone" with the help of books and the internet. I'd like to get into a community of people doing Zentangle...
This type of challenge seems fun. It gets me to use both strings and zentangle patterns that I haven't used before...

I admire Bobbie's dedication to learn tangling on her own, as many of my readers do who do not live near a CZT.  What lovely work!

Tangled Tidbits -
*great shading and detail lines of Pia
*lovely loops of Tipz and 8's



From Ilse Lukken~

The 8-strings sort of disappeared in my tile ;-) I chose to only use Tipz and Pia - and loved to create this tile.
You can find it on my blog as well.

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautiful black space around Tipz brings out the tangle's details
*terrific detail lines in Pia


From Jane Glotzer ~

I didn't want to miss this week's fun string to celebrate your 88 weeks, but I had a pretty busy week myself......So, I decided to do my string thing in my tangle calendar this week, so my piece would be a bit smaller and I could get it done. Didn't have time to explore and figure out 8s--what a cool pattern, though--so many interesting variations...Did use Pia and Tipz...my Tipz turned into an interesting swirly tangleation that I love...Added a few CO2s to my background (as I missed string thing #86 when you used that pattern) and voila! a fun, easily filled box.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Jane's resourceful determination is to be admired :)
*elongated Tipz
*jewel-like variation of Tipz


From Ingrid Coventon ~

A very nice string and new tangle patterns. I drew the pattern 8's free hand, because drawing in the dotted grid caused for some problems. I like how the tile turned out.
Many greetings from The Netherlands. Spring arrived, but we still have a very cold wind.

Tangled Tidbits -
*tremendous tanglation of Pia - aura, bold stripes
*great shading of 8's
*lovely loops of Tipz


From Daniel Lamothe ~

What a journey! This started out as a bit of a I-don't-like-this-where-is-this-going tile, but I convinced myself to continue and am sooo-oo-o-o glad I did! It was a ton of fun to draw - I love love love Tipz - and I think the result is definitely one of my better tiles. I did end up using 8's Parte Dos since it makes so much more sense to my brain - but hey, we'll just call it one of the many tangleations here. Thanks so much for an awesome challenge!
P.S. You can see more of my art at my blog, 

Tangled Tidbits -
*Daniel described the reward of pushing through doubt when tangling and embracing the process.  As a result, he created one of his "better tiles" and was clearly satisfied with his result.  Thank you for the story Daniel!
*gorgeous tangleations
*wonderfully shaded spaces


A fourth warm welcome this week -yay!- this time to first time contributor and brand new CZT, Tabitha from Montreal, Quebec, Canada ~

I have been admiring your work and enjoying your blog for some time, but only today finally actually managed a tile on time! lol I am fresh from CZT #18, and don't want to lose my groove. :)
I dispensed with the lower half of the right string to have enough room for getting a grip on 8's, which was a bit of a mind-bender... Thus the Bronx Cheer! lol But in the end I like it, and I'll try 8's (and Pia and Tipz) again, all of which were new to me. I added Tipple to Pia because who doesn't like Tipple? And I felt that all that black would be too flat.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Strings are 'suggestions' as Tabitha reminds us.  It was so much better for her to follow the tangle (8's) rather than the given string line
*terrific Tipple in Pia
*a loop of Tipz accented with Tipz - very clever

From Portia Hyde ~

Finally have some spring weather! Took time out from enjoying the weather to tangle.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Tipz between the string loops
*orbs of 8's - great idea to shade alternate sections
*rows of Pia, so neat and tidy

From Sue Agnew~

I really like 8's but wasn't able to find a way to work it with this particular string line ... but I enjoyed getting to know Pia and Tipz. Tipz kept reminding me of tunnels so I kind of went with a "dark hole" and contour lines in the hopes of capturing that effect. I tend to not like solid black, so I filled Pia with lines instead, and now it looks kind of line-ey ... oh well.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Those lines of Tipz add wonderful dimension.
*fabulous effect created by the tangles without a visible string line
*sparkle for Pia


From Emily Shelton (and here on her blog) ~

Nice challenge - your kids did good!! Can't say the same about me and the Tipz. Kept losing focus!

Tangled Tidbits -
*sparkled lines of Pia
*super shading of 8's
*loopy Tipz


From Annemarie ~

Thanks for another Sting Thing! I really 'needed' it because last night I was really overwhelmed by news items on TV, that I wasn't watching (my husband was) but 'had' to hear and started tangling ST 88. Headphone on and there was the 88 string and soon I felt better (as always when you tangle). After finishing and putting my signature under it, I turned it and like it a lot better. So, my string is not the way you gave it to us :-)
I only used Pia and Tipz because that was enough in this tile I think.

Tangled Tidbits -
*I included Annemarie's note as it reminds us that tanlging is a wonderful retreat from the troubles of the world - personal or worldly.
*aura for the string
*a border of Pia and Tipz
*great shading


From Felicity Strohfeldt ~

Jane’s 8’s proved rather a challenge, so I left it to a fairly, simple last. Pia and Tipz were great to do and worked well with the combination, Grandma and Grandchildren’s String. Overall balloonzy, floating, decorative result. Enjoyed! My blog 

Tangled Tidbits - 

*fabulous variations of the tangles
*Pia emanating from a point(top right) adds great depth
*beautiful 8's background




From Cathy Cusson ~

I love this string!! I didn't think I would at first - was pretty sure I wouldn't but was I wrong! I had planned to use 8's along with the other two, but liked it so much without I changed my mind. Great challenge this week, Adele! 

Tangled Tidbits -
*pretty curves of Pia
*sections of Tipz shaded for definition



AND now, the tile for honors this week was sent in by
Lily Moon of Hungary ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*curved detail lines of Pia give the tangle a fascinating new look
*sensational sparkle and perfs for Pia
*double lines and shading for 8's

Congratulations Lily!


Thank you to everyone for sending in your wonderful tiles this week.

Many thanks to the creative minds behind the tangles we used with my daughters' string ~

8's by Jane Eileen Malone, CZT   
Pia by Margaret Bremner, CZT    
Tipz by Faith Cohen


Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #89!