Tickled To Tangle: "It's a String Thing" #98 Tiles

This week we explored some very summery tangles and tucked them into a curvy looped string. My newest tangle Mel Mel was included and what a treat it has been to see one beautiful tile after another come through.
Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Sarah Antoinette (Michigan) ~

I really just became so enamored with the tangle Mel Mel, I felt 'she' didn't need to share the stage with any other tangle besides Whiffles. My version of Mel Mel is quite rough at this point but fits my love of all things horticulture by being so ambiguous in what she can or could be.
She's a plant I would want in my garden to have wander about and self seed amongst the other flowers and weave herself between all the other garden flowers. Thanks for the tangle!
[my blog]

Tangled Tidbits -
*a purple garden of Mel Mel
*the tangles 'grow' out of the border line

From Juul (France) ~

Your "mel mel" looked so much like big tangle-fun that I threw myself on it immediately!!!
I really love it a lot and I could find another 100 variations .....
Congratulations to this new "baby"

Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous Mel Mel variations - and I would love to see the other 100!
*string lines of Cruffle and Curl
*note the amazing effect line thickness gives to Cruffle

From Jessie Plouffe ~

... Here is a rather simple tile featuring all three Tangles (and the string is somewhere in there too!) I'm loving the Mel Mel.

Tangled Tidbits -
*note the single loops of Mel Mel
*one large Cruffle along with a cluster of them
*detailed variation of Mel Mel

From Beth Broadway ~

Here is my submission for #99. Need to practice your Mel Mel more..seems to want 5 petals not 6. First time using all 3 patterns.

Tangled Tidbits -
*it does work well with five loops
*string line of shaded Cruffle
*pretty Curl

From CZT Kath G (New Jersey) ~

I haven't submitted anything since April, so I thought it was about time I did.
I really liked Cruffle, Curl was okay, but Mel Mel really got away from me. It morphed into something unknown. Something seemed to be missing, and then I remembered the sage advice I gleaned from the workshops, "When in doubt, aura." So I did.

Tangled Tidbits -
*star-like Mel Mel
*string of Cruffle
*lovely aura

From Lynne Harvey (California) ~

These challenges are great as they are helping me learn new patterns! This week I like them all! Cruffle has the opportunity for many variations (I used two). I found Curl to be quick, easy, and fills in nicely. Mel Mel is awesome! For me, I still need a little practice, but know I will use it again. I made it large, but think it would look good smaller too. It has a lot of embellishing possibilities, several that I incorporated. This one was fun and I look forward to seeing the others!
My blog link

Tangled Tidbits -

*beautifully shaded Mel Mel
*Curl repeats in Mel Mel
*loops of Cruffle

From Catherine Wells (England) ~

Having had a bit of a break from Tangles I suddenly started to tangle again last week and can't stop now! I remembered having joined in with some of the previous Its a string thing challenges so thought I had would have a go at the latest one.
I really enjoyed this challenge as I do like tangles that are more botanical and organic rather than the jazzy geometric types.I sat yesterday afternoon tangling away looking out into my garden and ,as it was actually quite warm and balmy for a change,smelling the lovely perfume of the roses, mock orange and honeysuckle.This is the result.I used all of the suggested tangles and added a bit of Knightsbridge and some perfs......the string is in there somewhere.

Tangled Tidbits -

*Catherine's description of her tangling time sounds so relaxing
*fabulous variation of Mel Mel with Knightsbridge and perfs
*curly coils

From Sandra (Germany) ~

thanks for a wonderful challenge :-) I decided to turn the string upside-down for tangling and I loved the patterns this week.
My result is a bit busy in my eyes, but I had fun to tangle it :-)
In my blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*cluster of Cruffle is light and airy
*highlights for Mel Mel
*Raindotty accents

From Kai (England) ~

I really enjoyed this week. Your tangle pattern flows from the pen so easily I ended up using it in three areas of the string. I expect I shall use it a lot in the future, whereas Curl I struggled with. I put most of my thoughts about this challenge in a post on my blog , so here is my tile for this week.

Tangled Tidbits -

*pretty stems of Mel Mel
*variation in sizes of Cruffle
*nice pop of black space for Cruffle

From Cathy Cusson ~

After playing a while with these 3 tangles, I really found myself enjoying them. I am not sure that curls looks exactly like it should or any of them for that matter, lol! But it was a challenging bit of fun. Odd, how these 3 seemingly simple tangles can give me the most fits?! Believe it or not, the string is there . . . just really lost.

Tangled Tidbits -

*perfect description of a string - "lost"
*creative touch to blend Cruffle and Mel Mel and Curl
*pretty shading

From Ilse Lukken (The Netherlands) ~

Lovely pattern, Mel Mel! I tried to combine it with Cruffle and Curl in String 90. Nice way to get to know three new patterns.
I put the tile on my blog as well

Tangled Tidbits -

*each section of the string is treated individually - from light to shaded to black
*lovely variations of Mel Mel
*Cruffle border and triangle

From Beth Gaughan ~

Here's this week's challenge. Thanks for the fun!

Tangled Tidbits -
*Cruffle pushes passed the string line loop and gives a scalloped edge
*Mel Mel with aura and wonderful details
*pleasing mix of patterns

Audrie Weisenfelder (Arizona) said she completed her tile while on a visit "back home" and "it turned out to be kind of fun...It's on my blog "

Tangled Tidbits -
*marvelous minimal use of the tangles
*great white space
*varied line width

From Ingrid Coventon (The Netherlands) ~

It was such pleasure to draw your new tangle Mel Mel.
When I tried to incorporate the small upper loop in Mel Mel, I made a mistake and forgot to create an inner space. To make the loops of Mel Mel a little more balanced I shall have to practice a bit more. To honour your new tangle and summertime I made a colourful tile this time.

Tangled Tidbits -

*no mistake - a creative opportunity with wonderful results!
*outstanding variations of Mel Mel - details galore
*concentration of Cruffle with a few 'floating off'
*Curl spins into three Mel Mel

From Karin (Germany) ~

this week I needed two attempts to be satisfied… I think the first tile got a bit too dark. The second one is more lightly. I hope you receive many nice tiles containing variations of your new pattern.
Greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful contrast from the first to the second tile
*light and airy Mel Mel
*various sizes of Cruffle push past the string loop and shine with black behind them

From Becky Gentry (Florida) ~

So happy to get back to tangling!
As I was learning the tangles this week I was thinking that Cruffle was not going to be a favorite to draw. But I decided to focus on the chaos factor and found that I enjoyed the freedom of just putting them along the string wherever I wanted. And I love the whimsy of Curl and your Mel Mel and they work perfectly together. Overall a fun whimsical tile. Thank you for providing these challenges each week and forWednesday's Words of Wisdom, I look forward to seeing your beautiful and inspirational work!

Tangled Tidbits ~
*superb shading
*details for Mel Mel - tipple, lines, aura
*Curl-filled spaces

From Alexandra Henrich (Germany) ~

here comes my entry for this week's challenge - it turned out somewhat girlishly pink I have to admit... ;-)
Can't wait to see what all the other tanglers made of all those lovely flowers and tendrils!

Tangled Tidbits -
*a very pretty pink touch
*Mel Mel 'grows' from Curl
*simple and sweet line of Cruffle

From Michele Wynne (California) ~

Here's #98. I loved this challenge because it was both fun and frustrating. The best challenges are. I had a heck of a time getting Mel Mel to cooperate. It looked so simple, yet...story of my tangling life:-) I just had to give into the organic turn it wanted to take and I'm happy with the way this turned out. It's also here on my blog.Thank you for all that you do!

Tangled Tidbits -

*line thickness and shading add great interest - love the bit of border as well
*Cruffle-d Mel Mel
*Cruffle tucked into Curl

From Ann K (Denmark) ~

Popping by your site for the mail and I just realized that I missed a line in the string when I drew it!
But I guess it doesn't really matter as I did not follow it much this time.
As you can see I'm in a spring kinda mood - it's all flowers here. And a cruffle-curl butterfly wanted in too.
Thanks for the challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -

*elongated Cruffle topped Mel Mel
*super sparkle and shading
*Curl vines tipped with Cruffle
*sweet Cruffle butterfly

From Becky Welty ~

This weeks challenge was fun. I really enjoyed the flow of the string. It worked well for the stems of Mel Mel. I tried to shade the string so you could tell where it was. Thank you so much for each weeks challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful idea to use Mel Mel along the string line - and shading makes it very eye catching
*four corners of large Cruffle
*alternating dark and sparkled perfs with Cruffle

From Sally Sheldon ~

This was a challenge! I did not expect to use cruffle as a grid but it was the only way I could use mel mel and curl with it. I was surprised at what happened!

Tangled Tidbits -
* a very fun result!
*great dark spaces in the centers of Cruffle and Mel Mel
*smaller dangling Cruffles

A very warm welcome to Linda Goncalves ~

All of these were new to me. It felt that it would be too "busy" for
my taste, so I made MelMel bigger. I am not quite satisfied with the
light to dark balance. ( I would probably make
some bits darker next time)

Tangled Tidbits -

*Cruffle-d Mel Mel
*circles for Curl
*lovely darkened stems of Mel Mel

From Sue Agnew (Arizona) ~

I really enjoyed the chance to mess around with Mel Mel. Actually, to be honest, I didn't get around to doing last week's string because I was messing around with Mel Mel. I'm still not "best friends" with the area between the "petals" ... haven't quite decided how I like to do that part. I found it easier to draw small, spaced "petals" and then aura them to make the "flower," so that meant I went over the joining line a couple of times. When I added a "leaf" it reminded me so much of Curl that I used it in that way. Cruffle is one of my favorites. I've never used it to fill an area (always use it like beads in a string), so I spent a lot of energy debating whether the "yin/yang" line should be parallel from one circle to the next or random. I finally decided to make it parallel until the circles started rolling away from the clump.
Thank you ... for Tickled to Tangle and especially this week for Mel Mel!

Tangled Tidbits -
*fabulously sparkled Mel Mel
*wonderful study of Cruffle and its yin/yang orientation - both are fabulous
*morphing of Curl and Mel Mel

Sue followed up her email with another note and this photo ~

This is one of my Christmas candles (battery operated) that I haven't put away because I like the way they look on the hearth ... anyway, my boyfriend and I were sitting listening to music this evening and watching them flicker and I suddenly realized the pattern is Curl.

How fun!

From K Bish ~

Enclosed please find my newest Tangle "Fairy Garden". This was a very fun tangle you can kinda guess that I had fun by my flowers. Took my inner child all of about 3 seconds and color was on board. CURL I had found not long ago and it became one of my instant favorites. Cruffle is always fun. And as for MEL MEL, what a fun tangle - it did take me a moment to get the hang of it but when I did, I just had a blast!

Tangled Tidbits -
*contagious enthusiasm!
*colorful 'garden' of Mel Mel
*lovely lines for Cruffle

From Jenny Hopkins (Australia) ~

Congratulations on your upcoming centenary - a fantastic achievement.
I have had fun working on the challenges but somehow never to manage to send them. I can't seem to get my head around the time difference and always end up late. I enjoyed this challenge but it always wanted to be on black paper. It gives a very different feel to those on white paper and I just went with the flow.
Of course, in this part of the world (Australia) it is winter, so flowers and summer fun are just a memory for now!
Thanks for all you do.

Tangled Tidbits -

*simple and elegant lines for the tangles
*dainty dots for Mel Mel
*large aura-ed spaces

From Susan Theron (South Africa) ~

My contribution. I like all the tangles and had a fun time doing this. I will just have to practice MelMel more. On my blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*Mel Mel cluster springs from Curl
*loops of large Cruffle
*wonderful shading

From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

I just love your new tangle, but I think I need more play time before I'm satisfied. Since my week got away from me, I just jumped in and drew without asking myself ... do I make my loops right to left or left to right ... do I draw the pattern right side up or upside down ... Where's my comfort zone? I'll be playing with this tangle a lot this summer! Hope Mel Mel makes a return to your prompts!

Tangled Tidbits ~
*Cruffle clusters bubble up from the tile
*Cruffle aura-ed on one side gives an airy touch
*light and lovely Curl and Mel Mel

From Joanne Hawes (United Kingdom) ~

Love your new tangle Mel Mel :) it's very pretty filled the inside of mine with tipple to hide the 'non' circle bit in the middle they may take a bit more practise. But I nearly ran out of time on this one, so rushed it quickly. Hope it gets to you in the time limit?. Curl is fun too I think that shall get use again :). Also on my blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*tipple in Mel Mel - so pretty
*pretty bunches of Mel Mel wonderfully shaded
*variations of Cruffle - in size and detail

From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) ~

...thank you for the lovely Mel Mel. I tangled away using your original method as the focus of my tile. Then I decided on embellishing the rest and came up with the cruffled Mel Mel. This worked very well.
Also one I call “ let’s go to town” Mel Mel. The result was lacy and delicate so I left it black and white to emphasize the artistic impact of your lovely new zentangle pattern. Further I think Curl is ideal for all the curly foliage, but I added some original Curl to the two lower corners right at the end of my effort. This was a wonderful challenge. My Blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*brilliant variations of Mel Mel - tipple, sparkle, curls, perfs, shading...
*Curl corners
*soft shading

And now...the tile for honors this week was sent in by

Marla Mendenhall !
Marla's witty note made me laugh and her tiles were just fabulous. From Marla ~

Once again - or should I say twice again, given this is my second string challenge - your inspired combinations of patterns and string design were gray-matter boggling.
My first tangle tangos turned out a bit more like a Dancing With The Stars performance of Gregory Hines and Charo - both wearing toe shoes - contorting to a salsa rendition ofOver The Rainbow. Not a pretty sight. (BTW Ruined tiles make great Frisbees for cats, apparently.) But my pens would not be stilled, and I soon had one tile which conformed precisely to the string, one which morphed of its own volition (from the "wallpaper" pattern I used on the first), and one which I'm certain was channeled from a tangler on Alpha Centauri.
This is all too fun. Thank you giving me something more to look forward to than Seinfeld reruns. (Sad, isn't it?)