"It's a String Thing" #105 Tiles

The tiles from this week are just fabulous, but before we take a look, here are two tiles that were late to arrive last week.  They were just too pretty to pass up, so here is a little continuation of last week's birthday celebration.

From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) ~

And from Jane Glotzer (Colorado) ~

Thank you again to everyone for the good wishes and congratulations over the past week.

Now, let's take a look at the tiles for the beginning of our third year of "It's a String Thing" ~

The first tile arrived from Anna (Spain) ~

One more week, i was looking forward for your weekly challenge.
However, this time it's been hard for me to figure out how to draw these 4 patterns into this string¡
Finally, I don't dislike too much... ;)

Tangled Tidbits -
*bold lines of Undo
*perfs and a pop of red for X-cess
*fabulous shading of Daviso section adds depth 

From Hungrycorgistudio and Sarah!

The string was a lot of fun. It was indeed a challenge to do Daviso in grid form in rounded strings! I'm happy to have done this one with great new tangles.

Tangled Tidbits -
*X-cess stretches around the top corner
*Daviso grid runs through the three string sections
*black dots string together X-cess


From CZT Joan Delony (Florida) ~

I really like drawing Undo. It looks like wood to me..this the brown Micron. Enjoy!

Tangled Tidbits -
*brown Micron along with shading gives Undo a wooden look
*wonderful shading of Daviso
*great balance of tangles

From Tina Kirchhübel ~

This week the challenge was very difficult again. I had something in mind but the finished tile is completely different.
Thank you for your new wonderful challenge and all the time you spend to read all our mails and post the tiles with your inspiring comments.

Tangled Tidbits -
*colorful Dicso joined with perfs
*shadows of X-cess 

*shading in each white section of Daviso


From Juul (France) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*small grid for background of Daviso
*larger grid for the center string section
*three pronged centers of a pretty Dicso variation


From Joanne Faherty (U.K.) ~

Love this weeks tangles you have picked. Having trouble with daviso ( I just struggle with grid patterns esp. If they need to line up!) so this week I've made 2 tiles I like both so I thought id send both in. First is the green one done with green micron and Green coloured pencil for shading.next one is the black and graphite shading with a tiny hint of daviso kind of reminds me of shells now in this one .

Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous white space topped with Daviso
*deeply shaded Undo
*Disco flowers


From Ragged Ray ~

So last week we used candles as our string...
... and this week the lights went out. I name this tile - Storm in a Coffee Cup. Woke up to find the milk had gone bad, so had to have black coffee instead of my usual tea. Then I found myself trying to tangle in a thunderstorm - low light, heavy rain, flashes of lightning, rumbles of thunder - nothing like you get in Florida I'm sure but quite wild for here. And I think all that had an impact on my tile. It's very dark and brooding and very busy. But that's the fun of letting it take you where it will!

Tangled Tidbits -
*such a wonderful description of the mood and atmosphere surrounding the tangles
*delightfully detailed patterns
*square of white space accents the tangles - and notice that it is shaded on the top and left and brighter on the left side and bottom


Anita A Westin (Sweden) ~

I had much fun with these patterns. I haven´t used them before, but I find them very nice and I will sure work with them again! Daviso went straight into my soul! Thank you for a wonderful challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
*elongated Dicso string sections
*X-cess border - notice that the corners are halves
*tightly tangled Undo with random darker lines

From Beverly G ~

All new to me tangles and I'm going to need some more practice on these. I'm calling this tile a fun one, but done and dusted.
Thanks to Adele for all her hard work in making sure the fun carries on.
Here's my link:

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderfully wavy Undo
*dotted lines connect X-ess
*bold Daviso adds weight to the tile

From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

I call Tile #1 "I'm Fixing A Hole Where The Rain Gets In, being a knot of Undu wood which has fallen out, showing the Daviso floor tiles below (and donchaknow I couldn't get the song out of my head). Dicso reminded me so much of those Chinese Lantern flowers, especially when the outer skin falls off and leaves only a frame, that flower lanterns to paper lanterns seemed to be ... duh. In Tile #2 I "cut" through the marquise shapes and "rolled" the side back, exposing Daviso printed on the underside and Undu paper below.

I am completely undone by Undu. Love it, love it, love it. One 9" x 12" page full was almost better than cloud watching. While some sections looked like wood (ergo tile #1) and some parts -pale, whispy and marbleized- reminded me of end papers used in old books (tile #2), turning the page around I had landscapes, cityscapes, and all manner ofthings. And don't even get me started on the chaos of birthing universes and the convolution of L.A. freeways ...

One portion was so twisty-turny on itself it was virtually labyrinthine ... and so of course I had to draw a labyrinth, thinking of Daniel all the while (and let's talk about needing to concentrate).

Very, very fun and inspiring. You've done it again, Adele.

Tangled Tidbits -
*X-ess Dicso lantern hanger :)
*thick black string line to frame Daviso

*an Aquafleur effect for X-cess
*aura-ed corners of Dicso

Marla is the one who has done it again!


From Jessie Plouffe (Connecticut) ~

Here is my role for this week's challenge. I used X-Ess and Disco in
the 'Flames' of the string and used Undu in the remaining areas. I
decided not to use Daviso this week, as I have not yet been able to
draw it well.

Tangled Tidbits -
*X-cess center, tippled and shaded
*tipple accents on Dicso
*striped and sparkled Undo with contrasting white space

Lisa Preston (Traffic City, I mean, Atlanta, GA) ~

I call this "How to Kill Time During Traffic." No, I wasn't driving, but I literally couldn't get out of the vicinity of my workplace last night and had to cool my heels for an hour at the local Barnes and Noble. Traffic in Atlanta is typically horrible on the way home, but last night it was truly abysmal. Another reason to be grateful for Zentangle! Instead of having steam coming out of my ears in the car, I spent a very pleasant hour drawing.
I have to admit, I found this challenge - challenging. I was not clear on how these tangles went together or how they would work with the string. I finally did something I'm happy with, but I am very curious to see how everyone else's brains worked for this one!

Tangled Tidbits -
*something we can all relate to, traffic and the calming effect of tangling!
*three string sections of Daviso - notice how they are shaded
*little puffs of Dicso
*fine lined Undo is a pleasing contrast to the bold Daviso


From Beth Gaughan (NC) ~

Here is my tile for this week's challenge. I normally really like grid patterns but I found Daviso to be tricky. Still, the tile was a lot of fun to put together and to color.

Tangled Tidbits -
*bold Daviso background
*curvy and colorful Undo
*one happy little Dicso

Jennifer Sparrow (North Carolina) ~

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's challenge. I started by playing around with the four tangles and the string, and liked the result! (I confess: I had a plan in mind but decided to play first! Lesson learned: play, don't plan!) I have posted the results on my blog along with the link to your challenge and my caveat!

Tangled Tidbits -
*play prevails!
*Daviso flows into Undo
*rows of Dicso spill over and cascade with X-cess


From Rose O Keeffe (Ireland) ~

Greetings from Ireland :-) Lots of new tangles in this weeks challenge for me so thank you for that :-) I struggled once again with the string lol but I guess that's the challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
*Twisted Rope border for the outer string sections
*striped and sparkled Undo
*sparkled X-ess - note the shading that highlights the white spaces



From Ilse Lukken ~

Here's my entry for this week, nice challenge again!
I chose to use all four suggested patterns: Daviso, Undu, Dicso and X-ess. The last two appear in a black variation at my tile, I thought it would look nicer in this composition.
It's on my blog as well

Tangled Tidbits - 

*wonderful shading defines the tangles and string
*bold tangles contrast with the white spaces
*all black Dicso

From Deb Jacob (Wisconcin) ~

Good Morning Adele, what a fun challenge. I loved these new tangles.

Tangled Tidbits -
*delicate outer tangles contrast with the bold Daviso
*aura-ed and stippled Dicso
*X-ess topped Dicso

From Talia Maynard (UK) ~

Here's my tile for String 105. I really enjoyed these new tangles, especially Undu, which is really fun to draw, and happily doesn't require any forward planning or precision! The whole tile just seemed to flow with no thinking at all which was a great feeling.

Tangled Tidbits -
*"no forward planning or precision" - a wonderful description and experience!
*Daviso shaded along the vertical grid lines creates a curved look
*varying sizes of very pretty Dicso

From Cathy Cusson ~

Another fantastic challenge! I used x-ess and undo. I meant to add in the others, but they just didn't seem to work. 

Tangled Tidbits -
*X-ess string sections that taper off
*Undo in brown
*soft shading

From Ingrid Coventon (The Netherlands) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*intermingled Dicso and X-ess with stippled background
*beautiful flow of Undo
*swatch of geometric Daviso through the center of the tile



From Linda Bladen (UK) ~

Have attached my tile for this week's challenge. Found myself doing two tiles. These tangles were all new to me and initially I couldn't see how I could get them to gel together. My first tile backed that up big time So I wrote it off as practice for the tangles and had another go with a completely different starting point.

Tangled Tidbits ~

*clever morphing of X-ess and Dicso
*elegant shading
*Undo spaces of a Daviso grid


From Sidney Kapinos (Virginia) ~

This was a fun challenge. All four tangles were new to me. It is always good to try new ones!
My entry for this week's challenge is attached. Looking forward to seeing the results as always!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Dicso and X-ess free floating
*Undo center sections
*Daviso shaded along the diagonal grid lines for depth


From Jenny Hopkins (Australia) ~

What great way to herald in the third year of your wonderful challenges! While all of the tangles were interesting this week, I think it is Undu that stopped me becoming undone. It is such a relaxing tangle...one which just flows off the pen. And I love your radiant Sooflowers!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*another nod for the soothing Undo - notice it is shaded around the centers
*two large and layered  Dicso
*shaded background for X-ess


From Michele Wynne ~

Thank you for yet another challenging challenge;-) I was very excited to get this one going. I love the string and patterns. Grand plans were stirring about but didn't all fall into the groove I was hoping for. This is my second attempt, much improved over the first. It's all here on my blog.

Tangled Tidbits -
*X-ess stretches over and outward from the string sections
*Dicso with pearlz, sparkled and shining
*stipple, sparkle, shading - superb


From Audrie Weisenfelder (Arizona) ~

Thanks for using one of my favorite strings Although at first I wasn't so sure how compatible it was with the patterns you chose. But once I got started, it all fell into place, and I'm pretty happy with the results.The link to my blog is here: Purple Butterfly

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautifully shaded Dicso.
*backdrop of Daviso and curvy tangles for the string sections
*X-ess filled string section - notice the diamond shapes on either side

A very warm welcome to Carol Cyr (Connecticut) ~

I am new to the more "formal" tangle. This is my first post

Tangled Tidbits -
*bold X-ess and daintier little ones
*dangling Dicso along the string lines
*dark centers of Undo


From Portia Hyde ~

A bit of an optical illusion.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*fabulous Daviso shaded to appear curved

*wavy Undo

*complimentary lines of X-ess and Dicso

From Linda Gonclaves ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*"I spy" Radiant Sooflowers - how fun!
*Dicso and X-ess on strings
*curved grid for Daviso


From Susan Theron (South Africa) ~

My contribution and also on my blog:. I struggled with this challenge and tried a few variations before coming up with this. Sorry Daniel for not using your tangle!
(and a late congratulation with your challenge running for 2 years)

Tangled Tidbits - 

*intertwining X-ess
*pops of bright Dicso
*just a touch of the grid of Daviso

From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) ~

Hope you’re well. Here on the west coast we are going into beautiful, sunny Spring days, but every now and then Winter waves her icy hand and we freeze. The town is covered in white daisies that bloom on the open plots and along many sidewalks; Its quite a sight. The west coast own special type of snow.
To get to tile 105. Lovely string 105 by Barbara Finwall. Tangle patterns? Hmmm! I ‘m definitely [slow] when it comes to geometric ,griddy patterns, Davisco by Kate Crommet gave me nighmares. Eventually I mastered it as a backdrop to the other patterns. Disco by Mina(Ping-Ming) Hsiao is absolutely charming and I became carried away. X-ess by Susie Achter was good, but I chose to use it sparingly. Undu by Daniel Lamonthe fitted well between the : ) spear shapes. I decided to “disco” on a black background reminding me of something? Oh yes! A Night club, and flashing colourful lights. So I introduced some playful colours. It took some pondering but in the end I happy with the result. Also on my blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*a cheerful pop of color, accentuated by the black background
*curved ends of X-ess
*marvelous details in Disco


From Sharyn Penna ~

I don't know if it was the string or the tangles but it all came together in what seamed like minutes Thursday night. Loved all the tangles and they just work together like a happy souffle! Thank you for prompts that always inspire. 

Tangled Tidbits -
*Tippled Daviso, an ingenious take on the tangle
*perfs aura the string line and meld into Undo
*Dicso flowers



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

Elisa from Paris, France!

She wrote ~

Here is my tile for your string challenge 105. All patterns were new to me! I struggled at first with the Daviso pattern: good thing I practiced it a little before doing my tile. I love the Undu one and had lots of fun drawing the Dicso variations.

Tangled Tidbits -
*center burst of Dicso that tapers into floating ones
*black and shaded centers of Undo sections
*alternating black and white sections and rows of X-cess with a shaded background

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

Many thanks to the creative minds behind the string and tangles we used ~

TanglePatterns String 105 by Barbra Finwall

Daviso CZT Katie Crommett

Dicso  CZT Mina (Ping-Min) Hsiao
X-ess by Susie Achter
Undu by Daniel Lamothe

Check back on Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #106!