Tickled To Tangle: "It's a String Thing" #118 Tiles

This week's challenge celebrated all things odd. It proved to be more than just a relaxing and amusing exercise in tangling however.

I usually post the tiles and notes in the order they arrive, but this week I begin with one I just received yesterday.

As we mourned and prayed for the people of France, our friend Elisa sent her tile from Paris with this eloquent, determined, and hope filled note entitled "I Love Paris" ~

From an oddity, November 13, 2015 turned out to be a tragedy, here in Paris where I live.
At first, I thought I would send you a black tile, as drawing anything did not seem adequate.
But then, I told myself: "No, this is what terrorists are seeking: frighten us to a point where we can't find joy and peace in our lives anymore." So, as an answer to barbarity, I finally decided to take your challenge and use it as a way to share my hope and trust in peace.

Our tangled community shares in your hope and trust in all that is good. Thank you, Elisa, for your beautiful tribute to peace. May God bless and keep you.

I had to pause for some time after reading Elisa's note. It brought tears to my eyes along with renewed hope to my heart. Here's to a collective deep breath before we read on...

From Cathy Cusson ~

And were you reading Odd Thomas as you relaxed before doing our challenge? I really had some fun with this and as always it was a much needed break from school work - which seems to just pile up.

Tangled Tidbits -
*aura-ed Ahh finished in Afterglo fashion
*Acrosstick centered Afterglo

From CZT Tabitha (Quebec, Canada) ~

It's been several months since I've picked up my pen to draw, though I watch your emails go by and wished I remembered every week! Lol I am blessed to currently be accompanying my husband on a business trip to Portugal, and found myself with the right head space to draw. :) It's not my best-ever, but I like it anyway. Feels tropical, like the sunny, seaside place that I am in!
Have a great week!

Tangled Tidbits -
*stripes and detail lines for Afterglo
*center crossed lines repeat in all three tangles

From Joanne Faherty (United Kingdom) ~

Here's my its a string thing 118. When I woke up and looked at the new weeks challenge I was like umm where's it going to go, didn't know acrosstick not sure it will feature in many of my works but I changed one row of diamonds into circles and liked it better. After I finished I thought it was quite wintery I guess that's the afterglo and ahh looking like snowflakes, so I decided to colour it ,afterglo didnt quite go to plan , I used inktense pencils and keep forgetting once there wet that's pretty much where it is staying.
Oh and I added a few black pearls at the last minute just counted them and there are 17 so still in the odd theme. I'll attach a before shading/colouring for fun this one transformed quite a bit.

Tangled Tidbits -

*tangles run to the edge of the tile

*sparkle, shading, and black add great depth

From Sarah (Michigan) and on her blog ~

I used two of the tangles to try out. Wanted to do something I hadn't tried before. Worked out kind of fun with the squares and the string!

Tangled Tidbits -

*Acrosstick moves from black to white

*Afterglo grid blends with Acrosstick

A very warm welcome to Kate (United Kingdom) ~

Hope this gets to you. I'm new to zentangle and this is my first
challenge response - I've really enjoyed it. Thank you!

Tangled Tidbits -

*shaded grid lines of Acrosstick

*little perfs repeat in Afterglo and Ahh

From Sara (Western Australia) ~

Here's my tile... it was a bit tough to come up with a design this week. I ended up placing the Afterglos along the string line.

Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous layers of tangles
*lage grid for Acrosstick

From Anita (Dalarna, Sweden) ~

Hi! Here comes my entry this week featuring string 017! I loved to work with this string. But I had some troubles with Acrossticks! I didn´t expect that when I first tried it but to give it a shape with this string was something else! But here comes the result!

Tangled Tidbits -
*swirled Afterglo
*black, sparkled perfs repeat in Ahh, Acrosstick, and on the border

From Juul (France) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*Ahh bursts from Afterglo
*Acrosstick morphs into flower pots - so very clever

From Sandra (Germany) and on her blog ~

here is my tile for your wonderful String Thing Challenge :-)
I chose Afterglo and Ahh and if you look closely you can "find" the string ;-)

Tangled Tidbits -

*repeated star shapes of Afterglo
*wonderful shading

From CZT Lucy Banta (New Jersey) ~

Greetings from your state of Florida! I've been in Orlando all week for a training conference and am now sitting on the runway, delays back into Newark. Perfect to get in your weekly challenge, bumpy lines and all

Thanks for the opportunity. Love the trash bin you tangled!

Tangled Tidbits -
*string line flares into a burst of Ahh
*dark centers of Acrosstick

From Tina Kirchhübel (Germany) ~

The last weeks I didn't found the time to tangle and I miss it. But this week I accept the challenge again. I tried to use all three tangles and used a bit of colour and here is the result.
Thank you, Adele for the great challenge and I send you greatings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -

*great depth created with Afterglo

*Ahh covered string line

From CZT midori (Florida) ~

...recently, i have been going back to basics. as a starter, rendering on the fabriano toothed tiles, to conform to the string (though not necessary) and to stroke each tangle to its original essence and inspirit it with shading. i enjoyed practicing these tangles. and, for me, it is 'perfs, when in doubt.'

Tangled Tidbits -

*simply beautiful lines

*perfs, perfs, and more pretty perfs - along the string line and in each tangle

From Deb Jacob (Tichigan, Wisconsin) ~

... I added Mr.E to your trio -thought it fit well. Enjoy!

Tangled Tidbits -

*dark diamonds of Acrosstick

*Afterglo morphs into Mr E

From Jennifer Sparrow (North Carolina) ~

Where has the week gone? I know YOU've been busy restocking your lovely frames! What a festive red bow they have!
Thanks, as always, for this week's challenge. I was not familiar with Acrosstick. (It's funny how I loved grids when I started tangling and now I shy away from them!) I enjoyed using it in this tile. I think it helped to give myself ample room and just keep a straight grid.
I always learn something when I do your challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -

*shaded string line

*center of Acrosstick finished in four different ways

From Lori Byerly (Washington) and on her blog ~

I so enjoy your challenges. You always have a creative edge and being "odd" this week was a lot of fun. Bless you for all you do to build the Zentangle community.

Tangled Tidbits -

*tangle grids follow the string curves

*lovely dark and light contrasts

From Jenny Hopkins (Australia) ~

Thank you for a wonderfully "odd" challenge. Some would say that it suits me perfectly.

Tangled Tidbits -

*comparable scale of all three tangles

*varying sizes of Afterglo

From Lily Moon (Hungary) with a "zenhug" ~

Tangled Tidbits -

*glorious combination of brown, black, and white

*center burst of Afterglo

From Karin (Germany) ~

this is my entry to no. 118. I tangled it on friday the 13th
I really enjoyed tangling “Afterglo” which I never used before and I was really surprised how long it took. But I wanted to make it orderly. “Acrosstick" was new to me too. I like those symmetrical patterns!
Congratulations to your trash can. It looks so wonderful! It´s almost too pretty to put rubbish in it!

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful shading
*sparkled perf topped Ahh

From Beth Gaughan (North Carolina) ~

Here is my tile for this week. I didn't get to finish a tile last week using your beautiful new tangle Sand. So I added some Sand to this tile.

Tanlged Tidbits -

*Sand and Acrosstick work well together

*Ahh and Afterglo compliment each other

From Ingrid (The Netherlands) with "lots of love" ~

Tangled Tidbits -

*black diamonds of Acrosstick

*wonderful shading

From Toby (Chicago, Illinois) ~

Tangled Tidbits -

*Acrosstick border

*shaded Ahh string line shaded bring to mind the Milky Way

From Simone Sass (Germany) ~

thanks for that great challenge! Brilliant idea!
When I saw the string and the the pattern my first thought was – interesting, a very organic string and pretty geometric pattern. But I liked the idea to have the contrast between this organic string and the geometric pattern. I had no idea how that could work out –fortunatily I could free my mind and not thinking about it! So I just started tangling Afterglo. When I finished Afterglo the Ahh’s wanted to dance on the string – Ahhhh! – now I had my patterns following the string. Tangleing Acrosstick on the bottom gives Ahh a nice dancefloor. I think my patterns are happy now – and so am I ! You can also find my tile on my blog
Looking forward to the next String Thing.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Ahh string line
*single center Afterglo and wonderful shading throughout

From Jane Glotzer (Colorado) ~

Loved the trash can! I did a hubcap a while ago for an art show celebrating all things auto...
For this week's challenge, I ended up with Afterglo, Afterglo, Ahh...pretty simple, airy and sweet...looked kind of wintry (even though it's sunny and beautiful around here) so I added the chilly ice blue color at the end...something wonky happening where my Afterglos meet up, but, I'm not going to get too hung up about that--:)
Have a great week...
Thanks for all you do...

plain jane design...anything but plain

Tangled Tidbits -
*shading adds wonderful dimension
*alternating colored center sections of Afterglo

From The Creative Miss L and on her blog ~

My tip for doing these challenges - do a couple of drafts first in your sketch pad. This helps when faced with new Tangles or strings.

Tangled Tidbits -

*just a touch of color accents the tangles

*shaded string line and shaded circles around Ahh

From Sue Agnew (Arizona) ~

When I was experimenting with Acrosstick the inner squares with X in them reminded me of a tangle in Sandy Bartholomew's alphabet tangle book ... Pinch. Using different shading for each of the triangles formed by the X makes them look like faces on a raised surface. The effect worked better when I was doing it on a regular grid in my sketchbook ... the distortions caused by following the string sort of mask the illusion. Anyway, it was fun to remember an "old friend."

Tangled Tidbits -
*one large swirl of Afterglo that embodies Ahh and Acrosstick
* touch of black balances the lighter lined spaces

From Jackie Becker (Seattle, Washington) ~

I actually started with this week's string and put the Ahh on the intersection. After that, the string totally got lost.

Tangled Tidbits -

*Ahh centered Afterglo

*shading and black background add drama to Afterglo

From Pat (Ohio) ~

This was tough! I struggled with Acrossticks and with fitting the patterns into this string. But I enjoy learning new patterns, and welcome your challenges. Thanks.

Tangled Tidbits -

*alternating line lengths of Ahh

*super shading

From Becky Welty (North Carolina) ~

Tangled Tidbits -

*alternating light and dark perfs of Ahh

*layers of Afterglo

*soft shading

From Linda Goncalves (Pennsylvania) ~

I really love both Acrosstick and
Afterglow. Of course, as usual, I need much more practice with both. I
am thankful to have these challenges each week and appreciate the work
you put into them.

Tangled Tidbits -
*lovely dark diamonds of Acrosstick
*center shading in Afterglo
(photographed on a Tickled to Tangle frame :)

From Elspeth (Pinedale, Wyoming) ~

I love Aah, but I am not sure I made friends with Acrosstick or Afterglo. But I loved the challenge! I love seeing all the variations that tanglers come up with. So inspiring!

Tangled Tidbits -
*aura-ed string section of Acrosstick
*string line of delicate Ahh

From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

Odd week out, eh? Fitting, as I am usually odd and out of it most weeks anyway.
Tuesday arrives, and I refresh, refresh, refresh until the new challenge is posted. I draw the string and patterns in my sketch book and wait for the brain cogs to start spinning. Then I reach for my pen. Amazing. (I'm so easily entertained.)
So...Tile #1 is tangled to the string, but once it was finished I liked the balance better quarter turn counter-clockwise. Tile #2 I just wanted to see if I could integrate all three patterns into one design, no string involved. And I'm loving Afterglo. It's one of those patterns like Frost Flowers that is just all too fun to get lost in and if you're not careful it creeps off the tile and onto every other surface around. A new keeper for my repertoire.

The whole process of Zentangle and the String Challenge tickles me to pieces. 'Thank you' are words too little for the gratitude I feel having both in my life.

Tangled Tidbits -
*charming words for Afterglo
*Ahh and Afterglo make wonderful companions
*light and dark variations of Acrosstick

Tangled Tidbits -
*masterful combination of the tangles - Ahh center morphs into Afterglo filled Acrosstick

From Susan Theron (South Africa) and on her blog ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*shaded string line defines the space for each of the three tangles
*wonderful shading

From Felicity (South Africa) and on her blog ~

I love your sophisticated waste paper bucket and of course your frame gifts are magnificent.
Your “ODD” challenge was a great one. Enjoyed the zentrip. Afterglo took some practice, Ahh was great as usual and Acrossticks relatively easy to do. The challenge was the blending of them together.
I’ve called my effort “The Secret Garden” after the well-known children’s story. Afterglo reminds me of magical flowers and Ahh is such a happy one that I’ve used it as a creeper of starry flowers.
Acrossticks crept in at the back and looks like a fancy wrought iron gate one would open to enter the garden.

Tangled Tidbits -
*charming description and tie in to that memorable story
*Ahh string line
*gorgeous line work

From Wanda Amarose (Virginia) ~

I've sent two tiles, which are very much alike. Practice, practice, practice!!!!! I think this weeks string, includes tangles which look very much like snowflakes. And being a true blooded Canadian ( Newfoundlander at that!!!!), I love anything to do with snow!!!!

Tangled Tidbits -
*snow-like Afterglo and Ahh
*ribbon-like string lines

From smgg (Taiwan) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*one large Afterglo
*dark diamonds on dense Acrosstic compliment the lighter Ahh

And now, the tile for honors this week was sent in by
Bhamathi of Bangalore, India!

She wrote ~

Firstly, My congratulations to you,your family and the newly-weds..
It was a really an 'ODD' challenge and I had fun doing it. If you count the no.of times I used each pattern, you will find I used odd numbers. I used 9 squares in Acrosstick, 5 of Afterglo and 15 of Ahh.
Don't forget to check the date at the bottom of the tile. I waited until Friday to do the tile just so that I could sign that date!! ;)
Also, Thanks a lot for sharing those great tips on how to shade Afterglo and Ahh!!

(And here on her blog )