"It's a String Thing" #138 Tiles

Happy Monday!

There is a gift, as Ragged Ray once said,  in the "never ending warmth of a shared passion."
I've felt it most especially this week as the emails and tiles poured in covered in my new tangle, Citrus.

Tanglers were challenged to create a Citrus monotangle with an option to add additional patterns.
My goodness, I was totally touched and amazed by the endless variations and wonderful responses. When others take a tangle and make it their own, it is a joy to see the results.

Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Christine King (Kansas) ~

I hope I didn’t stray too far from the instructions. I wasn’t sure where I was going with this one, so I simply let it grow. Tangles include citrus, hurry, maryhill, squid, and zinger.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Hurry and Citrus mingle and morph into the other tangles
*beautiful butterflies


From Sandra (Germany) and here on her blog ~

many thanks for this nice challenge :-) I like your new tangle and I had fun to use it as a string and fill the sections with other patterns. I used Paradox, Tipple, Hollibaugh and Knightsbridge.
Many greetings from germany :-)

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful variety of tangles
*note Sandra's Hollibaugh - Citrus lines float above Hollibaugh lines and blend in


From Jean Beckstrom (Alabama) ~

Hello, I really enjoyed this Citrus Tangle Challenge. I had not practiced this one before, but went right to it with enthusiasm. I am submitting it in black ink which I love best. If I get brave I might later try some color which I think would look good. But I am not yet decided about that. I love all your challenges, because it forces me to allow some great Zen-time to my week.
Tangles include: Betweed, Flux with Tipple, Static, Verdigogh, Printemps, Purk, Fescue, Tortuca, Mooka, Meer.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*one large Citrus with half sections in each corner of the tile
*wonderful mix of light, medium, and darker tangled spaces

...and a few days later...

As you can see I did a second string 138 and added color to it. Colored String includes: Betweed, Flux and Tipple, Purk, Fescue, Verdigogh, Printemps, Mooka, Meer, Static, Tortuca.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*a treat to see a similar approach in color
*pops of black 'seeds' for Citrus


From Sarah (Michigan) and here on her blog ~

This tangle is beautiful. But I've got a ways to go with getting it to where I'd like it. So I used some tangles inside Citrus.
One on the bottom is just a twist on each piece. Another is the pattern from Tripoli B, and the unmistakable Printemps on the center. I look forward to tangling with this gorgeous tangle in the future.
Just need some practice...
:)

Tangled Tidbits -
*clever use of Tripoli accents in Citrus sections
*background aura

A very warm welcome to Gesine (Germany) ~

I started tangling last Christmas after having received a Zentangle book. While looking for new tangles and inspirations, I stumbled across your blog and followed the Sting-Thing-Challenge for a while now. Today, I finally decided to send a tile, too. It’s nothing like the ones I usually do, but I couldn’t resist these “citrus” colours.
The tangles I used besides Citrus are
Leaflet (by Helen Willams) and Scrumble (by Jane Monk) in the front slice
Tipple, Nipa, Static and Finery (all original tangles) in the back slices

Tangled Tidbits -
*lovely colors for thin slices of Citrus
*Leaflet and Scrumble add terrific texture


From Kate (United Kingdom) ~

Love the new tangle. The juicy sacs in the orange segments remind me of
Diva Dance so that's what I've gone with!

Tangled Tidbits -
*great pattern for the background
*shaded centers of Citrus add depth


A very warm welcome to Inge Frasch, CZT (Bavaria, Germany) ~

I usually do not take part in challenges as in general I have to wait for an inspiration before I start tangling and this can take too much time and I hardly get the deadline.
Your pattern Citrus I discovered about 2 weeks ago so it was in my head already. It is a tropical themed tangle and my children would like to give a tropical party for their Dad´s birthday and I am looking for a pattern that could embellish or invitation cards. This is why I wanted to try a tile and send it to you. It turned out very much colored although I did only use 2 colors. Jamaica music in my head it turned up party-like. Just hope it will fit into your guidelines.
Website: musterspiele.jimdo.com

Tangled Tidbits -
*Yes, a wonderful party-like feel!
*whole, half, and quarter Citrus with aura

...and a few days later

here is another Citrus tile with Pixioze.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*Pixioze repeats in black, white, and brown
*pretty touch to have Pixioze fill Citrus as well as the background


From Michele Wynne (California) and here on her blog ~

Here's my tile for this week's challenge using your lovely pattern "Citrus". I've been using up some watercolor practice pages and found this one that was very citrus-y so I used "Citrus" as a string. This was a super fun challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*juicy colors and tangles
*layered tangles, soft shading, and a peek of the border


From Karen (Canberra, Australia) and here on her blog ~

I had fun with this week’s challenge. It got my creative (citrus) juices flowing. In my first tile I used a tile within a tile, which is a technique I’ve seen others use but not used myself. Tangles used were Ansu, B’tweed, Hollibaugh, Tipple, Printemps and Poke Leaf. I used water colour pencils for the colour.
I was all set to email this to you when I noticed your step out for Warped Eggs. Your step out was clear and easy to follow. (BTW: I really admire your ability to teach). So, I did another tile. This time I used a Renaissance tile with the Tangles that I learnt when I first started on this Zentangle journey. They are Hollibaugh, Knightsbridge, Crescent Moon, Tipple, Paradox, Paushalov and Tagh. Warped Eggs is the background.
Finally, I’ve attached a photo of my mandarin tree. It is Autumn here in Canberra so the fruit is large and getting ready to ripen. We’ve had this tree for about 12 years. This year looks like giving us the largest fruit we’ve had. Maybe my harsh pruning after the fruit set did the trick?

Tangled Tidbits -
*both color and black and white in one tile - great touch
*wonderful variety of tangled filled Citrus

Tangled Tidbits -
*absolutely beautiful Warped Eggs (thank you!)
*black and white Citrus pops
and Mandarin oranges...can smell them from here!

From Adri van Wyk (South Africa) ~

While doing this all I thought was ... if life hands you lemons .... stay calm and tangle a bit.

Tangled Tidbits -
*stunning tangles and composition - one more beautiful than the next
*woven Mooka and Mooka tendrils turn into Citrus
*weighted, sparkled detail lines in Citrus


From Simone (Germany) and here on her blog ~

Your new tangle Citrus is absolutely lovely, thank you for sharing and for using it in your challenge this week!

Tangled Tidbits -
*lovely layers, deep shading, and varying sizes of Citrus
*black background accents details in the tangles


From Susan (United Kingdom) ~

Two pictures inspired by your Citrus Tangle. The first has segments filled with tangles chosen because they have features that look like seeds. They are (clockwise) Knightsbridge, Crescent Moon, Floorz, Fescu, Ditto, Bumpety Bump and B-horn.
The second is an experiment. Last week I bought a hole punch that creates 1 ¼ inch circles. I had been working on mini Zendalas with these circles. When your challenge came through I was inspired to get out the citrus coloured card, and do some mini tangles. Then I grouped them all onto a standard Zentangle tile. Not a lot of space on each but the result is cheery!

Tangled Tidbits -
*aura on the four corner Citrus adds dimension
*clever idea to choose tangles with seed-like strokes!

Yes, this is a very cheery result, indeed!



From Karina L'Estrelle (Perth, Australia) ~

I finally found time to sit down and do some tangling that I actually got finished. I really enjoyed this one.

Tangled Tidbits -

*pleasing balance of light and dark, thick and thin lines
*single lined sections of Citrus

From Jenna Black (North Carolina) ~

I was thrilled to see this week's challenge used Citrus, which I've kind of fallen in love with. There are so many possibilities! I had a blast drawing this. Thanks for the great tangle and the great challenge!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*tremendous sense of depth created by layering whole Citrus rounds in diminishing sizes
*wonderful combination of lined and curved tangles

From Beth Gaughan (North Carolina) ~

Here is my tile for IAST 138. I used your Citrus as the string, and filled it with Rick's Paradox, then put some Printemps around it, along with a few pearls.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Paradox blends beautifully in the spaces of Citrus
*Perfs appear to float over Primtemps and Citrus

From Sabine (Germany) and here on her blog ~

here is my tile for this week. I have draw a "CITRUS-Zendala" and coloured it. Thank you for this gorgeous new pattern

Tangled Tidbits
*smaller rounds of Citrus circle one larger center one 

*brilliant colors

From Ragged Ray (United Kingdom) ~

What a lovely tangle Citrus is. And amazing to think that nature made those deliciously tessellating shapes. I kept it quite simple, making up a couple of fills that used lots of auras. Although I struggled a bit as to where to shade - and had to remember again to go very very gently with the shading and blending on the official tile! But the most interesting thing I found was that I love drawing the outline, and didn't struggle too much, whereas I nearly tear my hair out trying to handle Tripoli, which is similar.

Tangled Tidbits -
*sparkled and striped lines in the filler tangles - and each section is shaded
*thick, irregular lined border - both accentuates and anchors Citrus

That is an interesting observation, and I did find the same to be true.  Drawing the rounded outline first and then adding triangular shapes does make for a more relaxing time tangling.

From Sra (India) ~

A newbie, I don't know too many tangles yet. What I'm most proud of in this tile is the 'string' I created. I was looking for circular strings on the Internet and somehow this just came into my head as I was sketching alongside. It's probably influenced by something I saw but it's not a direct copy of anything I saw then.

I'm also very pleased with myself for the centre idea of filling in the black and leaving the triangles white. As I practise various designs I discover I like giving a graphite aura/cloud around some elements, here I've chosen to do that with the outer periphery of the design. I kept adding graphite at every level - outside, inside the wedges, inside the design, and the idea of having a full citrus at the centre was a brainwave at the last minute. I know the triangles are a bit too pointy and uneven! I didn't have too much space inside them to embellish them. On the whole, I'm rather happy with my work - more for the idea than the perfection or neatness of it. I know I have a long way to go.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*a string within a string - beautiful!
*deep dark center Citrus and an "aura cloud" (a perfect description, Sra)

From Cheryl Stocks (Arizona) and here on her blog ~

...thank you for your delightful tangle and the challenge to go with it. I really had fun with it!
You could say I went BANANAS for CITRUS!
I went with the tangle for the Diva's Challenge and my very own Two by Two by Tuesday this week as noted here...
I drew Citrus as the string and SQUEEZED in: a triangle pattern, Paradox, Phroz, N'Zeppel, Shattuck that got Hypnotized and Printemps with a little Tippling (going clockwise from bottom left), all nested in a triangular grid.
Remember the advertisement for orange juice that asked, "If doesn't say 'Sunkist' you don't know what you're getting?"
That pretty much sums that up, doesn't it?

Thank you for the smiles!
Tangled Tidbits - 

*one large Citrus passes through the tile
*alternating light and dark tangled spaces all tied together with super shading

From Heidi (Salt Lake City, Utah) and here on her blog ~

Gosh, your patterns are fun. I loved playing with citrus, filled up a couple of pages in my smaller sketchbook. it really grabbed me when I started making each motif look sort of geary. I think it will be in some of my steampunk stuff as I go forward with that theme.
I decided for unity of form and variety of color in this one, but I know it's going to be so much fun to fill up the spaces with diversity and variety. Fun stuff! I can hardly wait to see your blog post for this one!
PS this is what I did for the Diva Challenge, too...

Tangled Tidbits -
*great fun to tie the challenges together!
*center Citrus accented with blue perfs - all others have white spaces and the tangle is defined with color



From Joey of Made by Joey (Canada) ~

Fun tangle Adele! I have sent you both b&w and colour, you can choose which one you post.
We now have varieties of oranges that can be grown up here on the West Coast of Canada. Never thought that we would be able to pick fresh oranges here!

Tangled Tidbits -
*a pinwheel of Citrus halves
*sparkled seeds seem to spin along too


From Lily Moon (Hungary) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*Citrus halves topped with smaller halves
*Printemps tipped sections seem to rise up from the tile
*fabulous movement, shading, sparkle, aura, highlight


From Tina Kirchhübel (Germany) and here on her blog ~

what an interesting challenge. Citrus is such a great pattern and has so many possibilities to use it. I absolutely wanted to try it.
I decided to draw two tanglations of Citrus in the corners of my tile and use it as the string for Tipple, Crescent Moon and Tripoli in the centre.

Tangled Tidbits -
*alternating black and white corner Citrus
*terrific Tipple - dense in the wider part of the section, tapering off toward the point


From Henrike Bratz (Northern Germany) and here on her blog ~

this was a funny challenge this week. I was really tempted to color my lemon slices! As I suffered a severe gripal infect last week, I could do with some Citrus! I placed some lemon slices on my tile and decorates them with some other patterns. At the same time I tried to create some dewdrops. And I think this worked beautifully considering this was my first try!

Thank you for another challenge. I’m quite happy we are through now with all the hearts, clovers and eggs. I hope there are more abstact strings and patterns to come. I liked tangling Citrus though. It didn’t feel very Zentangle-like to draw is as realistic as I did bit I really enjoyed doing so, especially because of the dewdrops that made them really juicy.

Tangled Tidbits -
*dew drops and sparkled lines make for very juicy Citrus
*beautiful complimentary tangles float around Citrus
You are so right, with all of the holidays so close this spring, we will have to get back to some abstract :)


From Ingrid (The Netherlands) ~

Hereby my tile # 138 for this week.
Loved to play with Citrus. A mix of embellishment and tangles. Sorry, don't know the names at this moment. Loved the story behind the tangle, but it's a pity the trees didn't make it.

Tangled Tidbits -
*lightly penciled background of Sandswirl and bright yellow aura make Citrus pop
*pretty use of shading - different in each slice


From Yvette Grasset (France) ~

Bonjour Adèle...I took great pleasure in working citrus. I'm doing a country bouquet with butterflies and small ladybird...
 Love to you all have a wonderful week.

Tangled Tidbits -
*a beautiful, very imaginative Citrus garden - flowers, mushrooms..even a butterfly and ladybug!
*elegant border and shading


From Linda (Pennsylvania) ~

Well, I was thinking fruit salad and everything it takes to make one. Here are the tangles I used: Citrus:Adele Bruno , SunRay:Donna Hornsby, Droplets:Anne McNeill,Mysst: Linda Farmer, Pop-Cloud:Carla da Preez, Bronx Cheer:Linda Farmer, Pokeroot:Maria Thomas, Pineple: Mei Hua Teng, The leafy one is mine, PotsNPans: Sayantika Ray, LoLo: Hsin- Ya,
Zenplosion: Dani OBrian for Cura Gulati

Tangled Tidbits -
*a delicious mix of tangles - love the idea of fruit salad
*one large Citrus with tangles added in the sections and around them too
 (and pictured on a Tickled to Tangle frame!)


From Audrie Weisenfelder and here on her Purple Butterfly blog ~

...I really enjoyed this challenge. It was a new concept, and it worked. And I do like Citrus; although I have a bit of trouble getting the sections even.
The tangles used are: Paradox, Betweed, Meer, Prestwood, Heartswell, and Citrus as well.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*mirrored sections of pretty tangles
*weighted lines add depth - as does the use of three different sizes



From Sue Agnew (Tucson, Arizona) ~

...I had a whole lot of fun this week. When you offered the opportunity to use Citrus as the string, I realized that was going to mean eight triangle-shaped spaces. My personal aesthetic in Zentangle (not right or wrong, just what makes me happy) is drawing tangles so they have finished edges, and over the years there have been quite a few that seemed to fit neatly into a triangle shape. So I spent happy hours looking through old Zentangle sketchbooks (for several years I have been using Aquabee Super Deluxe 4 x 6 spiral-bound sketchbooks for Zentangling, and for the weekly challenge I pull a page out and cut it into tile size) to find "old favorites" that want to be drawn in a triangle space. It was hard narrowing it down to eight. I hope that this stuck to the spirit of your challenge.
The string is outlined in a tangle I think of as "string of peas" but am always surprised to find it's actually called Inapod. Starting at the tendril in the upper right corner and going clockwise, the tangles are: Citrus (Adele Bruno), Schway (Rick & Maria), Cadent/Afterglo mashup (Cadent is Rick & Maria and Afterglo is Carole Ohl and I can't remember whose idea the mashup was), Paradox (Rick & Maria), Mi2 (Mimi Lempart), Yew-Dee (Peg Farmer), Pea-nuckle (Molly Hollibaugh), and Trimonds (Jane Monk).

Tangled Tidbits -
*one large Citrus filled with triangle inspired tangles - a fabulous approach
*signature "Sue sparkle" and soft shading



From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

I think this tangle, Citrus, is the life of the party ... it's plays well with other tangles, yet maintains a dignified presence.
When you first posted Citrus I wanted to add an element of your tangle, Cack, and I played with every juicy filler tangle I knew. But when I started my tile, Mooka wanted to squeeze in. With one slice of Citrus left, Mooka's auras gave way to a line dance with CZT Betsy Wilson's Maryhill.
I can't wait to see the many interpretations of this very sociable tangle! With slices of lime in my water glass I send you cheers!

I will long cherish this description of Citrus, cheers to you Sharyn!
Tangled Tidbits -
*brilliant idea to have Citrus mimic the movement of Cack and filled with Maryhill it becomes even more three dimensional
*two variations of Mooka, beautifully detailed and shaded


From Donna (Pennsylvania) ~

This challenge tweaked my imagination!!! Although less spontaneous it was very rewarding to spend time thinking 'what if' and playing. I couldn't resist so I sent two !Thanks so much for these!
Cheers

Tangled Tidbits -
*layered Citrus halves
*Antidots filled sections

Tangled Tidbits -
*soft shading adds even more curve to the tangles
*elegant mix of patterns


From Robin (Nevada) ~

Here is my tile for this week. It’s been another busy week and here I sit at 5 minutes to midnight on Saturday night! In my mind, I had one idea, but when I started drawing this, something else emerged! At first, the sections were going to be filled with different tangles, and then somehow they became see-through. It reminds me of bicycle gears now. No necessarily a bad thing I guess! Thank you again for the challenge.

It is intriguing to note that Sandra from Germany has a very similar take on Citrus in her tile at the top of the post - I love when that happens!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Citrus layers are shaded darker as they recess

*gorgeous deep black surrounding spaces

Do those pieces move or is that my imagination?!

From Ann Barbro (Portugal/Norway) and here on her blog ~

Citrus was a great tangle to work with. I love to tangle in a tangle and Citrus was perfect! Here in Portugal the citrus trees are in full bloom and the smell is gorgeous

Tangled Tidbits -
*citrus blossoms fill the air and the tile, too

*colorful Tipple filled Citrus 

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

Citrus is really a very versatile pattern that I will definitely use again.

Tangled Tidbits -
*aura adds a Crescent Moon feel to Citrus
*uniform size, line spacing, and soft shading


From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

SO cute new pattern, you crafty little CZT you. I'll be playing with this one a lot. Tile #1 incorporates Mooka, Scena and Dansk on the inside, Pepper and Printemps on the outer ring. Tile #2 Citrus 'sections' are Tripo with Paradox centers. Très fun challenge! Many thanks.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*tangles curve beautifully in Citrus sections
*dots and dashes, layers, and super shading

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderfully similar to Beth's tile above - Paradox is a natural fit as it fills the spaces
*creative use of smaller, tighter Paradox in the middle


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

Karen Aiken (Alberta, Canada) and here on her blog ~

 … here is my tile for the challenge. Citrus is going to be lots of fun! Here I combined it with Hollibaugh and a little 3 loops 6, Barberpole and Fescue. I do wish I’d added the Fescue AFTER the Barberpole, but I thought it was finished with just the Citrus and Hollibaugh so I added the Fescue. Still, I’m happy with the tile and looking forward to seeing what everyone else does for the challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*one large Citrus with Hollibaugh running throughout (again, awesome similarities)
*Barberpole and shadowed Fescu add sense of height to the outer edges as Hollibaugh appears to recess
*sparkle, shading, deep black, and white space - great touches!

Congratulations, Karen!
I have a little some thing coming in the mail for you.


Many humble thanks to all of you for your compliments on my Citrus tangle, your creative variations, and stunning tiles.  You have given a life to Citrus that was beyond my imaginings.


Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #139!