"It's a String Thing" #145 Tiles

This week, we explored CZT Margaret Bremner's new tangle SKYE and proved that the "sky(e) is the limit" when it comes to tangling.

Read on to find a participant with fond memories of the actual Isle of Skye and one scheduled to visit there this summer.  We are also treated to not one, but two tiles from Margaret herself and welcome five new tanglers from the USA, Canada, and South Africa.  So much excitement for one week!

Let's take a look ~

The first email arrived from K. Bish (Michigan) ~

Haven't been around for a while. I wanted to check out the newest "String Thing" challenge. So, I'm back.
This one was really fun! I love Celtic art and the Knot-work is one of my all-time favorite's!
Enclosed please find my newest Tangle "Fighting the Dying Light".
Thanks for the challenge!
(Still cold MI)

 Tangled Tidbits -
*large, dramatic Skye
*lighter Anitdots with curls and dots


From Lori Byerly (Washington) and here on her blog ~

I love Margaret Bremner's new pattern skye. I've always enjoyed Celtic art and now I get to make some myself. :)
Thanks again for all you do to give us a weekly challenge.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*border picks up pieces of Skye
*interwoven loops and free form loops of Skye



From Sarah (Michigan) and here on her blog ~

I had given up and beat myself up over my 'failure' on the first tile. But a new day came and I knew I had to try to make a go of this tangle if not for me, but Ms. Bruno who leads us along each week on an adventure of strings and mix of creativity.
So here is a tile finished with pride,-- for you Ms. Bruno.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*a fabulous first tile with Skye - tangling eliminates the negatives, so we will count this as a success :)

 Tangled Tidbits -
*white filled aura of Skye
*lovely Antidot layers


From Miriam G (Port Hueneme, California) ~

I love the Skye pattern - maybe one day I will master it! HA! Anyway, I have a fondness for black, brown and white patterns, and since I had already pre-cut some old card stock for another project, I decided to use my scraps. Unfortunately, it does have a texture, so shading/burnishing with colored pencil was a little hit-or-miss, but I am still happy with it! Thank you for these challenges as it helps to expand our artistic horizons - the 'Skye' is the limit!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*layering and shading add wonderful depth
*tangles shine with highlights


From Aloyna Pakhomova (Toronto, Canada) ~

Both tangles were new to me. I found Skye really tricky.

Tangled Tidbits -
*inner aura, lined and black backgrounds for Skye
*dotted Antidot background



A very warm welcome to  Karen Lloyd (Ontario, Canada) ~

I am so excited! This is my first challenge! I hope you like it. It's a bit wonky in some places, but I think I'm happy with it.

Tangled Tidbits -
*tangles flow over shaded string lines
*split lines of Skye - some shaded, some filled with Antidots


From Anita A Westin (Dalarna, Sweden) and here on her blog ~

Here comes my Skye! A beautiful pattern indeed. Thank´s to Margaret Bremner working it out from a traditional Celtic pattern!
All the best!

Tangled Tidbits -
*four pretty versions of Skye
*Skye weaves in and out of the tile
*bursts of Antidots


From Ilse Lukken (The Netherlands) and here on her blog ~

Another great challenge, thank you! I love Skye :-)
(I turned the string around)

Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous contrasts - light/dark, small/large
*shading adds depth


From smgg (Taiwan) and on her Instagram ~

Have a nice day!!!

Tangled Tidbits -
*flower-like Antidots
*thin lined Skye with large black arcs


From Susan (United Kingdom) ~

Hi, Skye was quite a challenge this week. Thank you for the additional notes, I will practise some more. I enjoyed Antidots which was new to me. I liked how it looked like shellfish when it was small, but when I drew it bigger it came out like Madonna’s bra!

Tangled Tidbits -
*fabulous imagery :)
*inner aura of Antidots and aura of Skye



From Kate Ahrens, CZT (Minnesota) and here on her blog ~

... I sure had fun with this string, and Skye was so fun to play with. I used a clear Gelly Roll pen for the Antidots, and then a watercolor wash over it. Added some extra color with some colored pencils and the rest is just standard tangling. Thanks for the fun this week.

Tangled Tidbits -
*brilliantly colored ZIA - white Antidots
*reversed, intertwined Skye lines



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

Here's this week's tile. I've been noodling around with "Skye" since first seeing on Margaret's blog earlier in the week. I love it and was quite excited to see it appear here. I did a Renaissance tile version which was really fun to draw...Thanks for all you do.

Tangled Tidbits -
*shading, highlights, and Tipple add softness and depth to Skye
*lace-like Antidots



From Joke Luessenkamp (The Netherlands) ~

Hello Tanglers,
With just little time this week I had serious trouble to draw Skye, with last explanation and a video from Ellen Wolters I finally succeeded.
Besides Skye I used the tangles Serpi, Mooka-grid Seed and of course Antidots, all this on a new paper which was very pleasant to draw on.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Tipple, aura, stripes, sparkle, and shading - yum!
*lovely layers of brown, black, white, shaded and white spaces


From Ingrid (The Netherlands) ~

Here is my tile # 145
Skye is a beautiful tangle. I need more practice to feel quite familiar drawing this tangle. I drew mostly freehand. Have to study the step-outs better next time.
Have a blessed week with lots of love!

Tangled Tidbits -
*large Tipple at intersections of Skye with aura moving outward from them
*darkened string lines
*shaded Skye with inner arcs left white


From Sabine (Germany) and here on her blog ~

Skye the new tangle by Margret Bremner is beautiful but also difficult to draw. First I have knots in my head but after practice and with your Tips for tangling I drawing my contribution for this week.
With greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*Tipple filled Skye, aura, light and dark spaces, too
*Antidot rows - wonderful shading and sparkle



From Jean Beckstrom (Alabama) ~

Skye was my first attempt with such a complicated tangle. I did it before your Tips came, but that was good for me to work it out. I was so involved with my first try that I did it pretty well on my first pencil attempt, but low and behold it was on your send out sheet and not on the tile itself. Well good, it gave me another practice. The antidots were just plain FUN. I made up a new version on Antidots with an outer heart shape. I guess I should say new to me, because I have been tangling just about a year now and have not seen it before. It would be fun to say I made it up! Your tips were great though.

Tangled Tidbits -
*heart tipped Antidots, dots and curls, too
*great shading of Skye


From Karin (Germany) ~

this time it really was a hard challenge. I don´t think that I can tangle “Skye” without having this pattern right by my side… and at the end I was quite surprised how good these two patterns match together!
Greetings from Germany!

Tangled Tidbits -
*two sizes of Skye overlap
*every other loop of Antidots is shaded


From Becky Welty (North Carolina) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*three pretty versions of Skye
*thin and wide striping


From Kate (United Kingdom) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*thin strands of Skye with lovely backgrounds
*one version of Skye features thicker curves
*shaded and striped Antidots


From Gesine (Germany) ~

here is my contribution for this week. SKYE was quite a challenge for me…

 Tangled Tidbits -
*tight loops of Skye
*Tipple filled as well as light and dark loops of Antidots - all beautifully shaded


From Jenna Black (North Carolina) -

I really struggled with Skye, and wasn't having any success at all drawing it until Adele posted the tips for tangling it. I had much better success starting with the S shapes, although it was still a struggle. I debated whether to send this one in or not, but here goes!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*lined and aura-ed Skye
*Antidot filled Antidot - great version


A very warm welcome to  Leslie (Utah) ~

I've been enjoying your challenges and finally got up the nerve to submit something. This was a fun one! I added the "emerald" gems as a nod to the Irish origins of Skye. Thanks for offering these--they really challenge my creativity.

Tangled Tidbits -
*split curves of Skye
*Antidots surround multiple versions of Skye
*glimmering green gems



A very warm welcome to Rebecca (Stamford,Connecticut) ~

Whew! Skye was challenging, but fun! Took a little practice, but in the end, I really love how it looks. Before I tried it with Antidots, I paired it with one of my favorite classic tangles, N'zeppel, so I've included them as well. One sort of looks like it was done in a moving vehicle and the other after a few glasses of wine, ha ha, neither of which was the case, but when I look at them, they do make me happy. Thanks for the great challenge!

..either way, I'd choose the glass of wine :)
Tangled Tidbits -
*pretty Skye variations - all black, aura-ed, Tipple filled, varied line width...
*overlapping Anitdots
*curved grid lines


A very warm welcome to Julie Bazuzi (Washington) and here on her blog ~

This is my first time participating in one of your challenges, though I've enjoyed your blog for a while. Here's my take on Skye with Antidots. It seemed like a perfect time to practice some cast shadows!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*lovely shadows
*wavy aura made prominent with shading
*large and small Antidots - darkened spaces between them



From Karen, The Creative Miss L (Canberra, Australia) ~

.... I chose to use a Renaissance tile as I wanted to add white highlights to Skye.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*highlights and shading for both colors of Skye
*Antidots forms around middle section of Skye
*striped and dotted backgrounds



From Susan Theron (Velddrif, South Africa) ~

Mine and thanks for the tips for drawing Skye.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*large and small Skye - Tipple and white backgrounds
*sparkled dark bands of Antidots



From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

That Margaret accomplished the deconstruction for Skye...simply GENIUS! Especially after looking at her preliminary sketches. Of course, it took me several more scratch pages to get my flow going, but oh what fun. Tile #1 contains an OOPS, a loop-through on the large central Skye, that turned out kind of neat. I freely admit to furious pencil and eraser activity to make it even faintly resemble the pattern, but after accomplishing the other corner design, I wasn't about to give up the tile unless I absolutely had to. With Tile #2 I played. The central Skye design is actually flipped backward (or is it upside down?) (or both?). The lower right design is a squared-off version, but still the same pattern. And I used Antidots as embellishments rather than the more plant-like groupings as represented in the first tile.
Once again, most excellent choices Adele. How do you do it? And thank you to all the talented contributors each week. You encourage and inspire me to reach ever further with my craft.

Tangled Tidbits -
*double looped center of Skye
*lovely branches of Antidots

Tangled Tidbits -
*sensational angled version of Skye
*thicker "S" curves of Skye
*delicate Antidots



From the brand new CZT, Simone (Germany) and here on her blog ~

Now to this weeks challenge. Thank you also for the Tips for tangling Skye. I love this pattern, as I love the celtic patterns. This summer we will spend two weeks on the Isle of Skye! So it was no question to take part to the IAST challenge this week.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*dark aura followed by aura-ed arcs, shaded for depth

*pink and black filled Antidots flow toward each other

From Annie Taylor (Spain) ~

...Skye is such a fascinating tangle... but I need a lot more practise.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*weighted, highlighted lines of Skye

*Tipple filled aura-ed spaces

From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

I was thrilled when you chose Skye for this week's prompt. Last Sunday night I got acquainted with the tangle and made a wreath, but I struggled choosing which version to use. So, when ST#145 arrived, I decided to do a Skye sampler and included the variations I thought of using in my wreath with fillers of rounding, striping, Pendrills and Mooka. I'll probably make a few more wreaths this week using my sampler options and probably other variations that appear in your review. Can't wait!
Cheers to Margaret Bremner's and your thought-filled and detailed step-out and tips.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Pendrills and Mooka  - beautiful variations of Skye

*gorgeous Skye wreath outlined in Tipple (I know what my Christmas cards will feature, thanks to Sharyn :)

From Adri van Wyk (South Africa) ~

The Skye is the limit ! I love doing this!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*fabulous explosion of Antidots - curved, highlighted, and shaded detail lines

*Tipple and aura for Skye

*shading adds tremendous dimension

A very warm welcome to Elsabé Visagie (South Africa) ~

Thank you for an inspirational blog!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*multiple, interwoven Skye 'S' curves

*sparkled Antidots and Tipple

*Tipple lined Skye

From CZT Brenda Urbanik (South Africa) and here on her blog ~

I really love that SKYE tangle and I can see why it's so popular, but it's going to take a lot more practice for me to feel comfortable with it. I want it to be more free flowing and less calculated, you know, having to make sure I colour those little angles correctly so that the loopy parts don't get squished! Thanks for your added tips though, they are helpful!
It's been really nice to see some South African participants!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*elongated loops of Skye

*dark background for lightly shaded Antidots

From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) and here on her blog ~

The Isle of Skye has special memories for me as it was one of the places that my daughter, Martina and I visited in 2001, when she invited me over to tour the British Isle with her. I have fond memories of the beautiful isle and a warm woollen jersey to prove it.
The challenge of course this week was to conquer the beautiful namesake pattern Skye by Margaret Brenner. Wish I could have practised a bit longer before getting down to the actual tile. Anyway it was still an enjoyable journey, just like my visit to the fair isle. Your string was spot on and I love Antidots by Anita Roby-Lavery, so overboard I went!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*four variations of fillers for Skye

*fabulous interest in Antidots created by different sizes of the tangle

And now...

the tile for honors this week...

was sent in by...

Margaret Bremner, CZT (Canada) and mastermind behind the superb Skye ~

Well, how could I resist? :)

Three attachments, one black on white, one brown on tan, one of both tiles together.
I wish I had the time to participate more frequently!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*three sparkled black Tipple accent a Skye curve

*striped, sparkled, and shaded Skye

*sensational shading

*Antidot lined string lines weave in and out of Skye

*highlights, shading, and brown background yield delightful depth

Congratulations along with our collective thanks and admiration, Margaret.

Thank you to Anita Roby-Lavery for the always lovely Antidots.

Many thanks to everyone who shared their creative work with us this week.  You inspire and encourage all of us.

Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #146!