"It's a String Thing" #185 Tiles

This week we concentrated on line (ribbon) tangles. Two of the three were created by IAST friends Ragged Ray and Jody Genovese, CZT, making it an extra special adventure.

The first tile arrived from Vonnie Schneider (St. Paul, Minnesota) ~

Thank you for the opportunity to stretch out of my comfort zone this week! I chose to think beyond the string line and not go my regular path of drawing the tangles in a ribbon. When Wibble found its way in the center, I inked it in (something I never do!). Then Edgar decided to tuck behind and have an early spring bloom (on account that we had several days of near 60°F in Minnesota in February...unheard of. Don't worry, tho....we have 10" of snow forecasted on Friday!) . Flec was worried there was no room (oh dear!) That's when Wibble invited Flec to ride along (which gave a different perspective to a pattern I can see me using in its original state on another tile). I look at the finished tile and smile...such a pretty tile, if I don't say so myself! hehehe

 Tangled Tidbits -
...a very pretty tile indeed, and a very enjoyable ride along with your creative process!
*Flec infused Wibble
*flowery finish to Edgar


From Lily Moon (Hungary) and on her Instagram ~

...here is my tile for your weekly challenge. I used Flec and Wibble on toned grey paper with Micron pens, white gellyroll pen, graphite pencil and white pastel pencil.

Tangled Tidbits -
*channels created between the string lines - one outlined with Flec and filled with Wibble, one indicated with shading and spotted with Flec
*perf lined arcs of Wibble
*glowing highlights


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

It's been a while since I last participated in this challenge, but I'm back :-)
The tangles you chose for us this week are all new to me: Flec, Wibble and Edgar. I had a lovely time discovering these patterns!

Tangled Tidbits -
Welcome back!
*Edgar's lines fill the space between Wibbles
*thick black aura around Flec



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

Another great challenge, Adele. Thanks for including so many new patterns. :)

Tangled Tidbits -
*cat-like 'eyes' on Edgar
*single swirl of Wibble with a lovely scalloped and shaded accent line



From Barbara Steyer (Germany) ~

...still being in my first year of Zentangle, it is always a great challenge to draw new pattern. This week there were almost 3!!!
But I trust in the progress of Zen and meditation and so I followed my first idea.
I like all pattern and hope you do it too.
My tile is attached.
Thank you for this amazing challenge
Greetings from stormy Germany

 Tangled Tidbits -
*loop tipped angles of Wibble with Hibred-type detail
*free floating loops tie in those of Edgar and Flec


From Heidi W (Utah) and here on her blog ~

I sure liked the string this week, different from my usual curvy and rounded lines...Well, I decided to try this one Lori Byerly style, who likes to bigify things and ALWAYS makes striking and unique pieces. Well, I bigified the Flec to start, and then Lori's Bublz wanted in...and I managed to put a piece of Edgar in there, and a small section of Wibble. But Flec is assuredly the star here. It reminds me of a creek with little stone cairns along the banks. thanks for a unique challenge! I had lots of fun.

Tangled Tidbits -
This is a splendid tribute to Lori and your term 'bigify' will have to be added to our IAST vocabulary, thank you!
*Edgar pops into Flec
*Bublz is a natural addition to this pretty nod to Lori's style



From Shirley Wohlsen (Queensland, Australia) ~

...amazing patterns this week, I do have to admit that my first attempt at Wibble went a bit wobble.
Edgar is perhaps more round than elongated and Flec is a delight to draw.
I did enjoy them all. Thanks Adele.

Tangled Tidbits -
*a loop of Wibble - well done!
*Edgar's change in size adds depth


From Susan (United Kingdom) ~

Three great tangles this week. When I was tidying up after finishing the tile I looked at the step outs again and realised that my Flec is an unintentional “variation”! At least I was consistent throughout. I think I was thinking of piles of stones (I even included an inukshuk – stones made in human form by Arctic peoples). Never mind, there are no mistakes, just new patterns…

Tangled Tidbits -
...and wonderful variations, they are.
*thick arua for one row of Wibble
*Flec lines, stacks, inukshuk, and even an swirl


From Robin Steinbeck (Ohio) ~

It's 75 degrees in northeast Ohio in February! To celebrate I decided to add some color to the tile.

Tangled Tidbits -
*a peek at spring with soft colors
*woven lines of Flec and all tangles softly shaded to the outside


From Renee (Tennessee) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*impressive weave of the tangles - very impressive
*Flec infused Wibble.  Three tanglers have combined those two so far, they do meld beautifully together.


From Gabriela Garcia (Alberta, Canada) and here on her blog ~

Thank you Adele for such an stimulating challenge I learned so much from it! From the very beginning all three patterns were new to me as I normally don't use border patterns a lot. Then after drawing all the patterns in the string lines I still wasn't sure of my tile and almost started a new one when I decided to stick with it and added "Flec" in white and the background in black (something unusual for me as well!) and to my surprise it transformed into a happy tile. So a big thank you Adele for pushing me out of my comfort zone! You are the wind beneath our wings!

Tangled Tidbits -
...and thank you for taking us for a 'behind the scenes' tour
*Wibble and Flec filled doubled string lines
*Flec flows in the direction of the Wibble filled string line
*Flec shines in deep black background


From Trudi (Woodview, Ontario, Canada) ~

Greetings Adele, well you've given me three more new Tangles to add to my patterns thank you. I put Yincut in behind them. I think I'd like to play around with these Tangles a bit more I do like them.

Tangled Tidbits -
*weighted aura line and shading add depth to Flec
*Wibble left white stands out against the detailed Yincut background


From Emily (Kentucky) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*multiple rows of tangles
*touches of purple and black highlight the pretty patterns


From Mariam G (Port Hueneme, California) ~

My tile for this week is attached. Love the new tangle Flec and was not familiar with Edgar, so this was fun, using two new patterns! Thanks for sharing Ragged Ray's latest with all of us.

Tangled Tidbits -
*super shading - notice how the larger Edgar is shaded inward and the smaller is shaded on the outside as well
*Flec floats above the tangles below.
*variations is the size of the tangles adds dimension


From Rebecca I (Stamford, Connecticut) ~

So glad to finally have a little free time for tangling again! 3 new tangles for me this week, all a bit challenging, but after deciding to go with white on black, I don't think they came out too badly. Thanks for another great challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
*crisp white lines and woven tangles
*dusting of white softens the patterns


From Ellie Miller (Sint Maarten) ~

This was a really tough challenge for me. All three patterns were new to me. Still having trouble with Flec, but it's always something.

Tangled Tidbits -
*large curves of Edgar with detail lines running in opposite directions
*Mooka filled background


From Sabine (Germany) ~

here is my contribution for this week.With many greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*black sparkled aura of Wibble
*four interwoven lines of Flec - beautifully blue.


From sra (India) ~

I kept working on this throughout the week. Ultimately this is the one I settled on. There were many tries with Flec but finally I could only add a touch of it, in the gold. I discovered colourless blender pen and did the shading with it but I'm not sure it did it's job well after the several trials I put it through.

Tangled Tidbits -
*a wonderful Wibble border
*lovely layers of Edgar


From Lisette (Switzerland) ~

I’ve never used these patterns before. Flec was my favourite. But I didn’t know what to do with them in the beginning. Well I tried my best, but obviously I’m not in the flow at the moment. I wonder if others have experience the same situation when you don’t know anymore if something is beautiful or not.

Tangled Tidbits -
I can assure you it is beautiful.  Sometimes it takes a bit of space and time to appreciate what you've tangled and many tanglers have written that upon seeing their work after being removed from it overnight for instance, they like it all the more.
*weighted aura of Flec and a Wibble border
*black crescents and radiating lines in Edgar


From Jutta Gladnigg (NRW, Germany) ~

This week I was even more enthusiastic about this challenge because my friend Jody Genovese had contributed her wonderful pattern 'Edgar'. Edgar has got his own personality as far as I have experienced...and this time he came along quite surrealistically. He even brought a companion. Egyptian mummies on an Italian cobble stone plaza as friends of De Chirico's 'Disquieting Muses'? The waves of the Mediterranean Sea at their sides... Whatever - it's Carnival time here in Germany at the moment so lots of people come in all kinds of disguise. So why not Edgar, too? Anyway, thank you, Adele and Jody and Ragged Ray and Shawna Martin! It was great fun.

Tangled Tidbits -
...thank you for the glorious references, Jutta,
*deep shading and wide sparkle
*two large Wibble and a stacked line of Flec -yum!



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

Here's my contribution to this weeks challenge... I really embraced the simplicity of it and I was super pleased to explore these 3 lovely new-to-me patterns, including one from my ZenPal Jem;-) I also employed Maria's technique of using a bit of clear nail polish on the background.Thanks so much for all you do.

Tangled Tidbits -
...Maria describes the technique that Michele used here in her Zentangle® post...
*aura-ed varnished mid sections
*elegant lines of the three tangles



From Talia M (United Kingdom) ~

Long time no tangle! Life has been super busy lately and fitting in a few hours of relaxing tangling has been difficult. I have missed doing your challenges and seeing others' work.
But I managed to do this week's and am pleased with the result. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, with just ribbons and no filler patterns, but it gave me a good excuse to use lots of black on my tile which makes me very happy

Tangled Tidbits -
Welcome back!
*"lots of black" makes the tangles pop
*striped aura for Flec
*just a touch of shading for Wibble



From Ingrid Coventon (The Netherlands) ~

Every week I enjoy so much looking at all the tiles that has been send to IAST. They are all so beautiful. Thank you so much for all this eyecandy week after week.
Here is my tile # 185 for this week. When i finished this tile it was not my friend, but after some while I got used to it and now I like it better. Thank you for this opportunity to get used to my own tile and not throw it away.

 Tangled Tidbits -
...isn't that funny how, as I mentioned earlier, a bit of time makes a tile look more appealing?
*black background and inner aura of Wibble's pointed edges
*curved line detail repeats in Wibble


From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

Thank you for sharing your Waybop tiles ... they are absolutely stunning!
In one week's time we went from 20 inches of snow to a record-breaking 72 degrees (which melted even the snow banks!). That is what I will remember when I look at this tile! All new tangles for me ... enjoyed them all and love mashing tangles together!Cheers to springtime in February!

Tangled Tidbits -
*Wibble weaves wonderfully through Edgar
*Flec generously filled Wibble



From Irene Harvey (Pennsylvania) ~

Love the challenges!

Tangled Tidbits -
*stacks of Flec alternate light and dark
*sections of Wibble with detail aura to the middle


From Sharon Fite (California) ~

Whew! This was a tough one! All the tangles were new to me. And I wanted to keep the grid string, but it wanted to go another direction. I did find my zen moment, though, with the isochor-like shapes in Edgar. One stroke at a time is very soothing.Thanks for all you do for this weekly challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
...so well said - "one stroke at a time" is extremely soothing
*Edgar floats off into Nipa
*Wibble and Flec taper off as they curve upward


From Kate (United Kingdom) ~

My contribution to this week's challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*central swath of detailed Wibble
*each aura line is shaded between Flec and Wibble



From Sue Agnew (Tucson, Arizona) ~

The thing you said this morning about "spending time with" Waybop ... I think that's the difference I'm noticing now that I'm retired. I have time to mess around with the tangles and walk away and sit down later and mess around some more. Much more fun!
For some reason, I turned all of these ribbon tangles into grid tangles, or at least filler tangles. I think it's that some see the string as lines to be outlined and some see it as spaces to be filled, and this week I saw it as spaces.
Flec reminded me so much of Fife, one of my favorites, so when I turned it into a grid I "Fifed it up" a little bit. With Edgar I was having trouble making the curved shapes mirror each other, so I made them more circular rather than curved. I never did manage to leave enough "neck" to fit in the other elements ... and one of my favorite things about Verdigogh is the little black berries you add at the end ... so I added little black berries. Since the tangle itself calls for sparkle, I wondered if I should therefore try to do it without sparkle (since I usually try to add sparkle to everything), but in the end, it wanted to sparkle. Wibble is fun in that it's a continuous line tangle at first and then when you add the pointy parts it suddenly becomes doubled. After I stacked it, I ended up joining one row to the next. To be honest, I got lost with what I was doing and couldn't quite figure out what I'd done. So I stopped.
Thank you for a fun experimental week!

Tangled Tidbits -
...an excellent observation about the many purposes of strings, thank you Sue.
*rounded sparkled sections of Edgar
*elongated, interlocking curves of Wibble


From Jane Glotzer (Boulder, Colorado) ~

Hope this finds you well...we had a crazy two day snowstorm after 65 degree weather for the last week...always hard to get used to, but I guess it is still winter...ah...that's Colorado!
I decided to go with a Bijou size paper I had already watercolored for 185 since I didn't get started until Friday evening...well, I think I could just Wibble all day--:) Tried a couple of versions across two of the string lines...plopped one stack of the stones of Flec in a space (love this pattern with multiples, but I liked the "zen" of just one here.) Added the rippling water lines and then let them fill the curls of Wibble...turned the tile clockwise 1/4 way so it sits on its corner, got rid of the rest of the strings, shaded a bit and...cute...a stack of Flec stones in a Wibble lake under some Wibble clouds at sunset...No room for Edgar, but his spirit is in here somewhere--:)Have a great week! Appreciate all you do and the entire IAST community!!

Tangled Tidbits ~
...it is just as you described!
*lone stack of Flec
*striped aura repeats in both Wibble variations


From Candie VanderWilt, CZT (Pennsylvania) ~

Great fun with new tangles - firsts for me and loved all three! A bit prejudiced toward Edgar only because Jody and I became CZTs and friends last June! A treat to see you here, Jody. A "hearty" farewell to February and on to spring, at least in the northeast. Adele, thanks for continued excellence in the tangle-blog world.

Tangled Tidbits -
...how wonderful that you were in the same CZT class!
*Flec borders the center string section
*pretty, weighted ribbon curl swirls from Wibble and serves to connect the tangles



From Adri van Wyk (Upington, South Africa) ~

Flec, Wibble and Edgar play together ....

Tangled Tidbits -
*perf, Wibble, Flec festooned Edgar - wow!
*Wibble border, dark aura-ed, and deeply shaded
*shadow shading of perf accents
A few days later, Adri sent a second tile ~

*Edgar weaves behind and in front of large central Wibble
*weighted lines and deep shading


From Lovelygiraffe (Japan) and on her Instagram ~

here is my tile for your weekly challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*fabulous layers of softly highlighted aura
*Flec border
*center diagonal of Edgar glows


From Henrike Bratz (Germany) ~

here’s my tile #185.

Tangled Tidbits -
*stacked layers of Flec include the three loop accent from Edgar
*Edgar lines and sparkle repeat in Wibble
*little flowers form from Edgar loops


From Jennifer Moor (Switzerland) ~

Wibble, Flec and Edgar were very interesting to learn and your string provided so many different ways to fill with tangles. I decided to go for a Knightsbridge look, alternating dark and light squares. Lacy white Wibble contrasts with Edgar - which to my great surprise looks like a delicious little dark chocolate in the middle of each brown square! I used black and brown micron, white charcoal and gel pen as well as the zenstone and graphite - how amazing to get so many different shades of brown by mixing these together!

Tangled Tidbits -
...yes, and that makes me hungry for chocolate :)
*ethereal white Wibble - lovely.
*Flec covered string lines filled with alternating tangles that alternate directions



From Patricia (Switzerland) ~

Thanks to you for your selection of zentangles, as well as the creators of these which were really interesting and fun. Again my heart turned to the sea! I see the little leaves of the Edgars appeared to me as tiny crabs peeping out....but this was not a planned result!
This time I used only the given tangles.

Tangled Tidbits -
*sparkling waves of Wibble
*cascading aura reaches to the Flec covered border



A very warm welcome to Sarah Fowler (Ruislip, Middlesex, United Kingdom) ~

As a technophobe its taken me a while to pluck up the courage to send a tile in to your challenge so many apologies if the attachment doesn't work or I've sent this too late :)

Tangled Tidbits -
*smaller Flec filled larger Flec - very clever!

*curved sparkle of Wibble

*light and dark opposite corners

Sarah is now added to our tangled map, welcome!

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

Tangled Tidbits - 

*free floating swirls of Wibble make pretty aura patterns
*Edgar loops repeat in Flec

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

Your beautiful artworks using Waybop were fascinating. So beautiful. Hope you’re enjoying all the creative times and flowing artistic juices. Here the northern parts of South Africa are still receiving torrential rains and we remain parched by the endless drought in the Westerncape of South Africa.
This week’s challenge had to be mulled over sub-consciously for some time before things jelled. I spent time practising the three patterns. Flec was easy to master, Wibble took greater care and Edgar sent me on a flower power excursion. I decided on the weavy approach using the string and Wibble became the focus of the composition. As you see Edgar wormed its way in over and under the other patterns. The colours, mixed with black and white, worked well, I think. Thank you for a great challenge and Ragged Ray, Shawna Martin and Jody Genovese for the gorgeous ribbon patterns.

Tangled Tidbits - 

...hopefully the spring like colors bring the promise of much needed rain to you!
*Wibble center line aura-ed in the middle tapers off in either direction
*sunny accents for Edgar
*weighted lines of larger Flec

From Simone Menzel, CZT (Germany) and here on her blog ~

This IAST challenge was a very interesting one, with three different ribbon tangles in a grid shaped string.
This is what I did with it.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*striped arc details for Wibble
*light aura and soft shading add great dimension

From Susie (Thailand) ~

Flec, Wibble, and Edgar…all 3 patterns were new to me. From my tile you can see that I like Flec and I like Edgar, but when drawing Wibble, alas!, my pen just wouldn’t wibble the way I wanted it to wibble. My sincerest apologies to Shawna Martin.
Thanks, Adele, for yet another interesting tickle to tangle.

Tangled Tidbits -
...your Wibble won't wobble, but it worked out just fine!
*large Wibble looks like a little creature
*Flec morphs into aura of a darker Flec

From Tonia Croce (Rhode Island) ~

I decided to use #flec to start a #paradox so that it was partway inside the frame. Felt more comfortable drawing #wibble than #edgar, so used color and #cheesecloth to fill in. This being the first true challenge I've done, I'd like to practice more. But, that's just my inner critic talking.

Tangled Tidbits -
 *three center strands of Wibble
*stacked, detailed border of Flec
Before and after coloring ~

From Donna Symons, CZT (Pennsylvania) ~

This week's tangles spoke to my passion of walking the beach looking for treasures in the drift line. Took me a while with my sketch book but, as always ,rewarding to find that special time to tangle. Enjoy

Tangled Tidbits -
...tangles like footprints in the sand - lovely.
*intersecting lines of Flec
*large and smaller Wibble and all softly shaded


From Linda Goncalves (Pennsylvania) ~

Even though I have been busy with house guests, I just had to try to add some "gems", so spent most of my free time trying to
learn. Actually, every week there is something new to learn. Having fun and filled with gratitude for your blog.

Tangled Tidbits -
*gem filled spaces of Wibble
*smaller Flec travels under Wibble


From Brenda Urbanik, CZT (South Africa)  ~

The first tile I tried for this challenge was the Renaissance tile, sadly I did not enjoy it one bit but I'm sharing it anyway as a lesson to myself to never give up!
I think it was the string that just wasn't speaking to me, I felt trapped in a way. And I'm not all that good at renaissance tiles, I still find that I'm stumbling in the dark when trying to decide when to use black, or sepia or white!! Too much thinking required!!!!
So the second tile was back to basics, just black ink on a white tile, and a looser string which sort of ignored. Phew, I felt myself breathe in relief!!!
Thank you for these challenges, it pushes me outside my comfort zone, which is a good thing.

Tangled Tidbits -
...you touched on a great thought - that the string is merely a suggestion and the freedom to let the tangles flow is very relaxing...
*Flec covered string lines
*center string section filled with mirrored Flec

*wonderful movement achieved with flowing lines of the tangles
*swirls of Wibble flow in a line and on their own




This is my tile ~

I knew that aura would play a big role in this tile because I really liked the edges that the three tangles created.  I wove the patterns over and under each other before adding aura.  Once three aura were added, I repeated random Flec stacks as well as the three looped clusters from Edgar.   All of the lines were too uniform, so I added weight to some, along with shading, and it become more pleasing to my eye...

And now...

the tiles for honors this week...

were sent in by...

non other than the creators of Edgar and Flec:  Jody Genovese, CZT and Ragged Ray !

Jody (New York) wrote ~

First, thank you so much for selecting my pattern Edgar to be one of the featured patterns for this week’s challenge. Truly an honor for me coming from you. I am tickled (a little play on your challenge there).
I must tell you that it really was a challenge for me! I confess I started three tiles before landing on this one. I also realize that the orientation I prefer it in is completely upside down! Oh well, it was a long week. I just finished this through a TERRIBLE thunderstorm. A thunderstorm? In February? In NY?? Fortunately I didn’t have to do it by candlelight…

Tangled Tidbits -
*swirled, striped, and sparkled arua of Edgar
*perf tipped points of Wibble
*weighted lines, black background
*inner shading in Flec fashion

Ragged Ray (United Kingdom) wrote ~

Sometimes when I sit to draw a tile I have a fairly clear idea of what I'm aiming for. But at other times I just let the pen lead, and I follow. This week it was the latter. I have used both Wibble and Edgar before, and of course I'm familiar with Flec – but that didn't explain quite what appeared on my tile. A strange garden of delights, with dangling vines under a darkened sky – Edgar's eyes combined with Wibble and suddenly elephants arise!
I can't wait to see everyone else's tiles to see what they've made with my tangle.

Tangled Tidbits -
*vines spring from the looped accents of Edgar
*Edgar's curved lines repeat in Wibble
*dark, sparkled top layer of Flec
 *black and white striped aura of Wibble
*Flec repeats in stacks of one and three




Congratulations, Jody and Ragged Ray and thank you for your newest tangles.

I have a little something coming in the mail for you both.

A huge thank you to all of the contributors to this week's challenge.
Please know that I appreciate and treasure your kindnesses and encouragements as well. 

Many thanks to the creators of the wonderful tangles we used this week along with my string:

Flec by Ragged Ray

Wibble by Shawna Martin

Edgar by Jody Genovese, CZT


 Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #186!