"It's a String Thing" #187 Tiles

Top o' the mornin' to you!

'Tis true that everyone is a wee bit Irish on St. Patty's Day - even my husband eat corned beef and cabbage when I serve it up every March 17 ☘.

IAST #187 is a nod to the great St. Patrick as well as to Rick Roberts, Zentangle® co-founder, who celebrates his birthday this week.

We used my shamrock inspired string and tangle, Lucky, along with Rixty and Cayke.

Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Vonnie Schneider (Minnesota) ~

I the digital world we live in, we are so used to the "UNDO" feature...drawing by hand is teaching me to go with the flow of the new direction we have just created by going one step further than I planned! Shading with markers is a new skill for me (shading in general, actually, but graphite is easier) and I often go too thick or too dark or in the 'wrong' space. Regardless of the number of extra steps I took to arrive at the finished tile (I lost count of the steps and a pedometer wouldn't have helped matters), I am rather pleased with this week's tile.

 Tangled Tidbits -
...there certainly is no 'backspace' button - a wonderful metaphor for life, isn't it?
*lucky Rixty horseshoes!
*Cayke and Lucky variation


From Shirley Wohlsen (Queensland, Australia) ~

Attached is my entry in ‘ It’s A String Thing #187’ challenge.
Happy St Patricks Day to everyone.

Wherever you go
And whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish
Be there for you.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Rixty flows from bold Aquafleur stripes
*center Lucky shares 'stems' with the string


From Renee (Tennessee) and on Instagram ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*dotted Rixty center - dots repeat in Lucky
*lightly penciled Cayke



From Emily Shelton (Kentucky) and here on her blog ~

In addition to Lucky, Cayke and Rixty, I added some Rick's Paradox in honor of his birthday.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*wonderful mix of Rixty and Cayke
*bold tangles focus attention away from the shape of the string

From Lisette (Switzerland) ~

Here my contribution for St. Patrick’s Day. It looks more kind of a butterfly than a shamrock but it definitely reminds me of Spring (and good old Ireland - beautiful country!)!

Tangled Tidbits -
*Lucky Rixty - how fun!
*Cayke filled string sections curve around the doubled lines in Auafleur manner


A very warm welcome to Ann Gotowy (France) ~

it's new for me, i live in france and my english is not very good
it's my first participation string187
love your blog

Tangled Tidbits -
*Rixty center reaches into each string space
*light layers of Cayke
Welcome to IAST and to our Tangled Map, Ann!

From Veena (Richmond, Washington) and here on her blog ~

Please find attached my tile for IAST Challenge #187.

Tangled Tidbits -
*deep contrasts in Lucky variation
*complimentary combination of tangles


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

I was surprised myself, when the outcome of this week’s challenge was a monotangle. I just didn’t want to add anything more. The tile felt so light - just as I felt myself when I was able to spent the first one or two hours working in my garden this afternoon. It felt like spring after all.

Tangled Tidbits -
*whimsical Rixty defines the string
*detailed shading on each line overlap



From Jutta Gladnigg (NRW, Germany) ~

This week's challenge is so special... I have spent several holidays in Ireland 🇮🇪 and I love everything about it... the people, the countryside, the culture, the history, the music (bought my own bodhrán)... and so I love taking part in commemorating St. Patrick's Day. Thank you, Adele, for celebrating this wonderful heritage with your cool string and patterns.

Tangled Tidbits -
Did you tangle your bodhrán?!
*Rixty circles a Lucky grid cut by the string
*gorgeous black spaces accentuate the tangles


From Jennifer Moor (Switzerland) ~

I was all ready to fill the string with shamrocks but then I fell in love with Cayke - all those delicious scallops! Have a great week and congratulations on your recent anniversary, many blessings for many more to come.

Tangled Tidbits -
*large and small Cayke, shaded and accented with gold
*Rixty starts in the center and dips under and outward


From Patricia (Switzerland) ~

Thank you for the St Patrick's day challenge...also my name day, and my paternal granny was Irish.
I will definitely use these tangles again...thank you all!
Have a great week!

Tangled Tidbits -
...a great day for you!
*Tipple outlined Lucky and string sections
*pretty edge created as Cayke begins on the border and moves inward


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

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Thank you Adele for a fun challenge, this time I only used two patterns as I run out of space for a third one ;-) I loved your pattern "Lucky" so much that I wanted to draw the whole shamrock with it, so then I only had space in the background for another pattern and I thought "Cayke" would look nice there. Happy Anniversary Adele and have a great time with your family!
-Greetings from Canada!

Tangled Tidbits -
*weighted lines, aura, and layered greens create such a lovely shamrock of Lucky
*white on black Cayke


From Ria Matheussen (Belgium) ~

Here is my entry for this week.
I have taken my watercolors and use them as a background.
Insi[d]e the shamrock string, I've drawn another string with Rixty to make a big Lucky. (braun pen)
Outside the string, I have paint the open space with a black brushpen and then put some Cayke and Lucky-patterns on.
To finish, I have used a white gellypen on RIxty.
I wish you a nice weekend and thank you for this interesting challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous colors - and white on black like Gabriela did half way 'round the world!
*Rixty rings 'round the string line



From Sra (India) ~

This is one piece where I tried covering up everything that looked ugly to my eye - mistakes, bad decisions, etc. And I feared it would look a mess at the end of all that correcting-the-wrongs but I quite like what I did.
I used colourless blender with water colour pencils this time too. That 'set' some of the colours I had worked on - the pencil grid for Lucky, for instance, got highlighted even without my making an effort. At the end of the creative session :) - I added some colour there too and I love the effect.
I originally drew the Rixty in black, with the Pigma Micron, but the colour seemed out of place so I gave it some green and then some more with a sketch pen. I put an 8B graphite border around the whole design but couldn't blend it out well, so masked it with some more green, and filled it up with orange. I'm pleased with the piece, especially the central greens.

Tangled Tidbits -
Thank you for the description of how you achieved that pretty depth.
*Rixty border flows from two directions
*lighter spaces left between Lucky


From Trudi (Woodview, Ontario, Canada) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*Rixty covered string lines
*billowing Cayke and Lucky share similar curves with a great green background



From Sabine (Germany) ~

I had really much fun this week with the amazing pattern and shamrock inspired string. Here is my contribution for St. Patrick's Day.
With many greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*three variations of Lucky
*creative directions for Rixty make for very fun aura


From Linda Goncalves (Pennsylvania) ~

Wishing ease of living to everyone. Had fun doing this one.

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautiful border created with Cayke scallops
*flowing Rixty covers the string lines


From Barbara Steyer (Germany) ~

hope you had have a wonderful day with your husband!
This challenge was very interesting for me. In the first moment I had no idea what to do, but playing with your proposed pattern, I started the flow. Great!
Here is my tile for this string.
Have a nice weekend and a wonderful St. Patrick's day.💚
Greetings from Germany

 Tangled Tidbits -
*single striped Lucky in each of the three string 'petals'
*lovely combination of brown, black, and white on a Renaissance tile


From Sharon Fite (California) ~

Here's a little shamrock for the Irish in all of us. Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful Rixty/Cayke combination for a border - and it finishes off with Zinger!
*multiple aura for Lucky


From Sue Agnew (Tucson, Arizona) ~

Here's my tile for the St. Pat's challenge. I like to draw your Lucky freeform rather than in the grid (and when it's done that way it's one of your favorite things, a continuous line tangle), so I was playing with that and then thought about combining it with Rixty. The first one I did I made the loops like rings and was very rigid with it, and it started looking like Crosses (especially because there were three across like Calvary), so I actually googled to see if there was a symbolism connection. Apparently there's not, per se, although St. Patrick supposedly used the shamrock to illustrate the Trinity. The second one I did I tried to loosen up a little so the shamrocks looked more like shamrocks.
A top o' the mornin' to ya! (although it's Saturday afternoon). Thank you!

Tangled Tidbits -
*interwoven Rixty/Lucky variation - very creative variation. Thank you for the 'walk through', Sue.
*sparkled center intersections add a greater sense of depth


From Lovelygiraffe (Japan) and on Instagram ~

here is my tile for your weekly challenge.In Japan I live in, St. Patrick's day is not very familiar. For that reason I first learned about this special day for the first time. Afterwards I got hurried and added green and finished it. 

Tangled Tidbits -
*Rixty border collects rings as it crosses over the deep black string sections - notice that it connects and ends with a little curl
*layers of Cayke, with touches of green and dark shading hover over the lightly penciled Lucky


From Jane (Boulder, Colorado) ~

Happy belated anniversary! May you and Lou have many more years of love and happiness!
I'm dashing off my quick study in Rixty and green for St. Paddy...once I started Rixtying, I just couldn't stop...I already feel Lucky and I'll just have to eat some Cayke--:)
Have a great week! Thanks for your dedication to all things zentangle.

Tangled Tidbits -
*The Zentangle Method has a new vocabulary word: "Rixtying" - I love it.
*single stem of Rixty branches out to fill the three string 'petals'


From Vicki Mitchell, CT 25 (Moscow, Idaho) ~

In the grand tradition of Punch --

 Tangled Tidbits -
*complete grid of green Lucky fills the tiles
*Rixty and Cayke overlap - how fun!


From Marla Mendenhall (Long Beach, California) ~

I haven't participated the last two weeks because I wasn't satisfied with the outcome of my tiles. Funny, now #185 doesn't look so bad after all. Hum...Always been a big fan of Rixty. Much fun to find different shapes to "thread" on stems that branch and weave. So for this challenge I bunched a few shapes together on the string thread to (hopefully) resemble a sprig of clover, and played around with a few variations of Cayke. As for Lucky ... I can't wait for opportunity to work up a larger grid ... or three or ten. So many possibilities. How Lucky are we to have this delightful new pattern to play with, direct from the genius mind of our very own Adele!The thistle in the bottom right corner is still shaped somewhat like a clover but is a nod to my Scottish heritage, as is my signature in orange; no offense intended to Green Isle descendants. Can't see any reason why all us Celts can't appreciate each other, right? Happy St. Pat's to all the Gaelic Green!        Marla Mendenhall (born Clan Watson)

Tangled Tidbits -
...always a delight to study your tiles and decipher your tangles.  You inspire!
*Lucky Rixty - a very lucky Rixty strung with groupings of three shapes to create Lucky
*four variations of Cayke - the thistle is amazing.


From Michele Wynne (California) ~

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Tangled Tidbits -
*one Lucky center (pun intended) flows into Rixty
*yummy layers of white highlighted Cayke


From Carina (Germany) and here on her blog ~

My second "string thing" :)
Greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
Welcome back!
*Rixty four leaf clover
*touches of Cayke appear around and in Lucky and Rixty



From Brenda Urbanik, CZT 13 (Western Cape, South Africa) and here on her blog ~

Here is my tile for this week's challenge. I got lost in Rixty and loved every minute of it. I just added a touch of CAYKE at the top of the leaves.
Have a fabulous day.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Cayke tipped string lines
*stunning fields of Rixty - however did you keep track of them?!


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

...My effort happened quickly this evening. Thanks to you, Rose Brown and Maria Thomas for your exciting patterns as always.

Tangled Tidbits -

*super sparkle for curvy Lucky

*alternating light and dark Rixty, wonderful variation runs along all string lines
 
And now...

the tile for honors this week...

was sent in by...


Susie (Thailand) ~

Thanks for all the work you put into these challenges. I went back in time to check earlier IAST challenges and was wondering how much longer you can keep up the work with all the increased numbers of tiles being sent in. I do hope you have some elves helping out.
Here my tile for St. Patrick’s. Rixty and Lucky are obvious, Cayke I pushed into corners and I am still practicing dew drops.

Tangled Tidbits -
Elves...I hadn't thought of them.  Perhaps a Leprechaun or two will come my way :)
*large offset triangles of Rixty create a fabulous variation
*Lucky flows from Rixty with an elongated black triangle center
*smaller Lucky free float against a field of black
*Cayke tipped Lucky in three corners

Congratulations, Susie !

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

Many thanks to everyone for sending in your precious tiles.  You inspire all of us and help build this wonderfully supportive IAST community.
Continued thanks from Lou and me for the good wishes on our 33rd wedding anniversary, too.

Special thank yous to the creative minds behind the tangles used along with my string and Lucky ~

Cayke by Rose Brown

Rixty by Maria Thomas


Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #188!


Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Birthday to Rick Roberts!