*Sparkle* and Shine and Many Thanks to Sue

Recently, an avid tangler (who is mostly self-taught), wrote to ask me about the term "sparkle".  She had read about it, particularly on my Tuesday posts, but was not quite sure of what it was all about.  By definition,

Sparkle is the deliberate skip in a line to add highlight to a tangle pattern.

Sparkle is a tangle enhancer.  That is, it is a special little extra added to a tangle pattern to make it - in the case of sparkle - shine!

For more fabulous information on the subject, I turned to Sue Agnew.  Sue has been a regular contributor to my "It's a String Thing" challenges since they began last fall.  I've affectionately crowned Sue "Queen of Sparkle" because of her signature style of tangling.  I appreciate her love of adding sparkle to most every tangle she draws.

 She was happy to explain how she came to be such an avid sparkler -

I have always greatly admired Maria's [Thomas'] work, and noticed right off that she used the sparkle technique (not knowing what it was called) to highlight certain areas. I know it is very un-Zentangle to compare yourself to someone else, particularly if they are a professional calligrapher and artist -- but anyway I could never get the sparkle technique to work for me. Also at the time I was getting frustrated because I would do a tile and like everything about it except one tangle or another, particularly if it was a new tangle ... so I decided it was "OK" to practice tangles before using them in a combination work. And I started practicing adding sparkle to everything. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. But I'm probably comfortable with it now because of that time spent in total immersion or one might say total obsession.
Anything with parallel repetitive lines can be "sparkled". It's easiest when they are straight or nearly straight lines. The main "tip" I would have is to be sure the stop and re-start are all in the same line (the sparkle is just a break). I particularly had (and still have) trouble with Printemps because with curved lines it's difficult to break and re-start the line without hooking the ends.

Sue graciously sent five scans of her work along with brief notes on which tangles work well with sparkle. She said,"Until I started doing your challenge I used Aquabee Super Deluxe 4 x 6 inch sketch pads for my tangles ... I still do, and then for the challenge I tear out a page and cut it to 3.5 x 3.5 inches."

Here is the first of her pages -

Study in Sparkle by Sue Agnew

She was pleased with sparkle on Puf and Chaining - Meer as well, but "not nuts" about Warble.

Sue followed with this picture along with her observations about how sparkle behaved with the tangles -

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

Beelight -- OK (that's one of those hard ones with curved lines -- you can see how the ends sometimes "hook" instead of continuing smoothly); Footlites -- curved part OK, rays what's the point; Avreal -- OK; Ixorus -- not so much.

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

And more wonderful commentary -

Snood -- love, love, love; Inapod -- one of my favorite tangles and the sparkle works on the "pod" but on the inside it looks creepily like an eyeball; Bucky -- why (I love to draw Bucky but the sparkle doesn't do anything); Tuftid, not so much; Cockles & Mussels -- I like it but it's hard because of that curved line thing and the lines really need to be closer together I think.

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

Of the picture above, she noted that W2 works OK, Pea-Knuckle is well suited to sparkle while Ixorus is not.

And her notes about the following picture speak better than I could recreate -

Socc -- yes; crescent moon -- OK; Bucky -- nah; Avreal -- OK; Nekton -- nah; can't remember what I outlined the string with but it works fine; Cadent mashed up with Afterglo -- yes .

Sparkle Study by Sue Agnew

What a treasure of information and inspiration - and a rare treat at that.  It is a  privilege to be privy to Sue's learning process, to walk through her discoveries, and to view her notebook pages.

Many, many thanks to Sue, "Queen of Sparkle", for the special treat and for enLIGHTening us!

"It's a String Thing" #55 Tiles

Happy Labor Day!

 In the States, the first Monday in September is set aside to honor the achievements of the American worker. It is a Federal Holiday and many people enjoy the day off - but thankfully that doesn't apply to tangling!

This week's string by Sue Agnew was a lovely loopy one and we used a single pattern by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts called Striping, along with the tangle enhancer called sparkle.  Let's take a look ~

The first tile arrived from Sara Belmont-Kleingeld.  She wrote, "I hope my tangling counts as "Striping"... since it ended up looking just like barberpole."

Yes, it does "count" and yes, it does look like Barberpole.  Sara tangled along the string line, leaving a narrow space to alternate her pattern.  The two patterns must be close cousins :)

Deanna Spence sent the next tile ~

Thick lines and beautiful shading give this marvelous movement.

Joan Delony wrote ~

This was a fun String Thing. I love working with stripes and have really been into coloring this week. Therefore, I really enjoyed working on this tile. It is also posted on my website .

Joan used a mix of thick and thin lines, pretty sparkle, and even lined her white spaces for a tremendous result.

Cheryl Stocks wrote ~

Thank you for the opportunity to "sparkle." I am mighty grateful for the chance to focus on just one pattern. I applied the sparkle liberally and with boldness; my thoughts are etched at my blog...
Have a brilliant day!

Wishes for a brilliant day - and a brilliantly sparkled tile, too!  Cheryl used a variety of line widths to define her string sections.

CZT Charlotte Carpentier said ~

I simply couldn't pass up doing some Stripes. I have never tried to sparkle, so I hope I did it justice. I am on a bit of a tan tile bender these days, playing with single tones on it seeing how they look. 

Yes, she did sparkle justice - note how she used a jagged edge type of sparkle and used a pale shade of her red in the lighter stripes to follow through.

From Lily Moon ~

Lily tangled along her string line and then added colorful stripes in some, but not all sections.  Note how she added white highlights to create delightful depth.

K. Bish called this "Zebra Dreams" as she has been "playing with color lately" ~

That is a very colorful piece indeed!

Janice Johnson wrote ~

Attached is my submission for this week's challenge. I had to really leave my comfort zone and do this tile. I have only attempted Striping once and did not even include it in my book of tangles. You can see my blog for this tile.

Look what Janice did to the edges of her striping.  By curving the lines around her spaces she added dimension and added to a fabulous feel of layering.  

From Ragged Ray ~

So here's where I usually ramble on about how I found the challenge and the tangles, and what I've done with them. But this week I found I had even more than usually to say, so I popped it all in a blog post ...
Suffice to say I had a great time, love the tangle, the string, and am learning to love Sparkle!

She added a pop of color, various ways of darkening in her alternating lines,  sparkle, shading, highlights, and a bit of whimsy.  That is delightful.

From CZT Sue Jacobs ~

A study in blue...her curved lines, sparkle, and shading, give Striping the look of being folded and tucked and bulging.  It brings to mind pulled taffy - just delicious!

Carmela wrote, "This one was a bit difficult to me and i don’t know if I did it right??

I made sparkle in [the] curvy lines and stripes between it. You can see it on my blog."

Carmela completed her tile in her own way and therefore it is "right".  That is one of the wonderful things about zentangle® - there is no wrong way to do anything! 

Carmela used a thick pen to make her strokes for Striping and the string sections really pop because of that.  She used the actual tangle pattern named Sparkle in her loops and the whole thing turned out just right!

Lori Byerly said ~

What an interesting challenge. With a string and one tangle pattern, it really forced me to think creatively.
My tile is also shown here... 

Lori used very wide and very narrow lines, alternated the darkened spaces from her loops to her other spaces, she added shading and sparkle.   That is extremely creative.

Christine Forrester wrote ~

The black and white one was my first real attempt at sparkles, I liked it better in the gold colour and then looked at the rain running down my living room window and produced the blue one, which I think looks like sparkles on water and rain on my window.

She also added that she didn't expect to have all three posted, but after that lovely description, how could one, or two, be omitted?

 It is a triple treat!
Christine used sparkle and shading in each of her tiles and in such a variety of ways.

From Joya ~

This is my contribution to this weeks' String Thing. I'm not really satisfied with how the sparkle came out, I have to practise that much more I think. But I love the String Number 55 ♥.

Bold and striking with tapered sparkle spaces, shading, and bands of black extending off the tile, this is just gorgeous.
Joya also posted it here on her blog 


Ilse Lukken also used the tangle Sparkle.  This is what she wrote:

Hmm, I'm afraid I didn't read the assignment well - and I'm not sure what a 'tangle enhancer' is... So I created this tile and had lots of fun doing it, but afterwards I'm not sure if I did it 'the right way'. Well, at least it was right for me :-) I put the challenge on my blog.

And that is the take-a-way...it was right for her and she had fun doing it. Her bold Striping lends a wonderful contrast to her white space and daintier Sparkle.

Sue Lin wrote~

...Tried #55 three different ways to practice my shading, I'm still waiting to see the "POP" overwhelm me and to see that my depth has grown! Until then, a tangling I will go, a tangling I will go, high ho the merry oh, a tangling I will go!!

What a merry way to approach tangling!

Sue delved into the tangle and came up with some creative variations, added some complimentary tangles, and explored bold lines.  

Lucy Banta said ~

Happy Labor Day weekend! I don't know about you, but this summer went by way too quickly! I was happy to end the summer with your monotangle challenge. I haven't really done much monotangling, but it's fun and the result is amazing. I may even try this one again varying the widths of the stripes.
Here's the link to my blog post...

The result is amazing, especially the way Lucy aura-ed around the border and added sparkle, not to mention shading!

Ingrid Coventon wrote, "...So nice to work with this tangle and bring in/out the sparkle.  Much love from the rainy netherlands."

The rain must have inspired Ingrid.  The curves of Striping are lovely, but it is her sparkle that absolutely steals the show.  Feathered edges between the black of the lines and the white of the highlight are striking.

A very warm welcome to Susan Theron from South Africa.  Along with "kind regard" she sent her first tile for the challenge ~

Unfortunately the photograph is a bit out of focus, but the contrast and sparkle shine through on her pretty piece.

Kathyrn Crane-Theilen noted that "the sparkle really adds to the tangle."

It really does.  And like Ingrid, Kathryn beautifully added sparkle in feathered lines.  Her scalloped edge gives a dainty look to the finished tile.

Jane Glotzer wrote ~

Hope this finds you well...what a great challenge this week...got me to finally explore this whole "sparkle" idea, which I had been resisting--:)
I reread Sue's post and checked out a lot of Margaret Bremner's work to look at her techniques for this enhancer...and it all helped a bunch...
So here is my Striping (with sparkle) all over the place!
As always, looking forward to seeing everyone's stripes!!

So many feathered sparkles in a row - how fun!  Jane created a tile within a tile and added was able to add more lovely detail.  

Links to the helpful sites that she mentioned are referenced on this past post.  

Cheryl Anne Day-Swallow said using one tangle made her think "real hard."  She created this ~

She attached the above file in the direction of the original string line.  Here it is flipped for a better view ~

She included this poem:

We were flying over head, in an airplane
We scouted the lands, and all the dry plains
What did we spot?, as we flew real slow
A Zentangle Elephant, down below

That is so sweet - Cheryl will have to keep "thinking real hard" - it is a treat to see what she comes up with!

Linda Bladen wrote~

I initially did a tile which had Striping in each of the spaces created by the string but I was showing my other half and saying that I thought it may look good with just the loops filled in and he said that my little loops reminded him of a bumble bee so this is how my second tile came about.

Bees - that is fabulous!  How fun that they appear to have made the string line in Bijou style.  

From Juul~

She also pushed her tangles passed the sting line and to the edge of her tile.  So many swirls and turns and lovely movement in one place!

And from the string's creator and sparkle aficionado, Sue Agnew ~

 Thank you again for using this string, and for "calling me out" -- it really was a week-brightener.
When I submitted that string I was in my "tangle the string line" phase, and I liked loopy strings because once you tangled the string line it left a nice little spot to put a tangle without having to worry about finishing the edges. So I wanted to honor that by tangling the string line, but I also wanted to honor your challenge to make a monotangle. So I striped the string line -- although I guess technically I used "shine" rather than "sparkle" on the stripes of the string line. Anyway, it was great fun!
Happy Labor Day weekend!

Sue chose to line the tangle instead of darkening it in.  Her tangle curves beautifully along the edges and that sparkle is just beautiful.

From Kia Richardson ~ 

She included a variety of line width, curve, and sparkle.  She also posted her tile here on her blog.  

Audrie Weisenfelder said ~

Another week gone by, and I'm still playing catch up. I almost didn't do this week's challenge, as I didn't feel very comfortable with Striping. I've only played around with it in my sketchbook, to mixed results. And I've been a total washout at using Sparkle on a tangle like this. But a funny thing happened when I tried putting them together; it sort of worked...
So here it is. It is here on my blog.
Thanks again for setting up these challenges; they keep the brains in gear.

Yes, it really did work beautifully.  Note the way Audrie interwove the lines on the right side of her tile and how she elongated the lines in that right loop.

Marita said ~

...after struggling too long with the straightness of string #54 I thought string #56 would by easy! But with using only tangle and the challenge to create glimmers it was another exercise on my perseverance. The result I liked only after creating the shadows!
But now I love the movement and the feeling of depth!

It has a great sense of movement and depth that clearly came to life with shading.  The thicker lines in the loops lend a nice contrast.

Rachel Godbee  said she hasn't participated for awhile, so she is "back on board with this submission" ~

She traced her string line for a very defined look.

Jenna Wheatmann said that she loved the string but really did not gel very well with striping...

She created a different look for the tangle in each section of the string line - that is remarkable.  Note where the string line loops through the bands of the tangle - that is yummy.

Caroline Moore wrote ~

This is my first monotangle, and I really enjoyed it. I did a few tangelations in the small ovals, a little crescent moon version of striping on the bottom left, and a little tried & true striping for the rest. It was lots of fun. I have posted the challenge on my website.
Thanks again, and happy labor day!

Now that is a lot of fun for one tile!  While not purely a monotangle, (only one pattern would be used)  it is a lovely collection of tangles that compliment Striping very well.

Brenda Urbanik said that Striping is one of her "faves" ~

Her tangles appear to rise off the paper, curve and return only to bulge up again in another direction.  That is remarkable.  Brenda also posted it here on her blog.

Peggy Kohrmann sent this wonderful tile ~

New to Striping and to sparkle, she made both shine.  The direction of her curves along with shading and sparkle give her tangle great depth.  The cross hatched lines in the center tangle are a great touch.

And now, the tile for honors this week was submitted by

Sharyn Penna of Massachusetts!

Sharyn sent in two tiles and wrote this about her process ~

This week I'm sending two tiles--one in pencil the other in pen. I did the pencil first...and I have to confess my eraser was a very helpful tool in learning where to place my sparkles. And I can honestly say the eraser was stowed away before I started the tile completed with a micron. Sparkle is an enhancer I'm still not comfortable with just jumping in cold...finding the right spot for Sparkle is the trick...I need to practice more before I take the big plunge. This was a great exercise for me...and in the end, the two tiles look nice one above the other or side by side.

Sharyn included many of the niceties that most tanglers used this week - the lovely sparkle, shading, curves around the border, and so on.  What makes this so unique is the direction of the lines she chose for the loops in her string line.  Sparkle add tremendous depth to them as well as all the others.

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

Many thanks to all the talented tanglers for sending in your treasured tiles.

Thank you to Sue Agnew, via Linda Farmer at TanglePatterns for String 055 and to Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas for the spectacular Striping.

Stop back tomorrow afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #56 !

"It's a String Thing" #206 Tiles

On the curved and loopy string that we used this week,  CZT Beate Winkler's Funbee and Joy Okawa's Pach were the stars of the show.

Let's take a look ~

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

Tangled Tidbits -
*detail lines and sparkle for Pach
*small, medium, and larger Funbee


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

Whow, two of my go-to-tangles in one challenge! Thank´s Adele again for an inspiring challenge! Loved the string too! Here comes my tile.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*weighted lines, stripes, sparkle, and shadow shading for Funbee
*pretty field of Yincut


From Susan (United Kingdom) ~

I’ve been drawing some mandalas this week so when I saw the challenge I thought I’d carry on. I liked Pach which was new to me. I’ve added it to my favourites library.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful circular Pach
*swirls of Yincut flow from Pach


From Shirley Wohlsen (Queensland, Australia) ~

...I enjoyed this week’s tangles especially ‘Pach’ a fabulous tangle.
Attached is my tile for ‘It’s A String Thing #206 ‘challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*lovely Pach with finished on the ends with rounds
*Funbee springs from Yincut grid


From Hilary (Chicago) ~

Greetings from Chicago where the temperature is 57° and I am totally loving it.As usual I was perplexed by the string and the tangles. So I decided to draw the string and first add my favorite of the three patterns. Then the others just followed along.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Funbee tipped Pach
*Yincut filled Funbee and rounded corners for another pretty variation


From VenaC (Whitby, Ontario) ~

Thanks for this challenge. I thought I would never be able to put these three tangles together and the string looked so complicated. This is my third time using a string. I have turned my tile sideways because it looked better that way. You did say that a string was only a guide. Three new tangles for me and I liked all three.

Tangled Tidbits -
*beautiful softness achieved with shading
*light and lovely Yincut
Yes, a string is only a suggestion - you did wonders with this one.


From Lisette (Switzerland) ~

Thank you for this new challenge. It was fun again. I realised that I made a “mistake” with the chainrings in Patch (this was new to me) but I like it all the same.Hot regards from Switzerland (we are having the hottest days of the year)

Tangled Tidbits -
*fabulous Pach loops
*multi-sized, multi-colored Funbee


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

This was a fun challenge! the moment I saw the string I thought a part of it looked like a cushion and then when I read that Yin-Cut was one of the tangles to use I knew what to do, I decided to create a cushion with Yin-Cut and use Pach and Funbee along with a little bit of Printemps and Marasu as the cushion embellishments. Thank you Adele for another great challenge!
-Greetings from Canada!

Tangled Tidbits -
*shading, highlights, sparkle, layering yield wonderful sense of depth and dimension
*happy mix of basic tangle colors of black and brown



From Renee Womack (Austin, Texas) ~

Thank you for another week’s challenge. Not sure how it all ended up so pastelish (word?), but there you have it.

Tangled Tidbits -
*thick droplets of Funbee creatively flow along the string
*tight curves of Pach


From Lin H (Florida) ~

Loved your challenge. I took quite a few liberties with your tangles and string and ended up with pretty simple results. It’s where the pen led me!

Tangled Tidbits -
Aren't you glad that you followed?!
*Yincut filled wisps of Funbee
*elegant Pach - detail lines, light and dark spaces, and sparkle


From Trudi ( Woodview, Ontario, Canada) ~

... Really enjoyed the Tangles this week, Pach looked like it was so intricate but the stepouts made it so nice to do. Thanks for all your hard work I guest hosted last weeks Challenge at Joey's and don't know how you guys do it every week!

Tangled Tidbits -
How nice, I will look that up.  Congratulations!
*fine lined Yincut
*dainty Pach along the string lines


From Priscilla DeConti, CZT 28 (Kingston, New York) ~

Pach was a challenge as it didn't seem like it was coming out like the step out..but I can live with it now...And Yin cut fit nicely in the loops
Thanks for a great challenge this week.

Tangled Tidbits -
*square Yincut variation
*weighted lines in Pach


From Sra (India) ~

Here's my entry for IAST 206. Have a good week and thanks for hosting!

Tangled Tidbits -
*Yincut and Funbee share similar line, sparkle, and shading details
*Pach shaded along the outer curves accents the inner white curves


From Sabine (Germany) ~

here is my entry for this week. I had a lot of fun with this three, new to me, tangles.
Many greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*alternating black and white center rice shapes of Pach
*stripes and sparkle give Yincut and Funbee a beautiful shine


From Tonia C (Rhode Island) ~

At first the string looked a little intimidating to me. But after practicing the tangles ideas started to flow. As I was doing this tile more creative juices came up so I ran with it. This was a very fun tile to do! Thanks for this challenge and introducing the tangles!

Tangled Tidbits -
*initial curves and rice shapes of Pach compliment the full tangle
*delicate Funbee flows from Yincut's grid
That is a very happy mark :)


From Ria Matheussen, CZT (Belgium) ~

Thank you for your very inspiring challenges. I used to draw mostly without strings but thanks to you I've learned to use them. That curl (where I have made a ribbon of with Fun-bee was a real challenge for me!)
I've drawn on a grey tile (they have become my favorites) with white, black and golden pens but also with a normal pencil. It was the first time I've used Yincut, a very easy and nice pattern, especially for backgrounds but I have never drawn it. That is gonna change, thanks to you.

Tangled Tidbits - 

Oh, that is all good news, Ria!

*beautiful ribbon details - highlights, shading, color

*lovely use of light, dark, and medium tones

From Margarete Gilge (Germany) and here on her blog ~

thank you for the challenge this week. I especially like the patterns funbee and pach. The combination with yincut is very interesting. I send you my black and white version. Another tangle is posted in my blog...
Best wishes from Germany

Tangled Tidbits - 

*Yincut filled string loops, shaded to accent middle diamond shapes

*two pretty variations of both Funbee and Pach

From Mariam G (Port Hueneme, California) ~

Am attaching my tile for IAST206 - what a relaxing challenge this was. It seemed to just 'flow'.Thanks for the Zen!

Tangled Tidbits - 

*weighted Yincut grid lines and Funbee lines, too

*soft shading of all three tangles

From Judy O (Ohio) ~

Thanks for introducing Beate Winkler's Funbee pattern in this challenge - It was new to me, and I like it a lot (it's so graceful), so I kept things simple and focused on Funbee for this tile - (And I did actually use a little of the string -- two of the string lines, turned sideways, became the stems….)

Tangled Tidbits - 

And thank you, Judy, for your tangle Pach :)

*pretty Pach border

*aura-ed delicate Funbee

A very warm welcome to Marjan Heemskerk (The Netherlands) ~

A couple of months ago I discovered Zentangle and I am addicted. This is my first challenge ever and I took it because I love Pach.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*detailed Pach along all the string lines

*softly shaded field of Yincut 

Welcome to IAST and welcome to our tangled map, Marjan.

From Susie (St. Louis, Missouri) ~

Tangled Tidbits - 

*contrasting dark and light Pach

*creative variations of Funbee - love that shaded one filled with dots

From Laurel Davis (New York) ~

Thanks for another great challenge! Pach was a new one for me and I really liked it.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*a rainbow of Pach

*fabulous Funbee flows along two sides of the border

From Henrike Bratz, CZT (Germany) ~

Tangled Tidbits - 

Henrike and Renee Womack (above) treated the string line and Funbee in a similar manner - and from across the globe - how fun!

*Pach's sparkled rice shapes repeat along with perfs

*longer curls and curves of Funbee give it an elegant look

From Debbie Raaen (Trondheim, Norway) ~

Here is my version of challenge 206 Adele with appreciation for all you do.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*rows of light and dark Pach

*colorful Aquafleur inspired Funbee

From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

Three delightful patterns, one playful string ... not sure I did them justice, but I did enjoy. (And thanks for the compliment last week on my descriptives. I do at times find inspiration which stimulates me to wax prosaic, but leaf blowers, diesel trucks and neighborhood construction just didn't do it for me this week.)

Tangled Tidbits - 

*gorgeous details for Funbee

*rounded, sparkled, wide and thinly spaced lines for Yincut

From Lily (Hungary) ~

...here is my tile for your weekly challenge.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*luscious layers of towing Funbee

*sparkled perfs repeat in Pach and Yincut

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

This week’s tile, I promise took minimum plotting and planning. So, all went with the flow. Great! Loved the string and the patterns Funbee by Beate Winkler, Pach by Joy Okawa and Yincut by Maria Thomas. Enjoyed using all the patterns this week.
All in all a satisfying time, well spent.

Tangled Tidbits - 

*magnificent variations of Funbee

*very detailed Pach fills the string line - notice how the loops tuck under and around and then are filled with Funbee

From Sharyn Penna, CZT (Massachusetts) ~

Such a fun string! And I love Pach ... but this tile ... not so much. It's very busy and very grey.
I usually complete the tile before I shade, but I shaded Pach before I completed the tile. I'm such a creature of habit ... one little change to the approach and chaos ensued!
Cheers to Pach!

Tangled Tidbits -
That's happy chaos, if chaos at all!
*Pach gradually grows in size as it loops
*weighted lines of Funbee bring it to the foreground of Yincut



From Pat (Washington State) ~

Yet another great IAST challenge.

Tangled Tidbits -
*detail lines and weighted curves create a lovely Funbee
*white dotted highlights glow on the colorful tangles



This is my tile ~

I began by placing a small and larger version of Pach along the two string curves. I turned the tile 180 degrees and then Funbee blossomed from a Pach hillside. A ground cover of Yincut, some Funbee details for Pach, lightly penciled accents, and a bit of Fescu pulled it all together.

And now...


the tile for honors this week...


was sent in by...

Karen Buse  from California !

Karen wrote:

I was familiar with all three tangles but had always used Pach on a small scale. It was fun to blow it up big enough to incorporate the other tangles into it.

Tangled Tidbits -
*Funbee curls and 'blossoms' along the two curved string lines, aura-ed and shaded
*rounded edges and thick lines for Funbee
*Funbee details in Pach
*Yincut filled, weighted-lined Pach

*pleasing use of light and dark spaces

Congratulations, Karen!

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.

Kudos to the creators of the tangles we used this week along with my string 

Funbee by Beate Winkler, CZT

Pach by Judy Okawa

Yincut by Maria Thomas

Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #207

We are just one week away from a glorious 4th Birthday celebration!