"T's a String Thing" #153 Tiles

This week, we reconnected with the classic tangle, Crescent Moon.  While a monotangle may seem limiting, the results are delightfully diverse and dramatic.

Let's take a look ~

This first tile arrived from Sarah (Michigan) ~

I just mirror imaged some of the crescents.
It turned out to be a lot of fun to take the time to draw the shapes carefully. Great string!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*prominent string line where the moons meet
*some shared aura lines between string sections


From Katrina Handson (Florida) ~

Here's my entries for its a string thing 153 I love crescent moon it's one of my favorite tangles.I enjoyed playing with the color :)

Tangled Tidbits -
*light/dark variations
*shaded, tippled, and sparkled aura

Tangled Tidbits -
*mirrored black and white spaces
*pretty pops of color


From Jean Beckstrom (Alabama) ~

I have rarely done this tangle since my first beginner tile because I did not care for it. I think it is better mixed with other tangles. Since I did a whole tile of this, I hope my unlike does not show up too much.

..quite the contrary!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*various sizes of Crescent Moon line the string
*shading adds depth to the aura



From Karen, The Creative Miss L (Canberra, Australia) and here on her blog ~

Thanks for this challenge. Crescent Moon is an oldie but a goodie. My first tile draws inspiration from the Zentangle Primer (page 30) while the second draws inspiration from Sandy Steen Bartholomew’s Yoga for the Brain (page 42) plus my own idea of adding blue Crescent Moon ripples. Hope you like them.

Tangled Tidbits -
*brown and black sections yield a layered effect
*lovely use of white highlights

Tangled Tidbits -
*petal shaped aura
*stacked Crescent Moons



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

How nice, a Crescent Moon monotangle! I loved creating it.

Tangled Tidbits -
*three pretty variations
*detailed shading and aura add wonderful depth



From Denise Fairbank (New Hampshire) ~

I don't use Crescent Moon as much as I should and this challenge reminded me just how versatile this pattern can be. Using oversized Huggins as my string, I added several variations of Crescent Moon as the fill. It was fun creating different combinations. Needless to say...I plan to use Crescent Moon more often! Thanks for the challenge.
Instagram: string.then.tangle

Tangled Tidbits -
*Huggins as the string line - very clever use of the tangle
*very pretty variations and pleasing balance of black and white spaces


From sra (India) ~

I have been busy with several things the last couple of weeks and will be busy during the weekend too. So I had to think of something quick if I wanted to be able to participate this week. It hit me suddenly that Narwal is a fillable pattern in Zentangle, and I did some rough work with Crescent Moon inside Narwal to check. It also struck me that I could use the two arcs in the string as part of Crescent Moon itself and that's what I attempted.
I recently took a class on layering in Zentangle and realised that outlining the shape of a pattern with graphite and drawing it out can offset it from the rest of the design. I tried that here.

Tangled Tidbits -
*very creative use of Narwal in the string and then to accent it with Crescent Moon
*black sparkled aura and two large black moons on either side



From smgg (Taiwan) and on Istagram ~

Have a nice day!!!

Tangled Tidbits -
*light and lovely, even aura lines
*moons filled with loops, lines, Tipple




From Sabine (Germany) ~

Crescent Moon was one of my first tangle I've learned and I often use it. This week I had so much fun with "Back to the roots". I also used your new tangle O.... Oooh I am fall in love with them, since I saw it for the first time. Thank you for sharing. Back to the roots means for me also drawing on a white tile only with black Micron and shading. Thank you for an other great challenge.
Many greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*your enthusiasm shows in your tangles - beautiful!
*fabulous use of large and small moons, aura, and sparkle
 - and I love the "O" filled string :)



From Hilary Merola (Chicago) ~

I've gotten away from doing your great challenges, so this week I told myself I had to do it no matter what. And as you can guess, I had fun doing it! I added to your string and just did my own variation on the tangle.
Thanks for the opportunity,

Tangled Tidbits -
*creative Crescent Moon seems to spin on the string
*deep shading where the moons meet



From Beth Gaughan (North Carolina) ~

What a fun tile! I added a little accent of Printemps to mine.

Tangled Tidbits -
*pretty Printemps filled centers
*pattern varies in each string section



From Matt W. (Princeton, New Jersey) ~

This week's string has a nice familiarity to it 😁😁!

Tangled Tidbits -
*alternating moons line the string - M for Matt, of course!
*shaded white space accents the aura-ed moons



From Tina Kirchhübel and here on her blog ~

This week the pattern you choose was a real challenge for me. Crescent Moon is one of my favorite patterns and I wanted to do something special with it in a monotangle. So I decided to draw a normal and a negative version of it and added another version with full circles that look a bit like moon phases. I hope you like it.
Greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*wonderful takes on the tangle, especially the waxing and waning moons
*striking positive/negative effect


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

Thanks so much for a great challenge, though it wasn't too challenging since both the string and the pattern were right in my comfort zone.
I love Crescent Moon. I'd created a tile using a version of this string along with Crescent Moon back in my early days of Zentangle. I've used this string frequently in swaps as it represents both of my initials M and W. I've included some of that work on my blog this week.

Tangled Tidbits -
*slim sparkled moons along the string line - M and W for Michele, too!
*aura moves beautifully from black to white, shading to highlights


From Hilary Gibbons (Southern Spain) ~

Here is an entry for IAST #153
Last week I bought a set of Inktense pencils and some artist tiles that were claimed to be suitable for watercolour, fineliners etc. When I saw this week's challenge I thought of the red moons we get here in Spain. First nervous go with the Inktense and tiles but the surface of the paper broke down even with very little water and when totally dry the Sakura pen then bled into the broken surface. I had put this tile in the rubbish bin because I was very disappointed and disheartened but when I told someone, who has been so very kind and helpful, she suggested giving it a second look. So this morning I raided the trash! I've tried to tidy the lines a little and added some shading and, well, it has grown on me :)
I am truly overwhelmed with how sweet everyone has been to this complete and utter beginner. I have even set up a blog page which I had never imagined doing. Not without help of course and I'm really grateful for the generous spirit of the real artists involved in tangling.
P.S My blog is called 'Anoia, Arising From the Cutlery Drawer' named after the 'masterpiece' painting in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett :D

Tangled Tidbits -
*encouraging story of revisiting a tile with renewed conviction - thank you, Hilary
*doubled string line weaves in and out of full moons
*one blackened aura line for each moon
*shadowed string line


From Jutta Gladnigg (Germany) ~

Crescent M-oon by M-aria Thomas, m-onotangle with M-string...
M-arvellous challenge!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*great find with all of the M's in this challenge!
*full moons appear to burst upward
*each arua is shaded


From Anja (East Frisia, Germany) and here on her blog ~

I had a lot of fun with this great Challenge! Just in time I finished my tile.
Many Greetings from Germany!

Tangled Tidbits -
*dainty to dark versions of Crescent Moon
*dot filled aura
*each string section filled with a different version of the tangle


From Karin (Germany) ~

this is my entry to challenge no. 153.
“Crescent Moon” also was one of my first patterns. However I am not really satisfied with my result but I am looking forward to see the other entries!
Greetings from Germany

Tangled Tidbits -
*mirrored moons along a doubled string line
*beautifully aura-ed moons



From Val Steele (Johannesburg, South Africa) ~

Crescent moon, B-Dylan, Bunzo and Ixorus.

Tangled Tidbits -
*tangles play very well together
*Crescent Moon and aura repeat in Ixorus



From Ingrid  (The Netherlands) ~

Here is my IAST tile # 153 for this week.
It has become a busy one, but it was very nice to do Crescent Moon as a mono tangle. I like how it worked out with high contrast, unlike my tile last week.

Tangled Tidbits -
*deep black and white contrast
*alternating light and dark aura
*five fabulous moon centers



From Jenny Hopkins (Australia) ~

Thank you again for another interesting challenge. It is lovely to revisit an original tangle and to come up with new ways to present it. I enjoyed the challenge. It was a good balance of focus and just letting it happen one stroke at a time.

Tangled Tidbits -
*moons mirror on either side of the doubled string line - notice how different they look, even though they begin with the same arc
*awesome aura - overlapping, Tippled, sparkled, striped, dotted, shaded



From Becky Welty (North Carolina) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*Crescent Moon border
*marvelous moons filled with perfs, lines, curves
*soft shading



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

My contribution.  Loved his challenge!

Tangled Tidbits -
*center string section features layered Crescent Moon
*use of lovely aura makes the variations pop
*string line left white


From Anita A Westin (Dalarna, Sweden) ~

Last day in Östhammar! Here comes my Crescent moon! This challenge was perfect for me to do here, sittning in the gallery waiting for people coming in. Crescent moon was one of the first tangles I learned and one of those I have used a lot! I like it very much!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*two large Crescent Moons fill the center - notice the aura even includes a touch of Crescent Moon
*light and dark moons
*aura and shading add wonderful movement and depth




From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

Monotangle challenges really give one the opportunity, albeit through enforced coercion, to explore the depth of one's imagination (or lack thereof). The result...I never know what might come out of my brain, why or how (so don't ask), and I can count on at least one night of tangle dreaming during which I create the most amazing tiles for which I have no hope of wakeful reproduction. But eyes open or closed, do I have fun!
Naturally I've incorporated Crescent Moon in my designs before, but only in the simplestedition. This was a stretch! Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Adele.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*Printemps filled moons
*kaleidoscope effect with beautiful aura

 Tangled Tidbits -
*waves of Crescent Moon
*Marla said "don't ask" but my goodness! How does she do what she does?!

Tangled Tidbits -
*long, tapered lines of aura
*a moon filled spiral




From Adri van Wyk (Upington, South Africa) ~

Love a monotangle.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*Crescent Moon shadows in the doubled, white string line
*alternating brown and black aura-ed moons
*beautiful shading and sparkle



From Rebecca Isenstein (Stamford, Connecticut) ~

...When I started tangling, Crescent Moon was definitely one of my "go to" tangles. But then as I learned more and more tangles, I really hadn't been using Crescent Moon very much. This week's challenge reminded me of what an interesting, versitile, and fun tangle it is!

Tangled Tidbits -
*white aura-ed moons line the string
*layered moons fill the center


From Allison Durno (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada) ~

Tangled Tidbits -
*Crescent Moon shines on a black tile (like a night sky)

*aura accented with dots and lines

From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

I'm humbled beyond measure ... first receiving the stunning frame and then having my tile highlighted last week. IAST is one of my favorite weekly rituals ... I learn so much from the many interpretations of a prompt ... I appreciate the vast IAST community.
This week's prompt ... I loved the string (my maiden name begins with "M").
Crescent Moon is a tangle I don't use often ... I love how it looks ... I love the sharp contrasts ... I think I just try to conserve on ink. The prompt sort of gave me permission to let go of my reservations. I added Striping, Tipple, Printemps, Flux, and Maryhill to my dizzy mix.
Huge thanks and cheers to a lesson in loosening the reigns!

 Tangled Tidbits -
*gorgeous deep black spaces
*simple moons, layered moons, tangle filled moons - wonderful variety
*pattern variation changes in each string section
(Nice frame :)


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

Ragged Ray A.K.A. Jem from The United Kingdom ~

What a wonderful idea - to ask us to truly go back to basics. This ties in so well with conversations I've been having this week with someone fairly new to tangling. I've been considering my tangling roots, my beginnings - and the ongoing journey, always a journey, never a destination.
I started my Zentangle journey 3 years ago. It seems like forever, it seems like yesterday. And on the 9th tile I drew up popped something special. A section of Crescent Moon that I dared to do slightly differently than the basic step out method. And in that, a hint of the endless possibility that even the simplest tangle holds. I remember writing about my tile (http://raggedray.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=gypsy) and saying that my Crescent Moon section looked like a gypsy table cloth. (Second tile below)
And so I revisit that idea today, with more confidence, more passion and just as much wonder about what black lines and grey shadows can achieve.

 Tangled Tidbits -
*mirrored moons on either side of the doubled string line
*aura of the inner moons takes on a life of its own as it moves downward
*outer moons aura-ed in various widths
*detail lines, perfs, shading, and white space lend beauty and dimension

*tassels accent the outer ridge

Congratulations, Jem, and thank you for eloquently describing your tangled journey - you give voice to ours as well.

I have a little some thing coming in the mail for you.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated this week, your work inspires all of us.

Kudos to Zentangle® co-founder Maria Thomas for the fabulous Crescent Moon.

Check back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #154!