This week’s “It’s a String Thing” challenge is something a bit different. Adele Bruno is premiering a new Tangle called “Trella” on her Blog, Tickledtotangle.com. (click the It’s a String Thing button on the sidebar to quickly link to Adele’s Site) If you would like to see the Trella step out, here is the direct link to it. Adele has had some of her CZT group as well as her advanced tangling class trying the Tangle out and has tasked us with using it or a variation on a simple curved X string. The 2 patterns chosen to supplement Trella are both Zentangle originals and classics by Maria Thomas, N’Zeppel, and Florz.

Anytime I start a new Tangle, I get out the sketchpad and after practicing the steps I make a Tangle “play” page. Basically, this allows me to explore different variations or ways to draw it that would make the Tangle mine. So instead of posting the steps this week, I’m going to show my early tiles and play page because something interesting happened when I finished up my first tile. This is my first play page for Trella.

Next I started my tile (first tile), shown next, but I stopped after adding Florz and shading it. It looked good but as I was thinking about whether or not to add a fill in the blank florz squares, I began to wonder if Trella would work as a fragment in a reticulum (turning it into a grid form).

So, I took the sketchpad back out and began playing with Trella in a grid. Here’s the sample tile with a few variations I tried out.

I liked the heart shaped one best and that’s what I used on my final tile. I hope this post isn’t too technical but I thought some might want to see the process I used to arrive at the grid form. As always, your comments and questions are welcome either here in comments or by email (Thetirelesstangler@gmail.com).

I’m excited by how quickly this site is gaining interest! Thank you all for stopping here and please leave a like if you enjoy a post! Each one I get is very much appreciated!