PictureBook – ‘Mr Tangle’ – By Benamon Tame

The rhyme was based on the legend of Tibur Thorn who had been locked up in one of the rooms because of insanity. He would cut himself and chewed off his own fingers and replaced them with bits of wire and spring he had taken from one of the beds. One day he escaped and one the first night was found over a sleeping maid, combing her hair with his improvised fingers. The maid awoke and her scream frightened him away and he disappeared in to the house. A search was raised but he could not be found and it was assumed he had escaped into the estate woods.

Several nights later the body of the maid was discovered with her head missing. Over the next couple of weeks several more female staff and one of the family girls were found dead and their heads removed but the Tibur could not be found.

He was finally caught in one of the loft spaces, stroking the head of the first maid and surrounded by the others. The search party chased Tibur onto the roof where he threw himself off. His body was never recovered and there is no gravestone in the family mausoleum, although records still have his plot marked.

Some accounts say he survived the fall and was returned to his room and the door was bricked up while others say he is still lose and still wanders the corridors looking for the heads he had taken.
The rhyme had been passed on to successive generations of the Thorn family, usually by the governesses to keep the children in their beds at night and tell them that the knots in their hair were from Mr Tangle visiting them at night.

(Taken from ‘In the Ravens Eye. The myths and legends of the Thorn Family)

‘Mr Tangle’ – ©Benamon Tame

©Benamon Tame

Mr Tangle started out as a simple distraction when brushing my daughters hair, they would say ‘get out Mr Tangle’ with each difficult knot. As I started thinking about the wider story and the family that had spawned the Lost Toys I came back to Mr Tangle. like the Sandman and the monsters that lay in wait under the bed or behind opened doors. The Thorn family were a large but insular family, nursery rhymes were altered to fit the family ideology and teach family history. Children’s tales and songs always had an element of socialization and indoctrination but the Thorns took it to another level, preparing the young for their place in the dynasty with fear, guilt and obligation.

In constructing Mr Tangle I wanted to give him the look of an old fugitive or an escapee from Bedlam with flapping strait jacket. I started off with a shot of a vintage sailors overalls from a local maritime museum (taken a couple of years ago, you never know what you might use!) which I used Juxtaposer and edited into the usual Lost Toy Room space and then added the bare feet from a shot of me standing.

©Benamon Tame

Hair was added with Blender from a shot of my daughter in the bath, i got her to stand up mid wash with her hair all messed and covered in Shampoo which gave a nice dirty and tanged look. In Juxtaposer again i used a sample of the hair and images of some old tools to build up his hands. I then used a sample from the collar to create the cloth cap.

©Benamon Tame

To add extra detail and texture to the material i used samples of folds in the cloth to make added folds and tears and then using Blender added detail from a shot of some old wood.

More texture was added using Iris Photo suite and Snapseed. Final adjustments were then made using Snapseed and Pictureshow.

Apps Used: ProCamera, Juxtaposer, Iris Photo Suite, Blender, Pictureshow, Snapseed,

Please support us…