The Night Tangler

Above: The Night Tangler theme by Gemma Khawaja (featuring rhyme by Ulysses Black)

The Night Tangler is a folkloric character created by project writer Ulysses Black and myself. He was inspired by various motifs uncovered in my research into lace making folklore and history. Ulysses Black will be writing a blog post about him in more detail soon, but for now… He is a slippery, shape shifting trickster character who eats pins and generally tries to unravel all the lacemakers’ hard work. Like a tulpa, he is quite formless and his appearance varies depending on who is imagining, or employing, him.

The lacemakers have many customs and superstitions to try to keep him at bay.

The Night Tangler will be eventually carved from wood in the form of a small rod marionette (and probably a glove puppet version too), but I have so far made a rough little paper version of him (pictured) for devising purposes.