A new tangle: Midoosa

Midoosa is a fun little tangle that I came up while I working in my Tangle-a-Day calendar.  I had drawn a star on the page with the intent of practicing Auraknot.  I was not super familiar with Auraknot at the time and needed to look up the directions.  The phone rang and rather than be on the computer and the phone at the same time I decided to just start filling in the star with shapes I refer to as "barbells" for the purposes of Midoosa only since they really don't look like barbells.  I soon realized that this technique worked for many shapes and provided some unexpected results.  I filled 8 squares in my calendar with Midoosa which is unheard of for me.  I guess I realized I had a winner on my hands.  Next step of course was a name.  The original version was done in a star so the points ended up looking like snakes.  Since there were so many of them Medusa, a popular figure in Greek mythology who had a head covered with snakes.  I Zentangled the original name and Midoosa was born. 

Midoosa in the flower shapes around the edge.

Midoosa is used with an octagon in the center.
Many people have commented that the blackened
sections resemble a dove.  I'm still on the fence
about that one.

Midoosa is used in the center of the star towards
the bottom of the tile.  I did not blacken any areas
of Midoosa for this variation

Midoosa is an easy tangle once you get the hang of it.  It looks particularly nice when you create a shape, fill it with Midoosa, then draw an aura around it to give it a little definition and then layer it with other similar shapes filled with Midoosa.  The effect is sort of controlled chaos.  You can get a printable PDF of the step out for Midoosa here.

Here's a few tips for drawing Midoosa:

1)  The shape you choose must have an even number of points.  Midoosa's points are worked as pairs.  

2)  In step 2 you can see that you have created a "barbell".  I call it this because it is fat to thin to fat like a barbell shape.  Complete Step 3 of each barbell as you go.  If you connect all your points at once and then try to figure out where to fill each part in it can be confusing.  

3)  Each barbell does not have to connect to the section directly across from it.  In the examples at the bottom you can see that there is little rhyme or reason to what connects to what.  In the example with the squared off shape you can even see where I connected 2 that were right next to each other.  It's a bit tricky to do but way more fun!

4) Wait until the end to fill in the black sections.  On more than one occasion I have filled some in as I go only to realize that there should be a piece of barbell where I have just colored black.  

I hope you enjoy this new tangle.  Midoosa has so many possibilities.  I can't wait to see what you do with it!