We have our first long weekend of the year here in the USA with the observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.
It appears that a big winter blizzard, code named Harper, could be shutting down the northeast this weekend too. On the bright side, together they make for quality tangling time. Also reading, snoozing … Be safe and stay warm!
Taiwan CZT Damy (Mei Hua) Teng shares her 30th tangle on the site with us today!
Q-Mi is a Cadent-inspired tangle that produces a pretty, floral motif in a very simple way.
Damy writes that Q-Mi is named for her cat. I left my example of Q-Mi quite basic but in this tile Damy shows a host of ways to embellish Q-Mi.
Q-Mi is “somewhat similar to tangling Cadent. Q-Mi uses the elemental C and S strokes.”
In describing what it means for a pattern to be “drawn as a tangle”, Zentangle® co-founder Rick Roberts also describes what is meant by “elemental strokes”:
‘Drawn as a tangle’ means that you repeat a series of elemental strokes in a certain structured way so you inevitably end up with a particular pattern without needing to know what the pattern you are creating is supposed to look like.
Usually the number of elemental strokes needed are 3 or less. Often, you only need one or two. By ‘elemental strokes’ we mean a dot, a straight(-ish) line, a curve (like a parenthesis), a reverse curve (like an ‘S’), and an orb or circle.
Here’s another lovely tile from Damy with more ways to embellish Q-Mi.
For Step 1 in tangling Q-Mi, I found it helped in aligning everything to create all the matching pairs of C-curve strokes, like parentheses, first: ) ( ) ( — then turn my tile and “close up” the shapes. The final S strokes create the floral element. Easier than the embellishment decision-making!
Damy illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing Q-Mi below.
Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Please feel free to refer to the steps images to recreate this tangle in your personal Zentangles and ZIAs, or to link back to this page. However the artist and TanglePatterns.com reserve all rights to these images and they must not be publicly pinned, altered, reproduced or republished. They are for your personal offline reference only. Thank you for respecting these rights. Click the image for an article explaining what copyright means in plain English. “Always let your conscience be your guide.” ~ Jiminy Cricket
As you enjoy any of the tangles on the site, please leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours. Your comment helps motivate them to continue to share!
Check out the tag damyt for more of Damy’s tangles on TanglePatterns.com.
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Share your tangle on TanglePatterns
Everyone is invited to share patterns on TanglePatterns.com, you do NOT need to be a CZT. In order for patterns to be considered for publication they must be submitted to me by email. In other words you have to let me know about them.
For a submission to qualify as a tangle it must be a genuine pattern (“a repeated decorative design”) and not “a thing to draw”.
From The Book of Zentangle:
“Keep it Non-representational. Zentangle artwork is intended to be non-representational. Zentangle’s elemental strokes are also non-representational.
We don’t teach complex elements such as hearts, stars or flowers. Tangles are also non-representational.”
Remember that tangles never start with pencil planning.
"A tangle has no pre-planning with pencil guidelines, grids or dots, no erased lines."
If you need a refresher on what makes a tangle, read the A PATTERN IS NOT ALWAYS A TANGLE page on the ZENTANGLES menu bar at the top of any page.
For details on how to submit your pattern for consideration visit the SUBMIT YOUR PATTERN page on the top menu bar of any page on the site. On that menu you will find these two pages:
The first page includes instructions on how to prepare and send your JPGs. (Please save me time and do not send PDFs). It also includes a link to this PDF submission form.
When your examples include additional tangles from the site, please list them in your email. (This saves me time and my memory some wear and tear.)
If your pattern is posted on your blog, attach your steps and tile JPGs to your email and be sure your email includes the direct URL so I can link to it.
And remember, to quote Zentangle's co-founders Rick and Maria: tangles should be "magical, simple and easy to create", non-objective patterns of repetitive strokes that are easy to teach and offer a high degree of success to tanglers of all ages.
"Keep the tangles as little like 'drawing something' as possible."
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January 18, 2019 | 
More like this: 
Ohhhhh this is outstanding!!
Thank you so much for another beautiful Damy tangle!
Oh, I have had SUCH fun tangling Damy`s Q-mi. Those central stars look as though their arms are twisted around each other! It also reminded me of when Iwas young and my mother was in amateur plays and she would want to practice her memorized lines. She`d say “Cue me!”
and I`d read her the ends of the lines occurring before hers.
This is a wonderful tangle! It is always so much fun when a tangle “morphs” into a different shape, or you can see two shapes on the edges of each other. Going to have MUCH FUN playing! Thank you, Damy!
Love it!It came together so easily, and looks so pretty.
These will be seen as poinsettia next Christmas season?
Thank you, Damy.
Thank you so much Damy!
Q-MI reminds me so much of the beauty that comes from simplicity. And that so much of life is based in simplicity, and beauty 😉 , if we just take the time to look and appreciate everything.
^-^; I don’t quite know why I’m being quite so philosophical, maybe part of the quotation from Rick Robert’s and ‘drawn as a tangle and ‘elemental strokes’ was part of it.
But it is truly beautiful tangle whether it’s in the original or the embellished form, where I think it became spectacular. And so easy to do! I will definately be trying this soon!
Thank you again for the pattern Damy!
-sorry it’s a bit of a long post ^.^; –