Mandalas

The word comes from Sanskrit and literally means “circle.”

 

There are all sorts of spiritual and New Age applications and meanings, which I do not subscribe to. To me, mandalas are simply an art form. I love them. As sun catchers, dream catchers, plain crayon drawn on paper, I like the form of a circle.

 

There are many ways and styles of doing a mandala. There are the ones mentioned above. I’ve seen some very intricate ones done in needlework. There is collage and paint. There are ones done in the sand with rocks on a beach. There are whole coloring books of mandalas.

 

Most of the ones I’ve seen are symmetrical. I find the symmetry relaxing. When I’m drawing one I usually do them that way. I also absolutely LOVE asymmetry. It depends on the art I’m doing at the time. Asymmetrical mandalas can be very cool. You still need the basic circle, but can take off from that point.

 

I found a wonderful website where a man did a mandala every day for several years. The site was archived and I went through that whole thing and saved several of them in a file to use as inspiration. I’m glad I did, because I recently went back to that site and all the pictures are gone.

 

Here are some examples of ones I’ve done:

 This was a postcard I made for my postcrossing group. I glued magazine strips to cardstock, used a circle stencil to cover the middle, and mod-podged a second coat. Then outlined the circle.

 

These are sun catchers Lia and I made one summer. Do this outside as it can get messy with spilled glue. Take the lid from a carton of yogurt or cottage cheese. Fill it with clear glue and place colored pebbles or glass in it. Pour more glue in to cover the glass as much as possible. Set in sun to dry. Let it dry completely before trying to peel off the lid. The underside will still be very tacky. Place tacky side up to finish drying.

 This one was pretty much hated by both Lia and me. I had a terrible time trying to get this thing prepped evenly for the weaving and Lia didn’t even want to try it. I did a bit just to see how it would come out and decided to never do this craft again.

 

This one is crayon resist on watercolor paper with watercolors. Another postcard I made.

 

This is a trial pic of a mandala in progress. I took random nature-type stuff, sort of placed it within a circle and took a pic for future reference. I used cardboard as a base, but I’m thinking more of using sandpaper. Or maybe use the sticky side of contact paper, secure the objects and then sprinkle colored sand to fill it in. Maybe throw in a few seed beads. I’ll take another pic of the finished project.

 

 

 

Pointless Ponderings

Most people know who Harry Houdini was. Many people know who H.P. Lovecraft was. Wouldn’t it be neat if they got together to write a story involving horror and a daring escape? Well, they did!

In 1924 there was a magazine called “Weird Tales” and they wanted to take advantage of Houdini’s fame at the time and commissioned Lovecraft to write a “true” story of Houdini’s adventure in Egypt. Houdini provided the basic story and Lovecraft wrote the words in his own weird style. The title of the story is “Imprisoned with the Pharaohs” and is available online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Under_the_Pyramids  Check it out!

 

 

Did you know that there such a thing as blue lava? The most famous volcano that puts out blue lava is in Indonesia. Breath-taking sight! It’s the sulfur present that makes the blue color and it burns hotter than regular lava. And it’s actually the flames that are blue, not the lava itself.

 

 

As you all know, I enjoy the unusual…art, music, literature…the weirder, the better. I came across an article about Alben Berg’s ‘Five Orchestral Songs after Postcards’ and what happened after the first performance of the second and third one in Vienna in 1913. It was VERY experimental stuff and the audience did NOT like it and a riot broke out in protest. The concert organizer slapped an audience member in the face and was sued for assault. A court witness said the slap was the most pleasant and harmonious sound of the entire concert. Berg was devastated and his music was never played again in his life time. Here is an example of the 3^rd song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeC6eQuyjzM

 

 

ABC Book Challenge X – Z

 

Final post in this series. I really wish I’d get feedback as to whether anyone followed this series and read books in the various categories. 

 

 

X – Author with an “X” in their name       

The Ten Thousand Doors of January (2019) by Alix E. Harrow

VERY good read. I waited a long time for this one. I had it on reserve at the library and was 7^th in line when I first put in the request. Totally worth the wait. January lived in a mansion with her guardian in the early 1900s. She is of mixed race and not completely accepted in society. She discovers a magic door when she is seven years old that seems to lead to a different world. She slowly comes to the understanding that she is herself from another world and that there are many doors leading to many different worlds. Good ending, but enough is left to lead to a sequel. I hope.

 

         

Y – Yummy                                      SteamDrunks (2012) by Chris-Rachael Oseland

I love the Steampunk genre inspired by the 19^th century. The clothes, the art, the music. So of course a book titled SteamDrunks with recipes for the kind of drinks folks of that era might indulge in was a no-brainer. And if you actually drink some of the concoctions, that is what you’ll be left with: no brains. Or liver. And remember: there was very little in the way of refrigeration in those days. Clumpy milk was considered perfectly acceptable. 

 

 

Z – Zombie version of a classic                  Of Mice and Men and Zombies (2018) by Ryan Colley

First of all, it’s really recommended that you read the original Steinbeck version first. Even Mr. Colley says that. I think it makes the zombie version better when you can compare the two. Very well written. The author says there will be a sequel, but not when that will take place. The ending is pretty much the same, but with a neat twist.