Saturday, October 25, 2014

Mandalas Are Fun!

This month's challenge on mandalas lived up to its name in spades. I couldn't pinpoint what I wanted to make. Restarted the project up to 3 times. And then I finally just let go and let the clay decide. I should have let that happen from the start but I guess I needed to go through the process.
At first I thought of making canes for the symbols I wanted to use. Making canes isn't my strength and I would have had lots to make. I was going for the 8 chakras of the body as a theme so I then thought of making 8 bowls with each chakra and then group them together somehow. However, I couldn't figure out how to group them in a cohesive manner. I knew I wanted to incorporate fabric as a background or bottom of the bowls but couldn't figure out how to make them all stay together. So, after making a couple of chakras into bowls I changed course.
Using a new found method of surface enhancement, I colored black clay in the colors of the chakras. Then using stamps with Chinese symbols of various good fortunes, I opted for making a good fortune mandala using the chakra symbols as inspiration for which good fortune stamp to use.
The top crown chakra which deals with the overall understanding is given energy. The third eye chackra is given good fortune. The throat chakra which entails communication receives friends. The fourth chakra is given truth. The fifth chakra is offered the gift of "Think". The sixth chakra which encompasses our ability to manage our stress is given passion. The seventh chakra which balances the energies in the body gets wisdom. And the eight chakra receives peace. It is fitting that these good fortunes ended up in this piece. We as Canadians and I'm sure others around the globe could use a bit more good fortune and peace in our lives.
The fabric I used to create the bottom of the bowl looks like leather. I am so pleased with it. And once again, I have plans of what I want to make and those plans are set aside and replaced by others that end up being more fitting for me and the piece. I am always amazed at that process and usually feel much better when I surrender to it.
 

2 comments:

  1. Well, your hard efforts paid off! The colors on this are fantastic in contrast with the black! I love the symbolism and meaning in the piece too!

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    1. Thanks Beth! Your comments always mean the world to me!

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