Mandala Boxes & Books

Here is a book made of round mandala pages. There is also a special mandala box where this book is kept along with other mandala projects.  I made these as examples of what I will be teaching next summer at the 2016 F.A.C.E. (faith, art and creative expression) Conference next August 21st to 26th outside of Asheville, North Carolina at Kanuga Conference Center.

This is the front cover. The size of each mandala circle page is about 8 inches diameter.  It began as large pages of watercolor paper painted with fabric dye in circles for these mandala pages.

Circles were then cut and used as mandalas that on the outside are images within these circles, and on the inside pages mandala images also have words.

The word “joy” is spelled out with one letter per page. Each letter is the basis of an acrostic poem. The letter “J” starts the line “journey of my soul”.

The letter “O” is the start of the line “On a path labyrinth like”.  Each mandala is painted with fabric dye, water colors and addition of embroidery thread. The threads show up on the front and back of each page.

The letter “Y” is the start of the line “yearning for union with Creator and creation”.

When the cover is opened and reveals the first letter “J”, the back of the third page shows a labyrinth pattern and embroidery thread.

The opened book shows the word “joy”, held together with ribbons.

The backs of each page are mandalas without words, but speak to the other sides.

This is the mandala box that holds the mandala book. It started by painting the box with fabric paint.

The inside is also painted and shows how the mandala book fits right in.

These are projects that will be part of the 2016 F.A.C.E. Conference class titled “Creating Sacred Space in the Garden – Planted Prayers.”

I am very excited.  My dear friend Kelly Larson will be joining me again in sharing these and other projects with those taking the class.

ENJOY & CREATE

P.S. – I haven’t shared yet my experiences of teaching “Entering the Sacred through Images, Words, Gardens & Nature”  at Kanuga  last month.  It was one of the most profound creative and spiritual experiences I’ve ever had.  There will be more about this in a near future blogs.