Make a Mandala or Rangoli

There is a tradition of making mandalas or rangoli that involves creating beautiful patterns – in parts of India often at the doors of houses. These are temporary artworks made with coloured rice or leaves, petals, sand, etc. Often they are made each day during festivals. For us they can be a great way to relive anxiety and to focus on something simple and soothing for a time.

You could try using flower petals, leaves, grass stems, or even odds and ends around the home – buttons, pasta, shoes, cutlery..! They could be tiny or huge, photographed or glued down. Either kept or as just the act of making one and taking a picture of it is the end result.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Choose what materials or items you want to make your mandala with and decide whether you plan to stick it down or just make it, photograph it and clear it away. Materials could be natural eg: flower petals, leaves, stems of grass, sticks, stones, shells. Or crafty eg: paper, pipe cleaners, sequins, buttons, feathers, pasta, rice. Or actual objects eg: cutlery, shoes, playing cards, Lego… What can you think of to use?

2. Consider what size mandala you want to make and make space somewhere to do it. It may be plate size or may take up a whole table!

3. Choose a centre piece and work building it outwards in a circle. You may like to look at some examples for ideas. Lay everything out before sticking anything down, either with Pritt stick or PVA glue, or just lay it all down and photograph the final design.

4. Let your mind happily wander with creating a beautiful mandala!

Thank you Hannah Carding for this

Please send us photos of your finished artworks