holiday coupon time.
- In you,
ALL ORIGINALS
If you’re ordering from either of my etsy shops, from now until december 10, use the coupon code FANDOM to get 15% off!
http://resonanteyes.etsy.com
http://paperanji.etsy.com
Mandala, or mandorla?
mandala
I want to talk a little about why I paint and work with mandorlas rather than mandalas.
A mandala is a circular pattern, sometimes used ritually, which is built on radial symmetry. Each section of a mandala will be the same, drawing the eye into the center. The eye moves into the middle distance, being drawn past the paper or surface and off into what it perceives as a distant center. This is subconscious and happens because of the radial symmetry. We’re accustomed to seeing lines of perspective radiating from the distant horizon in art, so our eye interprets the center of a mandala as being far away (even if the artist has used every means to make it come forward at us, visually).
I think this is all fine and dandy. But-
mandorla
Mathematically speaking, a mandala is based on the circle, a single-edged shape. They are often meant to represent wholeness or unity. A triangle has three edges, a square four, and so on. Each of these shapes, symbolically speaking, have their own meaning- their own particular use. For example, the pentagram has been used as a symbol for humanity. Arms, legs, head- making a five-pointed star. The symbolism of triangles with fertility (mother, father, child) or some kind of trinity of gods, is common. A square is often used to represent a church, an institution, the law. The circle, used as it is to represent oneness (since it is a shape constructed of one line) is well known among many religious traditions.
The mandorla? It’s really only used as a backdrop. As a containing symbol for other objects. I think, though, that it can stand on its own. It’s less often used, less the subject of an image, than a circle or a triangle. Hell, even seven-pointed stars are more common than a two-sided shape. Why is this?
mandorla with keyholes, purple weights
- In you,
mandalas for tattoos I’m planning. ear weights are available at http://paperanji.etsy.com
mandorlas
I prefer this shape to the commonly-seen circular mandala art. These are for clients, please don’t steal them/get them tattooed, ask your artist to draw one that’s different, just for you.
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flowers from friends.
- In you,
I asked some friends to send me photos they’d taken of flowers, then I sketched them. Here’s a bunch for you.
relax don't do it
- In Tattoo Advice, you,
This is relevant all over again.
relax don’t do it
- In you,
This is relevant all over again.
drilled sandstone, featherweights, and magic crystals
And I have started pulling out the stones I’ve collected and drilled, the feather batch, and the bones and such that I’ve been amassing over the last few years. So the next sets of these will be a bit more extravagant…
These are made from sawa wood coils as a base, with wooden beads, hemp threadwrapping, bamboo, seeds, nontoxic chalk, and sandstone pieces I found on the Alsea River. The stones look heavy, but in fact they’re very light.
These are lighter than some of the more simple, plainly-beaded pairs I have made.
You should be at least 00 gauge to wear them. These are wood coils, not made to use in unhealed piercings or ears that you are stretching. Weights are for healed, settled holes!
I was going to write something helpful today…
I had planned to update my old post about lettering for tattoo art (because I’ve learned a lot since then)- but then…
today I looked over what it costs me to keep my websites up ad-free. two hundred bucks a year. It’s a lot, maybe too much. every year it takes a chunk and I always wonder if it’s worth it, that’s money I will only have if my car repair is cheap and I don’t go to the dentist. You know? That’s two months of internet and phone. That’s a doctor-bill payment.
The ads wouldn’t pay me anything, this is a non-commercial site, and I’ll never MAKE money from it. Even if I downgrade and allow the ads- they won’t pay me anything. This site is considered “adult content” so I can’t have any google ad network ads on it- and even if I did, my numbers would pay out maybe five bucks a year. Then there’s the content of those ads the hosting company would run, they’d be for crap I don’t endorse (THANKS GOOGLE YOU JERK) like tattoo schools (SCAM), unlicensed equipment (WTF), etc… and all it would do is lower my cost yearly to around thirty or forty bucks if I let them run them.
