This technique actually came from Huichol Indians of western Mexico. Since we vacation in Mexico ever couple of years, I’ve seen them at the markets. I’ve read that these really are manufactured for tourists now, but back in the day these yarn paintings, or nierikas, were used a visual story telling and offerings to their gods. Check out the link above for some beautiful examples.

Which leads me to my Craft Test Dummy moment. This is a cool technique, and it’s inexpensive, so how to update this from the “grade school social studies art inclusion” level.

What about a mash-up with a Zentangle?

Ok, I blogged about this before, and how a Zentangle really is just a mandala in a square. (Read the full rant here.) But what if you drew a Zentangle or a Mandala or whatever, and then used colored yarns to fill in your texture zones? Hmm…. I’ve been thinking about this all night.

Gotta go get doodling!

So here’s the gist of it: I think it’s kind of like a mandala: you make a squiggle and then fill in the open areas with a motif. I’m not sure what the technique is because they want you to buy a kit for $50.00 to learn how to doodle.

The site talks about how therapeutic it is, and how you’ll get hooked, and how it promotes insight, and how it’s a form of therapy. Hmmm. Color me a bit skeptical. If it’s therapeutic, why not describe the technique? Why make someone pay the green for a kit that includes pen and paper and the how-to DVD?

So I like the idea, but just not the commercialism. My recommendation: Try a mandala first.

A mandala is a piece of art made in a circle. (Mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit.) Take a piece of paper, draw or trace a circle, and fill it in. With what? Whatever. Doodle, make images. Use pen or pencils or crayons or watercolors or pastels or markers. Just start doing. And finish when it seems done. (Or when you run out of space. Then you can fill the outside, too!)

Carl Jung used mandalas in his psychotherapy practice, feeling that the mandala art form was “representation of the unconscious self.” What I like about them is that it’s completely free-form, and you can analyze it later. Or not. You can also just let it be what it is.

They can be symmetrical, like the ones the Buddhists make, or free-form. See? No rules, just right! (Or write. Or draw. Whatever.)

Personally, being the musical Craftista that I am, I like to paint on drums. Instant mandalas!

Try it yourself. For free. Skip the $50.00 kit- for now!