Mandalas are back for some #funwithfolkit!

'Mandalas' was undeniably the most inspiring theme for a lot of our Folkers last year so this year, it's back but with a little twist.  Throughout August, we are incorporating it with silhouettes.  What on earth do we mean by that? Well, there are (at least) two ways you can interpret this theme...

1. You can create a Mandala using a single paint colour, creating a 'silhouette' of a mandala.  If you would like to work with our mandala from last year, you can find it here.  So experiment with black on colour, metallics on black or add tone on tone, it doesn't matter.  Just relax, let go of the outcome and enjoy the process. 

2. This is our personal favourite for this month...find a silhouette of something you wish to paint and fill it with dots and doodles.  So whether its a letter of the alphabet, an animal or word, this project can be as simple or as challenging as you like. 

Not sure where to start? Don't worry, we have created a few silhouettes (including the one we used above) for you to try and popped them on to the 'Silhouettes' section to our Folk it Patterns Pinterest board.  Of course, if you fancy something different, there are lots of shapes to try out there and we will be adding extras throughout the month that catches our eye.

We hope you feel inspired by the theme this August. Remember, this painting challenge is so flexible so if you feel inspired to create a project in the month or one a week, it's entirely up to you.  All we ask is that you tag us in your creations on social media or email photos to toni@folkit.co because we love to see what you've all been creating.

Happy Folking xx 

Falling in love with Mandalas

When we chose September as Mandala month, we wondered whether it was a little ambitious.  We admire mandalas across social media on a daily basis but the great thing about them is that there is so much variety. From dotty mandalas to more intricate designs, they can truly be as unique and beautiful as each individual snowflake that falls. 

This gave us the idea that for September, instead of getting overwhelmed by all the different mandalas we could create, we would use one mandala template and have fun finding different ways to decorate it.   

Each project we have created we have started by transferring our design onto our journal using transfer paper before choosing our colours and designs.  Sometimes, we have had an idea in mind of the techniques we wanted to use like the one below... 

Here Carol used a simple floating technique to float DecoArt Americana in Snow (Titanium) white

 (this is a technique Carol teaches you in our Cupcakes and Babushka Flat Brush kits). This created such a delicate, ethereal look we couldn't help but love it.  

Keeping things simple, using DecoArt Silver Sage Green, Carol painted each line using comma strokes with her liner brush before adding a few dots and filling any gaps with tiny hearts and a little French Mauve and warm white.  

Here, Rose chose to round off the mandala to simplify her pattern and filled it using our Delicate lace pattern and a few comma strokes.  

Adding a touch of DecoArt Shimmering Silver along with Razzleberry and Teal Green, we used a mixture of dotting, delicate lace and comma strokes to decorate this one.  Delicate lace and comma stokes are a great way to fill a large area without painting solid blocks of colour and creating a more delicate mandala.

Our customers also decided to use our design and paint their own mandala.  Here, Vanessa from The Arc Shed has been inspired by the colours of Jamaica and we were amazed at how well our rosebuds work as the centre of this mandala. We would never have thought of it but it looks fantastic! 

Still a work in progress, we are interested to see how this one turns out.  The painter behind At the Painting Table has combined a limited set of colours to create a mandala with quite a bit of unfilled space but instead of looking empty, it looks striking! 

Our painting challenge is open to everyone so if you fancy using our mandala or creating your own, we would love to share it.  Just tag us or use #funwithfolkit. You can find a copy of our mandala here. 

We are so glad we tried something new this month, we hope you will be too x