I love decorative patterns, ornaments, shapes, and even more so, their creation. Recently, the book The Art of Zentangle, which I have had in my library for quite some time, has become my inspiration for finding and creating new original shapes.
My favorite part of the book is how to create mandalas based on a paper template that resembles snowflakes. I remember that we made these paper snowflakes since childhood as a winter decoration, and then we glued them to windows.
This new way of using paper snowflakes caught me because I found myself back in my childhood while cutting them.
I started the technique according to the pictures with instructions in the book, and I figured out that an infinite number of mandalas can be created from one snowflake template. And the drawing of shapes creates endless possibilities for ornaments.
This technique works great not only for circles but also for rectangular shapes or squares. All you have to do is create an accordion from paper and cut out simple shapes into the edges of the folded paper. You have a base that you trace onto paper when you unfold it, and the fun can begin. You can connect individual parts, fill them with color, stripes, arcs, dots, curves, lines, and other elements.
Finished creations are a great inspiration for individual ornaments or shapes used in my work.
