These mandalas are on the cutting edge! The rising popularity of paper craft will have you folding and cutting your way to beautiful decorations and art pieces. Lose yourself in the meditative process of creating unique models from paper and admiring the symmetry of these Tibetan mandalas. A cut above traditional paper folding, this craft requires a little more planning, but has inspirational results.

Mandala for the Inspired Artist is sure to spark endless hours of DIY and craft mandala projects and imagination! Learn how to create your own beautiful mandalas using a variety of tools and mediums. One part inspiration, one part how-to, Mandala for the Inspired Artist is chock full of unique and inspirational prompts, exercises, and approachable step-by-step projects that are perfect for crafters of any skill level. From making art with pencils, paints, and paper to tape, nature's textures, and found objects, readers will discover a variety of ways to make unique mandala artwork. This engaging and interactive book is packed with helpful tips and beautiful photographs of finished work to both instruct and inspire. Inside artists will discover how to draw and paint mandalas, how to arrange a mandala, and how to turn their own mandalas into inspiring artwork, home decor, and gifts. Included are interactive pages for brainstorming and sketching, in addition to fun templates for scanning, copying and/or coloring in. Full of inspirational instruction, sophisticated artwork, and a myriad of ideas to explore and build on, Mandala for the Inspired Artist is sure to spur endless DIY and craft projects and spark hours of mandala fun and imagination!

Explains the basic principles of creating a mandala and presents instructions for mandala projects using kirigami papers, pressed flowers, candies, shells, henna, watercolors, and mixed media.

Origami Magic Mandalas continues the Action Origami Series by the Oriland authors and shows you how to fold amazing torus-shaped mandala designs out of simple modules that you can rotate and meditate! For more info, video and images on this book, visit http: //www.oriland.com/store/books/origami_magic_mandalas/main.php The book features three modular action designs - two Magic Mandala Toruses, one with simple locks (160 modules) and the other with advanced locks (128 modules), and the incredibly intricate Celestial Mandala Torus (96 modules) crowning the collection On 72 full color pages, there are about 300 detailed step-by-step colorful vector- and photo-diagrams with written instructions along with 60 photos of examples of completed models that will guide you through folding the 3 original action origami designs. Each chapter presenting a particular design offers recommendations on paper type, colors and size including indication of the sizes of the completed models. Modules of each design are surprisingly easy to fold, while assembling the whole torus can take time and require patience, so, overall, the designs of this book can be assigned to intermediate level of folding. No any glue, just clever paper locks! The fascinating mandala toruses will impress with their simplicity of folding, visual complexity and flexibility of rotation! They produce a mesmerizing effect when revolved, showing balanced visual elements of changing patterns of folds and colors in a harmonious way. We hope you will enjoy this book, creating the amazing Origami Magic Mandalas you can rotate!

This beautiful collection features more than 250 sheets of origami paper with 16 different colorful, calming mandala designs. Relax and de-stress as you make a crane, stars, and more, guided by the easy-to-follow, illustrated instructions. You'll stay inspired and relaxed for hours.

Many people enjoy origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, and delight in the variety of shapes that can be created. Kirigami adds a new dimension by combining folding and cutting. Within this book, you will find a brilliant and diverse range of projects that will show you the essentials of kirigami and build your skill in this fascinating art. From delicate snowflakes and dragonflies to decorative ornaments and attractive greetings cards, these beautiful items offer hours of pleasure in the making and are perfect presents for family and friends.

This guide draws inspiration from many styles, like Japanese kirigami, Mexican papel picado, and German Scherenschnitte.

"Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. 32 models. Simple to advanced projects"--Back cover.

The stereotype of Zen Buddhism as a minimalistic or even immaterial meditative tradition persists in the Euro-American cultural imagination. This volume calls attention to the vast range of "stuff" in Zen by highlighting the material abundance and iconic range of the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku sects in Japan. Chapters on beads, bowls, buildings, staffs, statues, rags, robes, and even retail commodities in America all shed new light on overlooked items of lay and monastic practice in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Nine authors from the cognate fields of art history, religious studies, and the history of material culture analyze these "Zen matters" in all four senses of the phrase: the interdisciplinary study of Zen's matters (objects and images) ultimately speaks to larger Zen matters (ideas, ideals) that matter (in the predicate sense) to both male and female practitioners, often because such matters (economic considerations) help to ensure the cultural and institutional survival of the tradition. Zen and Material Culture expands the study of Japanese Zen Buddhism to include material inquiry as an important complement to mainly textual, institutional, or ritual studies. It also broadens the traditional purview of art history by incorporating the visual culture of everyday Zen objects and images into the canon of recognized masterpieces by elite artists. Finally, the volume extends Japanese material and visual cultural studies into new research territory by taking up Zen's rich trove of materia liturgica and supplementing the largely secular approach to studying Japanese popular culture. This groundbreaking volume will be a resource for anyone whose interests lie at the intersection of Zen art, architecture, history, ritual, tea ceremony, women's studies, and the fine line between Buddhist materiality and materialism.

Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions considers paths to self-cultivation and salvation that are patterned on human embryological development or procreative imagery in the religions of China and Japan. Focusing on Taoism, Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Shugendō, and local religious traditions, the contributors to the volume provide new insight into how the body’s generative processes are harnessed as powerful metaphors for spiritual attainment. This volume offers an in-depth examination of the religious dimensions of embryology and reproductive imagery, topics that have been hitherto solely approached through the lens of the history of medicine. Contributors include: Brigitte Baptandier, Catherine Despeux, Grégoire Espesset, Christine Mollier, Fabrizio Pregadio, Dominic Steavu, Lucia Dolce, Bernard Faure, Iyanaga Nobumi, Anna Andreeva, Kigensan Licha, Gaynor Sekimori.