For Christmas, I got myself one of these Hypotrochoid Art Sets from Uncommon Goods.

Hypotrochoid Art Set

I was thinking about tools I could use to design mandalas, and then I started thinking about the Spirograph I had as a kid (which is no longer available- the new version, like many “re-invented” toys), and then my searching led to this kit.

I haven’t had much time to play with it, but it’s a lot of fun. I don’t use the pens provided in the kit- instead I use either my ultra-fine tipped black Sharpie or my Micron drawing pen.

My only complaint is that it’s tiny. I was hoping for large-ish designs I could paint, but these are very compact. I’m definitely going to try doing a series of ATCs with them, though. I have tons of watercolor paper of all presses, weights, and textures and a drawer full of paper cutters I could use to make the perfect sizes of paper for these guys but I am craving a tiny little block of paper just the right size for them.

I am also eyeing this toy- Quercetti Spirogiro, which seems to be a little bit bigger. It’s only $16, but after the holiday crunch and the insane amount of tools and art supplies I already *have*, I’m going to wait. However, it looks very cool.

Quercetti Spirogiro

I know I should try drawing my own mandalas, but I’m not there yet. I’m too obsessed with things like symmetry and I don’t want that fussiness to effect (affect? yikes, sorry) my enjoyment of mandalas. Right now I’d love to emboss a black image of a mandala on watercolor paper and then color it in using my watercolors. The emboss would act as a resist. So I’m experimenting with image transfer onto watercolor paper, and resists, and dry embossing techniques.