I love these small thread crochet mandalas by Sarah Bradley who was inspired by the bluebonnet flower when selecting their color and design. I adore how the three colors – creamy white, light blue and dark blue – are worked in different orders to create different impacts on each individual mandala in the set.
She says,
“The mandalas I’m sending are inspired by the bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas, where I live. They are wildflowers, which is part of the reason they are so inspirational to me — their seeds are spread randomly by the wind, they pop up sometimes in the most incongruous of places to show us their beauty for a few months each year, and then they are gone.”
Sarah lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband Aaron, cat Simone, and dog Uli. She says, “I started crocheting about ten years ago when I was homebound and bored due to a car wreck, and before I knew it, I was HOOKED”.
She shares:
“I first learned about Wink and the Mandalas for Marinke project through Crochet magazine. I immediately felt a connection because I, too, have gravitated toward designing my own crochet mandalas, often inspired by color in nature around me. I could really relate to the soothing quality of the repetition involved in making mandalas, while also being excited by the way these designs leave room for creativity and random inspiration. I had never heard of Wink before reading this article, but I immediately felt something like the loss of a kindred spirit.”
And she adds on her crochet blog:
“Two of (these three mandalas) were half finished designs I had laying around, and I was only too happy to be inspired to finish them for this worthy project. Marinke’s story of healing through crocheting these repetitive yet creative designs really resonated for me, and even though I never knew of her before her passing, it’s obvious that it was a great loss. I’ve been sidetracked with larger projects for a while now–I think it’s about time to get back into making mandalas again soon!”
I love the inspiration of the state flower for the design of these mini mandalas. And that got me thinking about the meanings of flowers. While I was researching that, I came across a Rutgers study on the emotional impact of flowers that found that not only do flowers give people an immediate feeling of happiness, but actually “have a long-term positive effect on moods. Specifically, study participants reported feeling less depressed, anxious and agitated after receiving flowers, and demonstrated a higher sense of enjoyment and life satisfaction.” I have always had a tendency to buy myself more fresh flowers when I was going into darker periods of emotion; perhaps that was a natural instinct to heal myself!
Kathryn that makes sense about flowers ….since I don’t have many I didn’t realize it till now… I’m learnt more about myself from doing the project and reading your posts…thank you….