Shaving Cream and Spray Inks

In my Mandala magic course this month with Julie Gibbons, we made Mandalas with shaving cream. I had heard about this technique in another class but never tried it for some odd reason. It is messy but fun. In just minutes, you get some amazing backgrounds.

Supplies needed

*a paper plate,
*shaving cream, can't be gel. I bought the cheapest no brand shaving cream
* card stock or watercolor paper, I preferred the water color paper.
*spray inks, I used Dylusions brand.
Its messy have lots of paper towels to clean up.

I placed some paper towels on a tray and then put the plate on there. Spray Ink can travel far so make sure to cover your work surface. Cover with shaving cream and smooth it with a ruler or piece of wood.

Spray the ink on plate, use as many colors as you like.

Take a chopstick or a pencil and swirl the colors together. Put you paper on top and tap it so it connects with the foam and then draw towards you.  The ink will transfer to the paper.  Then wipe off the shaving cream.


Admire your work.  Add more ink and do the same for more prints.  You may need to add more shaving cream at some point.  Play and have fun.

I think this one looks like Jupiter.

Each one is different and so much fun to play with.  You don't have to do these as circles either. I made the Jupiter on a full sheet of paper and then cut it into the circle shape.

Mandala Magic

This past week I spent some time taking Julie Gibbons free course on Mandalas called 5 Days of Mandala. I've made mandalas before but in Julies class I learned lots of new things. The course will be up till December 31st so if you are inclined you can still take it.

I call this one the collaged mandala. Underneath the mandala are a series of intentions for the year in six different areas of life.  It was a great exercise just doing the first part but the collage on top really enhanced the experience.

Lotus Mandala.  I loved doing this one.  It involved using a compass and measuring points of reference but it made a complex design easier to accomplish. I tend to often just wing it and then my results are not what I wanted.






















This is a Hamsa mandala.  I started with the circle and my hand and then turned it into the hamsa symbol. I added more symbols, moon and stars and spirals which are all symbols I resonate with.

This is how it looked after I painted it with watercolors. I didn't like the lower pink area.  I added some more doodling it and then it was a mess. I  ended up putting gesso over it and repainting the area. It was a perfect example of not stopping at the right time but I think my rescue was successful.

This is the finished mandala. I added more doodling and now I really like it. I have found working on these mandalas to be quite healing. So much that I decided to join in on Julie's 12 month course Mandala Magic. I usually don't like courses that go that long but in this case it seems more like a spiritual journey than an art class. The meditative process of creating mandalas really speaks to me.

Kate