Embroidered Mandalas

Embroidery, beadwork, photography, and video. Since 2016

The Universe Provides mandala 4 teal silk orange brown beads

The mandala project is a hybrid fine craft and digital process iteration of the utopian, contemplative labor ideas that underpin the Happy Sleepy collaboration.

Beaded textile and embroidered rainbow colors

The Universe Provides, 10 x 10 inches, hand embroidery and beadwork with glass and semiprecious stones on linen, Magda Wojtyra 2017

Reabsorbed by the Universe, hand embroidered and beaded with pearls, seedbeads, and semiprecious stones, Magda Wojtyra 2016 Dedicated to Carmen Skiba.

Reabsorbed by the Universe, 7 x 7 inches, hand embroidery and beadwork with pearls, and glass and semiprecious stones on linen, 2016

The phrases "The Universe Provides" and "Reabsorbed by the Universe" are beaded within the embroidery, turning the mandalas into linguistic as well as visual meditations on the bounty and balance of the universe.

We all need reminders of the bigger truths that underpin our daily effort because the odds can seem stacked against us sometimes and the effort can feel futile. The text on the mandalas are personal sayings that help to integrate the paradox of our lives: we must foster an optimistic attitude while we also need to accept great change and loss.

Mandala Gallery

Mandalas finished since 2014.

Creative Process and Work-in-Progress

Circular paper grid
Circular paper grid for a new embroidered mandala.
Circular paper grid to guide embroidery stitches on a geometric mandala.
The experiment mandala with portions of the grid cut out and the start of embroidery.
Detail of the grid that was sewn to the fabric, with some glass beads positioned with pins.
Overall view of the embroidery test, including some pearls on the lower left.
Detail of the embroidery test. The black beads are onyx, an the green beads are glass.
Detailed view of the round paper grid. Hot pink masking tape holds it all together for sewing onto the fabric.
Halfway through being finished, a mandala with the embroidery all complete is covered with beads that are being considered for the next stage of work.
Beads laid out on the embroidered mandala
A tray with a selection of beads and embroidery thread form an unedited palette of materials in the first stage of creating a new mandala. Curious where this leads to? Check out the mandala project page .
Vingtage glass, crystal, semi-precious stone, and ceramic beads collected on travels all over the world.
Seedbeads, size 11 and 16. 16 are truly tiny, a true 1 mm in size on average. These colors have been collected on 3 separate continents.

from instagram

@mandalamagda

The mandala project was inspired by a mobile phone photograph taken with a kaleidoscope filter - read the story of the hairbrush photo that started it all.

Photography is an important part of exploring the most mesmerizing symmetry and composition in this project. In the case of  video, shimmering movement add another dimension.

The camera app used is Camera MX for Android by Magix.

The photographs and videos shown below are all located on the @mandalamagda dedicated project account on Instagram.

buy mandalas

Original textile art, limited edition prints, and posters.
View the whole MANDALAS COLLECTION