I did a few projects this winter that were just for fun.
For the Palio races at Twelfth Night, a Thoroughly Authentic Hobby Horse:
I named him "Grani" after Sigurd's horse
The coloring was based on the Bayeux Tapestry. It's blue linen and white acrylic yarn. The bridge ornaments are inspired by the finds in Sutton Hoo Mound 17. They are gelt wrappers that I rubbed down overtop of a Celtic knotwork pin. The decoration only barely showed, but at least it pretty well erased the American money designs.
Little-known Norman blue-and-yellow coat color
I call him "Sutton Horse"
Then, Lochmere's Midwinter's Revel had a Diwali theme and a mandala competition. All I know about mandalas, I learned on a quick trip to Wikipedia. Symmetric, intended to represent the structure of the universe. I briefly got confused and thought Buddism had a Ninefold Path, then said, "Hey, there were nine worlds in Norse mythology!" and then went on from there.
Laying out the mandala with a compass was really fun! It was kind of too bad that the set screw that held the lead was missing, so eventually I couldn't use it anymore. I labeled the worlds and the wells with a fine-tipped calligraphy marker, because European charts of the world/cosmos often did that sort of thing, too. (No reference, just my memory of looking at such things.)
And there's a little Midgard Serpent swimming through the seas of Midgard
Here's the documentation:
According to Wikipedia, a mandala is a symbol that represents the universe. I was inspired to represent the Norse concept of the universe, as presented in the Prose and Poetic Eddas.
Norse Cosmology
Yggdrasil, the world tree, has its roots in the wells Mimir, Udur, and Hvergelmir. The serpent or dragon Níðhöggr gnaws at its roots. In its branches are the nine worlds:
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Asgard, home of the great gods
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Vanaheimr, home of the gods conquered by the Aesir
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Alfheimr, home of the elves
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Svartalfaheimr, home of the dark elves or dwarves
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Midgard, home of the humans
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Jotunheimr, home of the giants
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Muspelheimr, land of fire
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Niflheim, land of ice and snow
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Hel, home of the dishonorable dead
Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, connects Asgard and Midgard.
Mandala Construction
Rather than show the Yggdrasil in a natural fashion, it has been rendered in the nested, symmetric fashion of the mandalas. The three wells are contained in a center circle. A row of 'petals' are the roots of Yggdrasil, and Níðhöggr gnaws at them. A green zone with rounded edges represents the branches and leaves of the great ash tree. The worlds are shown in the outer ring, all connected by the rainbow of Bifrost. (Technically, Bifrost only connects Midgard and Asgard, but it was most symmetric to link all the worlds.)
Compass and ruler were used for most of the layout and some of the drawing.
Materials
Copy paper; acrylic paint; 1 mm felt-tip calligraphy pen
Sources
Norse Cosmology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_cosmology
(I used Wikipedia to check my memory on Norse cosmology. I have read the Eddas, but I can't honestly say I referenced them for this.)
Mandala. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala
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