Skull Mandala Craft Kit Classroom Educational Component

About the Artist Born and raised in Oklahoma Studied Graphic Design and Art at the University of Central Oklahoma In 2007, she moved her studio to the historic Plaza District In 2008, she opened DNA Gallery in the Plaza District that shows local art and sells locally made products Born and raised in Oklahoma, Amanda studied art and graphic design at the University of Central Oklahoma. She eventually left school to begin working on her own art and fashion projects and in the summer of 2007 she moved her studio to the historic Plaza District in Oklahoma City. Over the years she has exhibited extensively, volunteered with various arts groups, organized large scale group art events for the community, and opened a retail store and gallery in 2008. She currently owns DNA galleries and works on her own artwork and line of accessories full time.

Re-Entry, Releasing Secrets, & Awareness of Surrender In Amanda's work, she uses a variety of interesting materials. These include paper, metal, quarts, chains, skulls, and bones. In these three works, you can see the spectrum of materials she uses.

Ducks Vs. Swans In her piece Ducks Vs Swans, you can see how Amanda has hand cut thousands of pieces of paper, creased them, and attached them to her form in an overlapping pattern. In art, we call this use of the same thing over and over “repetition.” Repetition is a great way to create “unity” in a work. Unity means that the whole piece looks like it goes together. In this piece you can also see the quarts and bird beaks that she uses.

Into the Storm In her piece Into the Storm, she uses a bison skull with layered pieces on the forehead and a giant piece of quartz hanging inside. Amanda purchases all of her bones from the Museum of Osteology in Del City, Oklahoma. There she has collected everything from skulls to human finger bones to incorporate into her work.

As I Rise To find the quartz that Amanda uses in her work, she visits the Crystal Vista on the Gardner Mountain in the Ouachita National Forest, where she digs them up from the ground. This area was once a commercial crystal mine and quartz can easily be found on the surface of the ground.

Study 1, 2, 3, & 4 In her skull mandala series, Amanda uses the same elements of paper and skulls but creates a circular pattern on natural woods. Her colors are muted tones and include some shimmery papers as well with skulls in the center. In addition to using repetition in her use of papers, she also uses symmetry. Perfect symmetry is when one side of the work of art is the mirror image of the other side. In each of these pieces she creates a symmetrical pattern with the paper.

Rites of Passage Another element included in Amanda’s work is the use of crystallization using Borax, a household cleaner. In her title piece, Rites of Passage, there are two crystalized skulls hanging from chains.

How to Make Your Own Skull Mandala In this project, you will learn the process of crystalizing a (fake) skull and create your own mandala using repetition and symmetry.

Materials 4”x4” piece of wood (you can use cardstock instead) Rubber skull (found at craft stores or online) Punched or hand cut pieces of paper Craft glue Hot glue gun 3 table spoons Borax 1 cup boiling water Small bowl If you picked up a craft kit from the gallery, you already have everything you need except a small bowl and boiling water. If you didn’t get a craft kit, you can easily find all of the materials you need for this project.

Step 1: Add 1 cup of boiling water to a small bowl. Stir in 3 tablespoons of Borax until it dissolves. *When using Borax, be careful to not inhale, ingest, or get into your eyes.

Step 2: Place your skull into the mixture and let it sit for 8 hours, or until it crystalizes.

Step 3: Fold all of the paper pieces in half and unfold so they have a crease down the center.

Step 4: Arrange your paper pieces to create a pattern you like and then glue them down using craft glue.

Step 5: Using a hot glue gun, attach your skull to the center of the wooden square.

Final Skull Mandala

Other Resources See more of Amanda Bradway’s work on her website: http://amandabradway.com/ Watch Amanda’s artist talk: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCeyGEQQJ67o3hthu4ln7GQ Visit the Museum of Osteology: http://www.museumofosteology.org/