Swirl Foundation Guide
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Blog Post #44
The swirl is a contemporary foundation design that naturally symbolizes energy, flow, movement. It can signify a prayer for calmness or a prayer for understanding what path to take when making a decision. It’s the personal intent of every pysanky writer that makes a symbol meaningful and spiritually beautiful.
“Let the flowers of my devotion blossom in the garden of my heart
while I await the dawn of Thy coming.”
— Paramahansa Yogananda
1. Divide the egg in half length-wise. 2. Divide the egg again creating four sections as shown in this top view photo.
3. Divide each of the four sections in half to create eight as indicated by the dotted lines.
4. This photo shows the face of the egg once the length-wise sections are drawn. (All dotted lines will be converted to regular lines.) 5. Add a horizontal line around the middle of the egg. 6. Small dots mark the halfway point between the horizontal center line and the top of the egg. The same is done on the lower portion of the egg. 7. This photo shows a top view of what this looks like.
8. A line is drawn from one dot in the egg’s top section to the next vertical/horizontal line intersection as shown here. Complete all the lines in the top portion of the egg. 9. Each line gets extended to reach the dot in the lower portion of the egg. 10. Make a gently curving line, starting at the dot, ending as it merges into the vertical line. Complete top and bottom sections. 11. This photo shows a top view of this in progress.
12. Front facing view of completed swirls, guidelines still in place. Make any needed adjustments to the lines. 13. Erase the unnecessary parts of the vertical lines. 14. The upper half of this photo-illustration shows that once the vertical line is erased the swirl comes to a finished end point. The lower half of this illustration still shows the vertical lines in place.
15. Shown are the vertical lines erased. If the center horizontal line is also erased you get the basic swirl design. 16. To create the diamond detail around the egg, place a mark at the halfway point between the original dot on the swirl line (top arrow) and the intersection of the swirl line with the horizontal line (bottom arrow). The halfway marks are shown as small red circles. Draw a line connecting the halfway marks through the center line intersections (red X). Repeat this all around the egg. 17. Adjust lines as needed. Erase the horizontal line. The swirl design with detail is ready for you to add your own personal touch.
Ukrainian folklore characterizes pysanky as a symbolic, talismanic writing that invokes a higher Universal Power for help, while believing with faithful certainty that It will. The contemporary version of this characterization is a paper-and-pen journaling practice called prayer writing. Both develop a personal relationship with God.
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