Om-ify your space with these infinitely customizable painted mandala rocks

In Hindu and Buddhist cultures, mandalas are meditation tools embellished with intricate, soothingly symmetrical graphic patterns. Blending a simple and beautiful object from the natural world with an ancient aesthetic is the essence of this mandala rock project. It's refreshing because there's truly no "right" way to execute it.

These striking mandalas are painted on dark river rocks, which you can either harvest yourself or purchase at the craft store. The metallic marker gives the decoration a magical, sparkly quality, adding to its mystical beauty. Since these take so little time to make, go for visual drama and make one or two dozen. You can fill a simple fishbowl vase with them, place them on top of your coffee table or put a grouping next to a striking potted plant. They would also add tranquility to the garden, Zen or not.

Materials
- River rock (dark)
- Marker in a metallic color

Instructions
1. Lay your river rock on a work surface.

2. Draw four prominent dots in its center to form a small, diamond shape.

3. Place another dot of the same size next to each of those you just drew and about midway toward the rock’s outer edge.

4. Between each of the first and second series of dots, draw a series of smaller dots. The pattern in each of these should be three rows of three dots forming a box of sorts. Then add a single dot in the middle at each end.

5. Now draw a line of three small dots between the first and second series of larger dots you initially drew.

6. At the outer edges of each of these four points, draw six dots that form a semicircle around them.

7. Surround these semicircles of small dots with another series of dots that form semicircles echoing the first ones. These semicircles will be a bit bigger and consist of eight or nine small dots.

8. Draw a line of three more dots that begin where each of the four large outer dots is drawn. These dots will extend all the way to the edge of the rock.

9. Draw a slightly curved S-shaped line and an inverted S-shaped line, or some other type of flourish, on either side of each of the four-dot series that form the double layers of semicircles. Make these lines extend to the outer edge of the rock.

10. This is just one pattern idea for your painted mandala rock. Feel free to improvise with the design, as long as you keep the pattern uniformity going that is the essence of a mandala.

11. Your mandala rock is ready to be displayed and admired.