My Workplace

This is the current place where I dot my mandalas and mandala stones.

Very important for me is daylight, so my table is right in front of the window. In the evening I use a daylight lamp* and additionally a gooseneck spotlight so that I can set the light in a good angle to my artwork.

In addition, I use a magnifying glass to see even the smallest details.

In the magnifier are also small LED lamps installed.

Check out my Instagram account, I give many helpful tips from my studio there.

* On this page I use sponsored links from Amazon. With your purchase via these links you support my art. They will guide you to Amazon Germany, but you can easily change to your Amazon Country Website. A heartfelt thank you :-)

My "canvases"

Here are some of the stones I collected at my favorite place on the Danish North Sea.

When I started to paint mandala stones in 2016, I've tried to paint on every stone I found and quickly realized that not every stone is suitable for dot painting.

The stone should not be too uneven, e.g. granite stones; it should not absorb the paint too fast, such as sandstones. Therefore the perfect stone has a very smooth surface without any holes and is ideally round.

Unfortunately, such stones are very difficult to find, so it is the special challenge when painting mandala stones to adapt to the particular stone. In addition, I try to consider the individual coloring of the stone when chosing the different colors for dotting.

Real canvases

I also like to paint  on small round or  square canvases and on canvas board. It is so much easier to paint on canvas than on stones and you can practice your dotting skills like walking the dots. And they are so easy to find also - compared to perfect round stones ;-)

You can create beautiful sets of mandala canvases and mandala stones in the same colors and patterns as you can see in the picture.

If the cotton cloth on the canvas is woven rather coarsely, then there is a risk that the small dots will run in the grooves of the cotton fabric and so I prepare the canvas with several layers of acrylic paint in a slightly darker shade than the mandala itself.

On the canvas in the picture I used the color   "69 - red wine" of the Kreul acrylic matt colors to pre-coat the canvas.

I have already tried transparent gesso or just acrylic primer, but that did not work so well for me, that's why I prefer to use acrylic paint.

My favourite acrylic paint

The most asked question on Facebook and Instagram is what paint I use.

In fact, I discovered my absolute favorite paint early on and do not want to miss it anymore. The paint is from Kreul and is called "Hobby Line Acrylic Matt", sometimes only "Acrylic Matt".

They have an incredible luminosity and are available in so many different colors, so you do not have to mix several colors to get the one you want and the color is always at hand.

I love the small 20ml-pots (which you can see in the picture), because you can use the color directly from the lid. As they are empty faster, I simply refill them from larger bottles.

In addition the Kreul paint has also the perfect consistency for dotting: the paint should not be too thick and not too liquid. If you find the kreul paint too liquid you can simply add another paint from another brand to make it thicker.

Dotting tools

Here you can see the tools that I am mostly using for my mandalas and mandala stones.

Usually I am using Dotting-Tools from Nail Art Design, which you can see in the top center in the picture.

For smaller dots, I use very fine brushes. For larger dots, I like to use the "Neiko Transfer Punch Set".

From time to time, I also like to take round wooden bars.

In every household are many suitable things that can be used as a dotting tool, such as the back of a pencil with an eraser, a pinhead, a toothpick, etc. 

You can find a nice set for dot painting on Amazon, it consists of Nail Art Dotting Tools, the round wooden (plastic) bars, a small  mixing pallette different brushes and a small stencil.

Other tools

I am very grateful for those little acrylic containers that you can see in the middle of the picture. If I need a finer color gradient as for the mandala stone in the picture, I like to mix the paint in these small containers , so that I can use it later and do not have to let it dry on the  mixing pallette.

If the paint in the containers  is a bit dry, I simply add a drop of water with the pipette you can see at the bottom of the picture and the color will be smooth again. Don't let the paint stay longer than a few days in those acrylic containers, because it might dry in there. You can use snap-shot containers instead.

Scalpel

Very helpful is also a scalpel.

If you dot the points too close to each other, it might happen that the dots melt together. I then wait until the paint has dried and separate the dots with the scalpel or remove them completely as you can see in the picture.

It is also very useful if you have dotted with a color that you do not like in retrospect or which does not fit so well with the other colors, or if you wipe by accident over the dots. Simply let the paint dry, scrape the mishaps with the  scalpel and then re-prime the area and repaint again.

Prophy-Ring 

Here you can see the so-called  Prophy-Ring, which I came across while being at my dentist for a teeth cleaning and the dental hygienist was wearing such a ring.

The  Prophy-Ring is extremely handy if you want to put many small dots of the same color next to each other. With the Prophy-Ring, the distance from the  mixing pallette to your artwork is not so long and you can concentrate much better on your work.

If I am not working from of the  Prophy-Ring, from the lid of the paint pot or a small acrylic container, I like to use a small mixing pallette, which you can see in the very first picture with my workspace. 

Acrylic Varnish

I use acrylic varnish, so that the color on the mandala stone really stays on the stone, no matter what. But first I let the mandala stone dry at least 24 hours.

It really makes a big difference whether you use varnish or not. For very smooth stones, the paint can be easily removed without varnish (as you can see in the picture above with the scalpel), so I always advise to treat the mandala stone with a final acrylic varnish.

I do not prefer a special brand of acrylic varnish. It is available in different variants; in matt, semi-gloss and glossy.

I prefer a matte varnish, which you see on the left side of the picture.