Art with Krystie

Bolivian "Ojos de Dios"

 

 The "Ojo de Dios" or God's Eye is an ancient symbol made by the Huichol Indians of Mexico and the Aymara Indians of Bolivia. In Mexico, the central eye was made when a child was born. Each year, a bit of yarn was added until the child turned five at which point the Ojo was complete. In Bolivia, "God's Eyes" were made to be placed on an altar so that the gods could watch over the praying people and protect them.

Some of us remember making God's Eyes at camp or school out of yarn and popsicle sticks. I remember as a kid thinking it was fun, and my boys had a lot of fun with it when I showed them how to create a God's Eye, so I knew I wanted to share this craft with the class.

I recently ran across an amazing artist named Jay Mohler who takes these to an entirely new level and was inspired to try some of his tricks myself. These are amazing!

http://www.ojos-de-dios.com/skypelearning.html

How to Create an "Ojo de Dios"

The first step is to take 2 sticks or dowels and tie them together in a cross or "x" shape. I had done this already for the students in order to save time, and they were allowed to choose 2 of these to work with.

We then started wrapping the sticks in a basic God's Eye fashion. Holding the sticks, you cross the yarn over the top of the closest stick and wrap it around once (some people prefer to do this twice). Then bring the yarn to the next stick and do the same thing. Repeat this over and over until you have a diamond shape in the desired width.

To change colors of yarn, you can either tie the old color to the stick and tie on a new one, or tie the two colors of yarn together and keep going. Sometimes you need to trim it a bit if you don't wrap it around a stick and cover it with the new yarn.

Once you have a central diamond that is about 2" wide, do the same thing to your second set of sticks. It works best if the second diamond that will go in the back is slightly larger than the first set. Lay them, one on top of the other so that all 8 sticks are evenly spaced.

make two God's Eyes separately, then place together

Now you have to start securing the two sets of sticks together which can be difficult.You do this using a dagger pattern. Tie your yarn to one of the sticks, then bring it across the back to the stick directly across from it, and wrap it around that stick twice. Run it back to the original stick on the opposite side, and wrap it around that one twice. Continue at least 4 times on each side or until you like the length. Repeat this process with each stick until you have a dagger pattern on all the sticks. Slowly the God's Eye will become more stable and will hold together on its own. 

Starting the daggar pattern, finished daggars on back and from the front

I like to add a second daggar color to get some good depth to the God's Eye design, as I did with the green yarn below. Once you get the hang of it, then you can switch back to a regular pattern or do another pattern. The pattern below on the right is one where you skip every other stick. I did this first with one color (pink), then did it with another color (turquoise) on the remaining 4 sticks. I think it makes the daggar design pop and adds a nice layering feel.

Green daggar pattern from back, then front. Addition of an interesting design involving 4 of the sticks in one color, then repeating with the remaining 4 sticks in another color.

The students found this challenging, but it made them really think about colors and what worked together and what didn't. By adding in the dagger pattern, we created some negative or empty space, which was a fun concept for them to consider.

As you can see with the finished piece below, I continued to add a daggar pattern again before going back to the basic God's Eye pattern and finishing it off. The back (below right) is a good example of the daggar pattern from behind.

The finished God's Eye from the front (left) and back (right).

Some students wanted to stick to the basic God's Eye, some followed these directions exactly, and others did their own unique creations. I think Jay Mohler would be proud of them...I know I am! :)

MC      SB

   IJ    NoB

MK      LD

JD      DK

DB      BB

   

JV      AB

NB      PM

        BCB     DK (final)