I’m getting ready to physically make my circle and was wondering what type of material everyone is using and size, etc. I need to make it portable, so I was thinking of maybe using fabric paint on black canvas (or what I’ve found is called duck cloth). When I watched the video of E.A. at Dixie State it looked like the fabric I’m talking about.
Most of the fabric I’m seeing is about 60" wide. I’m used to working in a larger circle for my non-evocation stuff (which of course is not physically drawn) and it just sounds constraining. I just want to make sure whatever I make it out of is going to last. I was thinking of stitching the edges so it doesn’t fray, etc. And then of course, the triangle which I figured I’d just make out of the same stuff.
I’ve also considered a completely different approach and tried to find some type of thin black mat, but couldn’t really find anything except textured rubber mats and that just sounds uncomfortable and inappropriate some how.
I’ve been thinking the same thing about having a portable circle. IMHO, I’m kinda lean towards a black rubber mat type deal. I don’t know where you live and such but you may wanna look at finding a vendor (Home Depot, Lowes, Maynards, etc…) that sell rubber mats. Sure, some of them are textured but you may find some that aren’t as well. And if these places sell them by the squard foot (or square yard) then you can get it in any size you want and cut it to whatever diameter you want for your circle.
Another idea which you may have already thought of is carpet. I recently (well a year ago) ordered this octogan shaped carpet for my place (Really nice too!) and the vendor i ordered from online has literally hundreds if not thousands of different types of area rugs that you can order and the place i ordered from has circle-shaped, square, octagon, rectangular, and oval-shaped area rugs as well. So maybe try a 3 to 5 foot diameter black area rug. Give it a shot. Do a google search on ‘1001 area rugs’ and you should get the site. Thats the vendor I ordered from and their service was good. As far as price, well…that depends on what you want. (You get what you pay for, ya know…) Just a thought, see what works for you.
If its going to be portable so you can take it around to different ritual sites you want it to be light so carpet is probably out of the question. I am using an old curtain at the moment but I am intending to do something a bit nicer with canvas, its durable, reasonably light and holds painted detail well
I’ve walked through Home Depot checking out my options. They didn’t have any black matting available other than like 18"x24" size. I didn’t see anything available for purchase by the foot.
I considered some type of area rug, but was concerned about how well I would be able to paint on it. I did find on the uline website they sell a 3’x4’ carpet mat with rubber back and they’ll print a logo on it for $121. I could easily make up a 300dpi image of a circle and that sounds nice. Who knows if anyone would balk when they saw the “logo.” That wasn’t too bad though, plus it’s only 8 lbs.
I agree a painter’s tarp sounds like a great idea, but I haven’t found any in black.
Good idea on the canvas, hadn’t thought of that! Question is where does one get dark colored canvas? I guess one could paint it to now that I think about.
Good idea on the canvas, hadn’t thought of that! Question is where does one get dark colored canvas? I guess one could paint it to now that I think about.[/quote]
Yea black aeorsol paint would be best, you will get nice evan coverage without clumps and minimal weight
I’ve researched the canvas avenue quite a bit. The least expensive I could find was about $7/yard, and that was 60" wide. Expect to pay more for the heavier material. I’m going to try the black backdrop Gozer listed. After spending a lot of my time googling, that’s the first I’ve seen a single piece of 10’x10’ for $30. I’ll report on the thickness/quality once it arrives.
If you’re near an area that has a Walmart, they sell their black canvas for $5.97/yrd but its kind of thin in comparison. Still costs more than the backdrop though.
[url=http://www.walmart.com/ip/Duck-Cloth-Fabric-Black/19548649]Robot or human?
I will say that it would pretty awesome if the whole black duck-cloth thing works out. Ideally, I’d like to have ‘bag’ or suitcase where I could put my cloth, candles, incense, etc. and have it stored and transport it as needed. I was thinking of starting evocations somewhere OTHER than my house (from reading the posts and some of E.A.'s commentary and such). I have a few places in mind but I’d like to get set up with the necessary materials so I can just pack up my stuff and go where I need to go for evocations and such.
waltyrs: for what it’s worth the black duck-cloth is just black canvas cloth - it’s the same thing. And it’s a great material for this sort of thing. It’s stiff enough to lie flat, while being flexible enough to be portable. That’s what I used for my circle. My circle is plenty big enough for two practitioners (as that is how I most commonly use it, and I have the triangle drawn right on the cloth as well.
I used a colored pencil, a point, and a stick to draw my circle, then painted it with fabric paint. Then a straight-edge and the colored pencil for my triangle, and painted it as well.
I took DK THE MAGES route from the Circle of Pacts thread and bought a black flat sheet from Wal-Mart. I’m in the process of working on it now. When I finish it I’m going to sew a curtain rod into it so that when it’s not in use I can roll it up for easy storage and reduce wrinkling/cracking the sheet and paint used on it.
I’m going to use the Ouroboros design for a general evocation circle and will create a Circle of Pacts when I begin working from the Book Of Azazel.
This is the one I plan to use. I was going to make the concentric circles with a white pencil and then free-hand the snake head and taper the tail as it goes into the mouth. Then I’ll use some Acrylic fabric paint to fill in the design. I’ll be sure to take some shitty cell phone pics since for some odd reason digital cameras have a very short life expectancy in my home.
I received my black muslin 10x10 backdrop yesterday! The fabric is good quality and it seems perfect. Now I have to decide which circle to draw. So many of you seem to be using the Circle of Pacts from the BoA, but I’m working through WoD which doesn’t really specify any particular type as far as I’ve found. Once I get my Complete Works and get some evocation experience I plan to go through BoA but I don’t know if the CoP is appropriate for going through WoD. Any recommendations?
If in doubt, make a generic circle and triangle. From what I gather, a lot of people will use their CoP for everything though, so it depends.
If you aren’t going to work through the BoA anytime soon, I would just make a generic circle, as you won’t have the details and such for the CoP and Gateway of Pacts anyway. A generic circle can get you evoking now, rather than later.
What do you mean by you won’t have the details of the cop? Can’t you just look at the thread where people post pics of them and copy? Or are you talking about something else?
If you don’t have the BoA, you don’t have the details. It’s a circle of pacts. If you don’t do something with them, they’re just drawings, hence the need for details/directions.
When you use a basic circle, you’ll consecrate it during your ritual anyway. For a circle of pacts, you have to do more than that, if I’m not mistaken.
That wasn’t too bad though, plus it’s only 8 lbs.