It is World Labyrinth Day on the 1st of May, so I made this little how-to video, just in case you’d like to walk – or run or skip – a long way without going very far at all.
Labyrinth Patterns
This labyrinth is a spiral design and very simple to do as you can see in the video. It starts with a simple triangle seed pattern. If you use a square instead of a triangle you can make a ‘Cretan’ or ‘Celtic’ labyrinth – there are more how-tos over on the Labyrinth Society’s website here.
Outdoor Labyrinths
Labyrinths are endlessly intriguing. You can make them out of anything and in 2 dimensions or 3. If you’re outdoors, this one is sketched out on the grass with flour, but you can use stones, leaves, twigs, to make a temporary one, or plant herbs or flowers to make something more permanent. If you like your design you can literally mow it into the lawn with a strimmer, as poet and art walker Chris Jelley did for our great grass labyrinths in Taunton a few years back.
Indoor Labyrinths
Indoors, you can use books, toys, or even tins from the food cupboard to make the ‘walls’, or if you have a large indoor space, use masking tape on the floor, or line up pens and pencils instead. Be endlessly inventive!
Paper Labyrinths
And, going ever smaller, you can draw them on paper and trace them with a finger rather than walk them physically. Or spiral them in coloured threads, or use old maps or books… ah, the studio is calling!
So, in the nicest possible way, go get yourself lost in a labyrinth!