WIMM + My First Tutorial

Today’s WIMM just consists of just one thing AND it is my first tutorial!  Since it is my first, please bear with me.  There are a few things that in hind sight I wish I had done (and I’ll point them out to you as we come to them)  Also, for the sake of full disclosure, I must admit that I haven’t exactly tried this new painted mat out yet.  Therefore this is more of a ‘How to Paint Chevron Stripes’ tutorial than it is a ‘How to Paint Your Yoga Mat and It Still be Functional’ tutorial.  Also, I painted my stripes over the original ugliness, but I took the pictures for the tutorial on the other (blank side) of the mat so you could see it better.  

Let’s get started shall we?

Here is my sad first attempt to personalize the mat.  

Fail.

First thing I did was measure the mat.  Mine was 24in wide and about 60 inches long.  I wanted my stripes to go horizontally so the first thing I did was draw my vertical lines.  These are the points where the tips of the zig zag will be.  I drew a line every 4 inches across the mat.  Make sure you use a marker or a sharpie.  I originally used a pen and it scored the mat.  It also didn't cover well so you can still kind of see a grid on the final project.  Oh well.. I'm not perfect.  

Anyways.. continue those lines down the whole mat.  Then measure 4.5 inches down the mat and continue that line across the whole mat.  

Then all you have to do is connect the lines!

Do that across the whole mat. And you will get this! (and then my Sharpie died...)

For the next line, measure 4.5 inches down from your last horizontal line and continue that line across the mat.

Then, on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th vertical lines (the 'up' lines), measure a 1/2 inch down from the top line and make a hash mark.   

Then connect your hash mark and the bottom line!

Do that across the mat and you will have your second line!

Continue that process down the mat, or canvas, or whatever you are drawing the stripes on.  

Once you have all your lines drawn, its time to break out the paint.  I just used acrylics because they are pretty flexible.  I tried to keep my coats pretty thin to avoid peeling later, but thick enough to cover and to get down in the ridges of my mat.  At this point its just coloring inside the lines!  

YOUR LINES DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!  

Just do your best!  There are definitely spots that I had to go back and touch up but that's super easy!

Tada!

There you have it!  Easy chevron stripes on a yoga mat that may or may not still be functional.. We shall find out later this week!  It is isn't--eh, there is always the other side.  At least now that it is pretty when I get tired of yoga (which, lets face it, with my track record is probably going to be sooner rather than later...), I will have a cute new rug!