The pink dots farthest from the center of the mandala in this picture are examples of doubles. Doubles are two dots that are beside each other and created with the same tool. The spot between them, where the two dots almost touch, should align with the center of your mandala.
To create a double, paint the first of the two dots off-center. Reapply paint to your tool and apply the second dot.
Creating doubles that align perfectly with the center of your mandala takes practice and adjustment as you make them with different size tools.
Reapply the paint to the tool after each and every dot is painted.
Apply paint to the tool. Use a very light pressure to paint one dot and then a slightly heavier pressure to apply a second dot. Apply more paint to the tool and repeat the process. The goal here is that both dots formed between paint applications will be the same size. This is achievable with practice and you will create outlines with smaller dots than in the first method explained above. This can also make the outlining process faster.
A rainbow mandala incorporates all colours of the rainbow, beginning with shades of red towards the center and working outwards in the order of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
A reverse rainbow mandala incorporates all colours of the rainbow but begins in the center with violet. As the design works outwards from the center, the colours appear in the reverse order of the rainbow: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.
The reverse taper technique works the same as the taper technique. The difference is that a reverse taper begins as close to the center of the design as possible as opposed to beginning as far away from the center of the design as possible.
The taper technique uses progressively smaller dots to outline a larger dot. This is achieved with a ball-tipped rounded tool. A tapering tool will make a line of smaller and smaller dots, the length of which depends on how much paint is applied to the tool and how big the ball tip is. In Otauna pattern instructions, a suggestion is made for the number of times to reapply paint to the ball-tipped tool before beginning the taper. This suggestion is made to ensure that the tapering makes it all the way around the dot that is being outlined.
(1) Apply paint to the tool and make one dot.
(2) Reapply paint to the tool and make a second dot.
(Taper) Reapply paint to the tool and then paint a series of smaller and smaller dots until you reach the connecting spot in the design.
Tapers begin as far away from the center of the design as possible.