Handmade Hemp Tote Bag - Mandala

A natural canvas tote printed with a mandala in full colour: a lotus throne at the centre carrying the stacked syllables of the Kalachakra emblem, ringed by eight prayer flag panels in blue, white, red, green and yellow, each one filled with Tibetan script. Long handles, cut to sit on the shoulder. Those five colours are not decoration. In the Himalayan tradition they are the elements, blue for sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water and yellow for earth, and a string of flags is hung in that order so the wind can carry the prayers printed on them out over the valley. The emblem at the centre knots ten syllables into a single monogram, a form you will see carved above doorways and painted on monastery walls from Boudhanath to Mustang. The cloth is the fibre in its own colour with no bleach, so the pale ground carries the flecks and the slight unevenness that come with a natural weave. The colours are printed by hand, one at a time. Because the bags are cut, sewn and printed by hand, the exact register of the colours and the depth of the natural ground vary a little from one to the next. Yours will not be identical to the photograph, and that is the point. Ships worldwide from our Vancouver store with live carrier rates at checkout.

Every piece is worked individually, so colour, thickness and finish vary a little from one to the next. That variation is a feature of the craft, not a flaw.