Sugar Skull - Dia de los Muerto as a mandala mural

The mandala is a figural or geometric form in the form of the Yantra, which has a magical or religious meaning in cult practice in Hinduism and Buddhism.
A mandala is usually square or circular and always oriented towards a center.
 
Our mandala shows a turtle made up of 4mm thick layers. The layers become more and more filigree from bottom to top, giving a spatial, almost magical perspective.

The sea turtles (Cheloniidae):

The sea turtles (Cheloniidae) represent in the narrower sense a family within the turtles. Together with the family Dermochelyidae (whose only kind is the leather turtle) they form the superfamily of the Chelonioidea, which in German are often called sea turtles in the broader sense; this corresponds to the intuitive interpretation as a whole of the sea turtles.

The group of sea turtles comprises a total of six or seven species that have a number of common characteristics. Her extremities are transformed into large paddles, from which only one or two claws protrude, and her armor is clearly flattened and streamlined. Because the back shell does not fully ossify even in older turtles, the ends of the ribs protrude freely. There are also some regressions in the case of the belly armor. By changing the shell, the sea turtles have also lost the ability to retract their relatively large heads when in danger. The salt glands, which continuously emit a concentrated salt solution and thus regulate the salt content of the blood, are an adaptation to the salt water. The kidneys alone are not capable of this.

Sea turtles inhabit all tropical and subtropical areas of the sea and, apart from laying their eggs, spend their entire life in the water. The first sea turtles probably evolved from land-based turtles about 200 million years ago.

Sea turtles continue to feed on cephalopods, crabs, sponges and jellyfish, which they hunt during their long dives, on plants. Some species change their food composition over time, they become herbivores with age. Your metabolism is greatly reduced when diving and the blood is enriched with CO2 without harming the animals. As reptiles, they are lung-breathers and have to appear after some time - about 5 to 40 minutes during activity, 4 to 7 hours asleep - in order to exchange the air containing CO2 for fresh air.

All sea turtles are threatened with extinction in their population. The threat comes exclusively from humans who have been hunting them for centuries because of their meat, eggs and shells. Meat is particularly popular in Asian countries, and trade bans, severe penalties and high black market prices also barely restrict trade. Turtle leather and the shell tortoise shell are also very popular, especially in Japan, where they are considered good luck charms
 
The finished turtle is approx.43 cm wide and 28 cm high.
On the back are different holes that can be used for hanging.The mandala comes as a kit and must be assembled by you.
Fixing points are embedded in the individual plates, which are numbered, in which small logs are inserted to guide and position the layers during assembly. So nothing can go wrong. The last layer covers these fixing points so that they are no longer recognizable.
If you want, you can also color the layers before assembly so that the spatial effect is enhanced or the mandala is presented in your desired colors.

Description:

Material: 4mm wood
Dimension approx. 43,5 x 28 cm
Wight: 0.800 kg
Easy to mount