Silly / Absurd

#97 · Draw patterns in spilled salt

Drag a chopstick tip through a pile of spilled salt or sugar to create swirling patterns or mandalas before sweeping it up.

A small artistic outlet for whenever you knock the salt over on a wooden table. Rather than sweeping it straight up, spread it flat and draw something in it first.

How to do it

1. Spread the salt into a thin, even layer with the side of your hand.
2. Draw with the chopstick tip, using slow strokes.
3. Blow gently across it to erase and start again.

Why it works

Salt crystals are hard, roughly uniform in size and almost perfectly free-flowing, so they behave like a very fine dry sand. Dragged through, they part cleanly and hold the edge of the line rather than slumping back into it - which is exactly the property a Zen garden rakes for at a much larger scale.

Tips & warnings

• Ground herbs, coloured sugar or fine sand all work as well.
• Photograph it before you tidy up, because you will not get the same one twice.
• Sweep it up properly afterwards. Salt on a wooden worktop draws moisture and leaves a mark.