My Mandala "Determination"

Recently I joined an online group called The Artists Muse this is also the name of a book written by Betsy Dillard Stroud.
The idea is that the group will work their way through the book creating art pieces as we go.
The first chapter was to create a personal Mandala.
This is my Mandala .
I chose a spiders web because of the strong determination that the spider shows in building it's web-it perseveres against all odds to complete this wonder of nature. I chose red as the background for the web because red represents determination -danger-energy-power and strength all characteristics shown by the spider during his arduous task.
The green outer border is a complimentary colour to red and represents growth and harmony and is opposite to the danger of the red.
The fiber to make the web is silk which the spider produces and it is very stong but light and elastic and is said to be stronger than steel fibers of the same thickness.
I started with a red circle which I backed with craft vilene (thanks Lynda).

And then I machined the web in a fine silver thread.

I then attached this to a piece of hand dyed green fabric which I had continued the web design onto but this time I used green thread.

I then machine appliqued the red circle to the green border with a ziz zag stitch.

And this is what it looked like before I added the spider--below is a detail of the above processes

And here is a close up of the spider which I hand embroidered from beads and thread.

I am also a very determined person and I was a bit afraid in the beginning when I joined this group that I would not be able to do these projects but like the spider I found the inspiration to complete my mission and I am glad that I did.