Inkblots are not altogether random. You can coax the ink to go where you’d like it to go–into a butterfly shape, a bird, a diamond, a circle.

To make a circular inkblot (a planet, a mandala, a beetle’s back), fold a piece of paper in half (this pinkish inkblot is a 22 x 30 piece of Rives BFK), place the point of your compass in the middle of the fold line. Draw a pale pencil circle on your paper.

With the dropper from your ink (or a brush if you do not have a dropper), make a bead of ink around the edge of your pencilled circle, drip some water into the center, some other ink colors if you like.

Fold the paper, gently smushing the ink and water to the center line. Some ink will escape the circle, but that will just make your blot more interesting!

Instead of a bead of ink, you can make a series of curlicues all around the edge with ink and water to get a more varied edge, as in the inkblot to the left.