A doorstep can be a place for a design as well as a way into a home. Indian threshold arts include patterns made at entrances with materials such as rice flour. Threshold means the entrance or boundary of a doorway.

Kolam is a named Indian design practice. In one documented example, artist Shanthi Chandrasekar describes a line that goes around a dot arrangement and returns to its start. Your dot puzzle explores that small line-and-dot idea. It is a practice drawing, not a copy of her design or a complete traditional kolam.

Another named practice is pookkalam in Kerala’s Onam celebrations, made with arranged flowers. These examples share an interest in making a design, but their materials and practices differ. Do not give every doorway pattern one name or one explanation. Ask who made it, where and what they chose to do.

Follow your own line with a finger. Does it return to where it started, or stop somewhere? Change one section and follow it again. A small choice can change how a design works.

For a different entrance example, a Smithsonian archive photograph records an Ndebele entrance near Pretoria, South Africa. Geometric means made with shapes and lines. The archive describes painted geometric designs on its walls and steps. Compare those surfaces with the Indian rice-flour and flower examples. Would you make the same choices for a wall, a step and a sheet of paper?

Chandrasekar’s account describes a design that grows by changing its dot arrangement. She is a living maker explaining choices. Try changing one feature in your own practice drawing: the surface, the material or the route. Which change affects what you can make? Ask a willing maker what matters in their own design, rather than giving all entrance patterns the same story.

solo · About 10-15 minutes; untested estimate.

You need

• Paper and pencil
• Optional colored pencil

Try it

1. Draw a three-by-three dot grid with spaces between dots.
2. Draw a line around dots without touching them, returning to its start.
3. Follow the entire line with a finger. Check for an open end.
4. Draw another grid and change one part of your route.
5. Compare the two designs and mark where the change happened.
6. Label both as your own practice designs.