This is one of the Heart Aglets from my larger scale Chalk Labyrinth currently on the Seawall near Science World in False Creek.
Aglets are that slip of plastic at the end of shoelaces to prevent fraying of the threads.
When I first began drawing circles at the end of the arcs and turn-arounds in my Labyrinths, I needed a word for what this was and what I intended and hoped for in behaviour of Labyrinth Walkers/Runners.
Over the years I had noticed by direct observation of people walking my Labyrinths, there were these micro-hesitations, these almost imperceptible pauses whenever people reached a turn-around.
Finally realized that people were looking at the far wall at the end of each Labyrinth Lane.
They would reach the wall, and only then would they make a decision to turn.
They were focused on the destination at the end of the lane.
By drawing circles at the end of the arcs, be they parallel or concentric lines, which altogether make a Labyrinth a Labyrinth, I saw those micro-hesitations disappear.
People were focusing on the circle as they walked towards the end of each lane, reaching it they seamlessly turned and continued walking or running until they reached the centre.
This micro-hesitation behaviour did not exist when I looked at people walking traditional Chartres Labyrinth designs.
That was an important clue.
I had observed people just kept walking, without the pause.
That was because at the end of each concentric lane is a semi-circle curve, a Labrys, which would guide you to the next inner or outer parallel concentric lane.
In essence, by drawing circles at the end of arcs, I had pulled in the Labrys from the far wall to the centre of a turn-around point.
That began in Toronto.
One day, I don’t recall when, but it was here in Vancouver, instead of drawing a circle aglet, I drew a heart aglet.
It changed everything.
The entire feeling of walking the Labyrinth changed.
With every turn, one’s own idea of whatever the Heart Symbol means to them, is being compounded with every turn until they reach the centre, where they usually find a Larger Heart, which I almost always now include in my Labyrinths.
I found this positive compounded feeling was lessened by using multi-coloured heart aglets, so I almost always keep them red.
Yet whenever I remember to do so, I mix it up and draw one or maybe two Heart Aglets in a different colour.
Thus, this Blue Heart Aglet…