Lino-printing Marcelo's Flag

Marcelo's requested flag features the Andean Cross, a cosmological symbol from the ancient cultures in South-America, particularly Inca civilisations, and at the centre, the Japanese calligraphic symbol for the sun (his son's name means 'sun').

I cut the design in a hurry, without testing out which cutter to use and was disatisfied with the wonky linework. Then Marcelo messaged me in response to my digital design (which included a graphic of the Andean Cross I had found on Canva), saying that he loved how it appeared like a labyrinth, that sealed the fate of the first lino plate. I cut a second plate, after testing which cutter to use, making a concerted effort to keep my hand and the linework as straight as possible - adding several gaps into the linework to create a maze effect.

I printed the plate in Marcelo's chosen colours on card:

I then printed the design on satin:

When I sent Marcelo his prints, he responded with a beautiful voice note, with birds chirping in the background, to say “I think it’s more than just an art project and a piece of research, it’s a cosmic gift. So, thank you.” These were Marcelo's favourite two colour combinations:

Marcelo described this last design as "silver ink on orange" - the ink is actually white but the choice of material - Satin - gives the flags a beautiful, shimmering effect which is one of the reasons I have decided to use this material.