Camino Crafts - Lino printing

I went recently to an art day run by my local Council and learned how to do Lino printing, I'd seen this before and liked the way it looked but hadn't known where to start so when the chance to do this came up for only £15 (including all materials) I couldn't resist! The day ran from 10-4 and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we almost forgot to eat.

The teacher taught us the basics and then left us to try things out but wandered around giving advice, answering questions and always aware of what everyone was doing and whether anyone needed help.

I had time to do six different designs half of which were Camino-inspired.

I started with a simple scallop shell - a chance to do some lines and curves as well as a bit of patterning

I also printed them on some material - maybe I'll be able to sew these into decorations in the future

Another shell - the assistant to the teacher said to me, 'You do like shells don't you?!' - only scallop shells though

Next we were to do our 'big' piece - something more complicated that we could put on either a bag or a canvas so I chose to do Santiago Cathedral (something fairly complex) - I drew it out first on paper because, seeing as this was to be printed, I needed to do it in reverse (mirror-image) and needed to practice this then I copied the image onto the lino (we used the easy-cut lino which is indeed easy to cut!).

I'd already started to cut this out before I thought to take a picture - it had been suggested to us that we might like to do a two colour print so the circle at the bottom was so that I could do a smaller scallop shell stamp in yellow and insert it into the image

Here it is all cut out and having been used once (and the shell I did in some see-through lino which was definitely not easy cut!)

My print! I think that it's recognisable - I hope that it is. This one is done on canvas but didn't work very well

The print and lino

The print and all three linos

I did this one on material which I intend to stretch over a wooden frame to be a picture.

What exactly I'm going to do with these prints I haven't decided but I bought the materials so that I can carry on experimenting with the method so you might see some more prints in the future.

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

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On the Camino

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