Hex Signs

I haven't done a linocut in a while (a shamefully long while) and missed doing it. I saw a hex sign on my wall I love and thought it might be a fun linocut project.

Hex signs are round emblems the Pennsylvania Dutch use on the exterior of their barns. They each have their own meanings. Common misconceptions are that these are Amish - the Pennsylvania Dutch are a little different - and that they're something to do with witchcraft because of the word "hex." They're not, and the Pennsylvania Dutch don't use the term; apparently that's just something the rest of us have taken to calling them.

The one I've owned and loved since 1993-ish has the meaning of "love." It's been on my wall or over a door since I bought it. You can see it to the left - as well as its weathering due to age.

I thought it looked like an easy linocut project aside from needing multiple colors. I've never yet pulled that off in a way that I like. Also, I know of a way that wouldn't have been too hard if it only had two colors, but three colors did not make that doable.

Then I thought, why not use acrylic paint to fill the spaces in? That's an actual technique, and even if it wasn't, who cares? So I used black ink to print the signs with and painted the main three colors. Then I cut them out because I'd envisioned them more as additions to things than standalone prints.

They're by no means perfect, but that's the charm of a linocut. I actually really like how they turned out. I have a use in mind for one of them - in one of my many art books I'm working on - but the others may end up being used as ephemera in collages.

A fascinating and exhaustive read: "Hex Signs: Sacred and Celestial Symbolism in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars"