DECEMBER 2021
When Radiant Heart Studios began printing prayer flags back in the 1970's, it was immediately apparent that keeping track of and printing all the possible combinations of traditional prayer flag colors, dozens of prayer flags designs in various styles and in many different sizes could be overwhelming.

There are 5 traditional colors that correspond to the 5 elements:
Blue - Space
White - Air
Red - Fire
Green - Water
Yellow - Earth

To simplify things a bit I made the decision to print one design for each color. I chose one design from each of the most popular prayer flag categories, assigned it to one color and printed it in a several styles and sizes.

The 5 Traditional Colors corresponding to 5 of the major categories:
Blue - Health and Longevity
White - Purification - Vajrasattva
Red - Wish Fulfilling Prayer - Guru Rinpoche
Green - Praise to the 21 Taras
Yellow - Victory - Wind Horse
There is a logical link between most of these designs and the colors I chose to print them on: Medicine Buddha is Blue, Vajrasattva is White, Guru Rinpoche is in the Padma Family (whose color is red), and the principal Tara is the Green Tara. But, in fact, all these designs can be printed on any or all of the 5 colors.

There are 3 major styles of Prayer Flags:
Prayer Flags on rope - Horizontal Display (5, 10, & 25 flags on a rope)
Tibetan Vertical Prayer Flags for Poles (with streamers)
Bhutanese Style Vertical Prayer Flags (without streamers)
Tibetan Vertical Prayer Flags
Bhutanese Style Vertical Prayer Flags
All the prayer flags shown above are woodblock printed with a kerosene based black ink which must be darker than the background. That is why the woodblock prints are all done with black ink. We also silk-screen print some prayer flags using a Plastisol-based ink. The Plastisol ink allows for light color inks on darker backgrounds.
The 5 color screen printed prayer flag above uses several different colors of ink. We also screen print some prayer flags on rope and some of the other categories of designs like the Tsuktor Namgyalma, Ling Gesar and the Prayer to Avert Nuclear War.
Over the years we have added several other categories of prayer flags which we print in all 5 colors:

We also make single prints of several other Traditional Tibetan Prayer Flags on white cloth. Some have been translated into English. We use to print these on different colors of cloth and in sets of 5 colors but it was more than we could handle.
THIS MONTH'S PRACTICE & NAGA CALENDARS
The 10th month of the Tibetan Iron-Bull Year begins December 5 and goes until January 3. According to the Kalachakra Tantra and the Vedas, this month is the Naga's sleeping time. However, in some Chinese astrological texts, it says that there is some benefit if you make offerings on a few days this month.
We apprectiate feedback from our customers; encouragement ,suggestions and constructive criticism. Here is a nice email we recently received:

Years ago I bought flags from you (i was living in Asia and had a holiday home here) and they were up every summer. Now I’ve moved back to the USA and your flags are still with me —- I smile and think of others every day. So….thank you. And probably next year I will order renewals. I’ve sent a link to your website to many others who have seen mine. Thank you 🙏 Daniel

Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan
We appreciate getting photos of prayer flags on display, especially ones you got from us.
Email us at: prayerflags2@gmail.com