Typhography textiles

Confession: I love watching home improvement/décor shows. Back when I owned (and was in the process of rehabbing) a century-old bungalow, watching them was a near daily activity. I’ve weaned myself in recent years, but a few months back I caught an episode in which the host and her trusty sidekick rustle up some antique wood type and simply stamp them on canvas for fairly inexpensive art.

Lucky for me, I happen to already own a lot of antique wood type.

I had silver metallic screen printing ink from a few years back when I thought I’d take up yet another method of printing (because I don’t have enough on my hands), so I decided to use that on regular fabric instead of gessoed canvas.

My plan was to print enough to stretch around a frame large enough to cover an unsightly fuse box in our entry way, plus enough extra to do a test wash and maybe a few scraps to include in a patchwork pillow project I have planned. While I had the ink out I also wanted to test out an idea for bespoke monogrammed wrapping paper I’ve been kicking around for a while.

Thanks to the magic of television, I didn’t realize how incredibly time consuming the project would be! After spending entirely too long printing a 12”x12” block of paper, I realized it wasn’t going to be a feasible option for retail (although my sister’s Christmas presents looked fab).

The letters printed more rustically than I anticipated, but I love how the fabric turned out! What do you think? Would you invest in hand-printed fabric for an accent pillow or piece of art?