Block Printed Wallpapers from Galbraith and Paul

Galbraith and Paul, one of the only companies still doing large-scale block printing in the United States, just came out with a new line of wallpapers. Each piece is printed by hand in a variety of colors, and has a coordinating block printed fabric that goes with it (like in the photo below). Now I can get started on my all-block printed house. Would that be too much?

 

And, some photos of the printers in action around the Philadelphia studio:

All photos from Galbraith and Paul

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Catching My Eye

Here are a few prints from around the web that have been catching my eye lately. I especially like the old printed style of the first three postage stamp designs...

From: here / here / here / here / here / here

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Custom Wedding Invitations

I've spent a lot of time this year working on custom wedding invitations, but it mostly goes on behind the scenes (although I occasionally share pictures on Instagram). but today I wanted to share the finished product on a few invitations I have worked on recently.

First up is Blake and Saiba's Indian-inspired invitations. They chose letterpress, and I hand-drew the border and the elephants for this wedding suite. I love the color palette of coral, navy and turquoise that they used.

For Ashley and Steven's Ontario farm wedding, I block printed a monochromatic floral design on the invitation. Their wedding was in a barn so they wanted a rustic feel that incorporated the sage color they were using throughout.

Doug and Katie got married at a vineyard and used a palette of purple and lime green. I actually created this design for them and liked it so much I debuted it at the National Stationery Show. Luckily I got to be a guest at this amazing wedding!

Karlyn and Andrew had a Minnesota summer wedding and wanted to use a light purple floral theme throughout, so I created this block printed border for them and finished it off with a light purple liner.

So that is a look at what has been going on behind the scenes here! I loved working on all of these weddings and will have more to share as they roll off the press!

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2014 Calendars are Here

It's back to school time again, and that means new office supplies (even if you aren't in school anymore). So with that in mind, the 2014 letterpress calendar is here! This border is done with a hand-carved linoleum block, and the text is added using a printing plate. It's done on a thick cream card stock, and is one of my favorite new products this year! You can find them in the shop right here.

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New Lined Envelope Sets

The red stationery sets were one of last year's bestsellers, so for this year I wanted to introduce the cards in more colors and designs. I launched four new patterns at the National Stationery Show, perfect for important thank you notes or party invitations.

Each set contains six A7 flat cards and six kraft envelopes with matching liners. Both the cards and the liners are printed with a hand-carved linoleum block. You can find them in the shop right here.

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Block Printed Quilts!

  
The quilts are here, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out! These are lightweight quilts designed to be used alone in the summer, or over a heavier comforter in the winter. Are you sweltering at night during this heatwave? This quilt is for you (I've been using it for the last few weeks of 90 degree weather).

The quilts are resist-printed on 100% cotton, and dyed with natural indigo dyes. They are queen-sized, and reversible, with a block printed floral pattern on the front, and plain stitched indigo on the back.

The entire process is done by hand, from me carving the prototype in the US, to block carvers in India carving the hardwood block, to block printers printing the cotton, to the hand stitching holding the two layers together.

 

 

I knew I wanted to use indigo dye: I love the way it contrasts with the white print, and the way the color will fade and change with time. Just like a pair of blue jeans, these quilts are designed for heavy use and will get softer and broken in over time. I also wanted something reversible, so you could use the floral pattern, or turn it over for solid blue for a bolder look.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

To begin the process, I carved a linoleum block with the pattern I wanted, and printed a prototype on paper. I then scanned the design and sent it to my printer friend in India, where the blocks were re-carved into wood, and used to print the cotton.

The quilts are resist-printed, which means that the design is printed with a resist and then dip dyed, so that the printed area will not hold the dye. This creates a white design on a blue background.

They are all printed by hand, then laid out in the sun to dry before rinsing. The plain and printed cotton pieces are then stitched together by hand, using a thick white thread.

You can see the quilts in the shop right here. (You'll be glad you got one when the thermometer hits 95 degrees!)

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