Our friend Maura Ambrose is the talented quilter and textiles artist behind Folk Fibers. She makes beautiful quilts from fabrics dyed by hand with natural dyes (including indigo that she harvests from her backyard). Each piece is an absolute work of art.
We were so excited when Maura asked us to print her business cards. It was such a fun project to work on, and I love that handwritten correspondence was part of the process as we mailed paper and fabric samples to one another.
Maura chose a thick, recycled chipboard for her paper stock and sent us samples of her naturally dyed fabrics for ink color inspiration– she wanted her business cards to reflect the colors of the natural dyes she uses in her quilts. The samples below were dyed with yellow onion skins, red onion skins, and walnut hulls. From there, we were able to pick a color (478) from our Pantone guide.
Mixing the ink is one of my favorite parts of the process– it’s so hands on, and I love watching the new color appear.
Below are a few behind-the-scenes photos of the letterpress printing process.
Paper cutter in action
Photopolymer plate inked and ready for printing
Freshly printed business cards, stacked and ready for the final trim
Finished product
UPDATE 10/22/2012:
In case you were wondering who did the amazing logo and business card design for Folk Fibers: Ryan Rhodes of LAND.
