Finally it feels like summer may have arrived in the UK. We are currently in the midst of a ‘heatwave’ and it seems to have been a bit of a shock to the system given the state of the weather during the past few weeks. Having said that, at time of writing an ominous grey cloud seems to have settled just above us. That’s far more like the good old British weather that we all know and love. Anyway, it seems a good time to introduce our new coastal inspired letter writing paper and envelopes, because what say’s summer more than stationery decorated with seaweed…..
The inspiration for this design came from a wonderful trip we made to Cornwall last month. Over several days we spent some time rock pooling and beach-combing on the gorgeous beaches that they have down there. Whilst doing so we encountered many different types of seaweed. All of which were beautiful in their own, albeit slimy way, and it occurred to us that a seaweed print would make a good stationery design. So we took out our light sensitive paper (as you do) and began to create some lovely blue seaweed cyanotype prints exposed by the Cornish sun.
Take a look at the process behind these seaweed prints in the video below. It mainly focuses on the other items we collected whilst out and about but the seaweed prints were also created using this method. They can be seen briefly at the end of the video.
Searching for loose seaweed!
Initial beach beach-combing prints
Cornwall, UK
Cornwall, UK
Once we returned home we spent some time testing which way the prints looked best and eventually settled on a repeat pattern of three different cyanotype seaweed prints along the top and bottom of the paper. However we still felt like something missing, and then we realised what it was. Gold of course! After playing around with the design we decided that three small gold dots between each print just gave the design that little extra something. After all, who doesn’t love a bit of gold on their stationery, especially when each sheet has been hand finished.
It just goes to show that inspiration can strike at anytime, even while you are taking a break!
If you want to see how we hand finished each of our letter writing sheets and envelopes take a look at our Reel on Instagram. Just simply click the play button on the right and it will take you straight there. If you want to keep up with our latest designs and offers don’t forget to follow us while over there.
This design, along with all our others, can be purchased in our online shops, in packs of 10 or 4 on Etsy and our website or simply as a pack of 10 on Folksy. Please follow the links in the drop down menu at the top of the page.
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