print on demand fabric - local studies potential

I recently had my first play with Spoonflower. The image below shows what the print looks like. I was impressed. I hemmed these and they became small table cloths (for gifts).


There is a lot of potential for local studies digitised material to be turned into fabric, and Spoonflower is just one option.  I am a fan of Redbubble too, for the objects which can be created, but this time I wanted the flexibility of fabric, not an end product.

The print is from hand written recipes which one of my grandmothers recorded, and, as you can see from the scan below, became a bit battered over time.   I like that they were used. I have not made all the recipes on this page, but the Quong Tart Scones and the Current Scones are both lovely (even if I did have to look up weight conversions).

You can see more of these hand written recipes on Flickr.  If anyone wants to help transcribe them, that would be brilliant.  I am doing them slowly as part of a family project.

I have not seen local studies collections encouraging the use of their collections for print on demand fabric, but was impressed to see State Library of Victoria encouraging using designs from their collection for paper.

creating content

I use different online tools from time to time to create content.  I have been making calendars for a few years.  This year I was back to Redbubble (and I have to mention the brand so you can see the example).  I was uploading photographs for a calendar, but the site suggested lots of other things I could do with the same content.  You can see some of the examples in the image below.



































I think there is a lot of potential for public libraries to load a dozen or so photographs into this.  With a dozen photographs you have have a print on demand calendar, and then with a few more minutes spent on the site have many other merchandise options, again print on demand so there is no financial outlay for the library.  You can make sure your library logo, website, and other details are on the items, just as you do for things which are printed.  These just happen to be print on demand.

I tried some of the bags, and this is how they turned out. They look better in real life than in this photograph - and I am really pleased with them.


























This is the original photograph.