Lead Fabric: Illustrating Fashion in Type - Dec 2022

with Tess LeNoir

Thursday December 8, 2022, 7:00pm PST

Free online presentation for Book Arts Guild members and the public.

Watch a recording of this presentation HERE.

Having inherited a whole lot of lead type, an education in letterpress, and a fascination with weaving, fabric, and pattern design, Tess is combining these interests in small editions of illustrative prints. In these pen-drawn pieces, the colorful patterns of fabric are printed from forms of handset lead. Clothing is described in antique border materials and cuts, printing through masks to cover tightly registered irregular areas in each illustration.

Tess LeNoir grew up in Seattle in the apartment above Day Moon Press, their mother’s commercial letterpress shop since 1976. They’ve been the main producer and operator since 2016, which has involved a great deal of reorganizing the floorpan, sorting decades-old galleys, cataloging 40 years of type collection, and finding new purposes for this inheritance of materials.