Quote Originally Posted by angelize View Post
I also have an idea for a future project, I have this nice wall paper in my kitchen that has images of spice bottles and the names of an assortment of spices
Hi Frances—

If were are to obey copyright laws (hint: we are), we can't use your wallpaper—nice as it might be—as a resource. All textile patterns—at least in the US and I suspect Canada, too—were created by graphic designs, and the pattern art belongs to the mill or other company that produced the wallpaper, gift wrap, clothing pattern, and so on. That's why you'll never see exactly the same design on a dress by different distributors.

I'm not campaigning to use the Linotype specimen book, or the other three Barbara procured, but the bottom line is they are Public Domain. All designs we trace over have to be PD, or we need permission from the creator.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, Frances! I occasionally riff on a pattern I see online, but if I think I'm coming too close, I don't show the art in public.

I think the very first step in the next typeface needs to be copyright permissions. I'd be nice to do a group font from scratch, but me, I couldn't volunteer that amount of time, and our gang here appear to enjoy the challence of accurate tracing of source material.

-g