Star Chart

A deep navy disc of sky scattered with off-white stars in three sizes, a handful of them joined into small constellations, inside a thin off-white ring. Bare canvas above and below.

The constellations are invented: this is not a map of any real sky, so it will not help you find Orion. The smallest stars are pinpricks of ink and a few may print fainter than the rest.

Specification

• Design: Star Chart, printed in deep navy and off-white
• Small: approx. 40 × 60 cm (16 × 24 in) canvas, 44 cm dowels, about 0.35 kg
• Large: approx. 60 × 90 cm (24 × 35 in) canvas, 64 cm dowels, about 0.65 kg
• Sizes are approximate and can vary by up to 1 cm; the photographs show the Small
• The Large is the same design scaled up, not redrawn
• Canvas: 55% cotton, 45% linen, about 340 g/m², left its natural oatmeal colour; slubs and the odd darker fleck are part of the cloth
• Print: screen-printed by hand with water-based pigment inks, one screen per colour, heat-cured; matt, with the weave showing through
• Colours can sit up to 1 to 2 mm off each other, and ink edges are slightly soft where they meet the weave; no two pieces are identical
• Hanging: oiled beech dowels (15 mm) through sewn sleeves at the top and bottom hems, and a natural cotton cord that ties to the ends of the top dowel; one nail or hook needed, not included
• Arrives rolled in a card tube with the dowels packed alongside; slide them into the sleeves and tie on the cord
• No frame and no glass; spot clean only
• Dispatched from Hong Kong within 3 to 5 business days

Care. Dust it or run a lint roller over it now and then, and spot-clean marks with a damp cloth and a little mild soap, dabbing rather than rubbing. Do not machine wash it: the inks survive, but the canvas shrinks by a few per cent and the hems twist around the dowels. Rolling leaves soft creases that drop out within a few days of hanging; a cool iron on the back, with the dowels out, speeds that up. Keep it out of strong direct sun, which slowly fades pigment and bleaches natural canvas. More on Care & Materials.