Free divider/filigree line art?

March 19, 2006 4:27 PM

Find me some free, nice divider/filigree images that I can use in a printed booklet without getting pixelated looking. Stuff like this, but better:

Looking for stuff a little less florid, a little more organic, a little bolder, and ideally a format that can easily be printed without looking like some jpeg I found online.

posted by anonymoose to media & arts (7 comments total)

Go to the Briar Press site and download their cuts - all are in resolution-independent EPS format.
posted by luriete at 4:31 PM on March 19, 2006

Also, something interesting via Taz, linedings.
posted by planetkyoto at 4:48 PM on March 19, 2006

You can try using some Dover books - find a Victorian clip art book at the bookstore and pay the $3-5 for it. They have a mailing list with free samples every week (link to this week - you can do the math to get 0310, etc, every 7 days a new one comes out) and you can backtrack a few weeks to see if something strikes your fancy. It's usually fairly high resolution.

Dover's copyright use is pretty lenient - I can't remember the exact amount but I think it's something like 5 clip art images per item made (pamphlet, card, etc.) are free for use, even if it's commercial, but I'd check on it if you do go that route.
posted by cobaltnine at 4:51 PM on March 19, 2006

You can also go to garage sales and used book sales and antique book stores (or ebay) and pick up works published before 1923 and then scan in any cool divider lines that you find. I love doing this.
posted by visual mechanic at 5:07 PM on March 19, 2006

[moved image inside]
posted by jessamyn at 5:37 PM on March 19, 2006

A word that will help your search is "fleuron." Another term is "text ornament" or "printers' ornament."

One way of doing what you want is to use fonts that include characters like this -- fonts are super-scalable, so they won't be pixellated.

Most of the good stuff will be commercial, which isn't surprising, but you may also be able to find some free text ornament fonts.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:49 PM on March 19, 2006

House of Lime has some "dings" that might be what you're looking for. Check out "Designer Motifs" and, especially, "Dividers." Their fonts are free to download, with $5 requested if you use their designs, but that's not bad.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:54 PM on March 19, 2006