Boundary & Thorn's Prints Are Punny and Adorable

A transplant from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Lucy Williams has become a full-fledged Clevelander during her nine years living here. Just look at her work: Sketches of the downtown skyline, Happy Dog and more of her Cleveland favorites appear on posters, while the Guardians of Traffic and “CLE” written in balloon letters grace some of her cards. Since creating Boundary & Thorn in February 2016, she has frequented the Cleveland Flea and has worked with local business such as Fire Spice Co. and Bespoke Studio. “I can’t picture myself doing this anywhere else,” she says. “Cleveland is so good to its artists and that allows us to be good to the city in return.”

Firmly Planted: While studying illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Williams interned at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and focused on botanical art — depicting the shape, form and colors of plant species. “I realized that I am way too much of a social person for that,” she says laughing. “No way did I want to be stuck in a room every day with just a bunch of plants.”

Print Plan: Williams sketches with pencil and marker before scanning her work into the computer to add color with Adobe Photoshop. The process allows her to make as many prints of her products in as many colors as she needs. For her “Love is Love” print ($20), she used the Guardians of Traffic as her focus, taking hours to sketch every detail. Then she colored them in pink and purple, added a turquoise background and even stuck a rainbow pride flag in one of their hands. “I’ve always loved those guys and how they represent Cleveland,” she says. “I just wanted to soften them up a little bit and have a little fun with them.”

Drink Up: Williams uses her botanical art training to master the perfect beverage illustrations — a bloody mary with celery, a Moscow mule with mint, a cranberry fizz garnished with a sprig of rosemary and more. The drink illustrations ($12 & $13) come with a recipe written underneath. “Friends started asking me to make them for weddings and stuff like that,” she says. “That’s when I started to think I could do this as an actual business.”