Couple expands printing business with silk scarves

By JESSICA HARDIN

jhardin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mike and Peggy Humes call the space that houses their latest retirement project “The Compound.”

The bright-yellow room sits above the Boxcar Lounge and offers views of the cityscape on one side and passing trains on the other.

It’s accessible by an outdoor spiral staircase, and, with the door open to let fresh air in, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy a beer from the bar downstairs.

In the past month, Mike and Peggy started dyeing silk scarves in the space using a process called water-marbling.

The couple’s foray into crafty business started about five years ago when they launched Rust Belt Print Shop.

“With three kids, we were always involved somehow in sports, so T-shirts were always part of it,” said Mike.

They use a process called direct to garment printing, which digitizes the screen-printing process.

The Compound is filled with their products –

T-shirts, blankets, canvas wine bags and a lot of products adorned with “Yo” or the outline of the state.

“Right now, people want to wear apparel from where they’re from,” Peggy said.

“And people are basically pretty proud of Youngstown,” Mike added.

A trip to Disney World in Florida with their grandchildren exposed them to their latest venture, where the artist drizzles paint into different designs on a table-top filled with water.

If you lay silk on the paint, it absorbs the paint. The result is a beautiful, unique design.

It’s an ancient Middle Eastern form of art called ebru, Mike explained.

So far, they’ve been booked for parties, wine festivals, craft shows and the Youngstown Flea. They’re also making bandanas to donate to young patients at Akron Children’s Hospital in Boardman and Mercy Health.

The couple joins a growing group of new businesses at the B&O station property off Mahoning Avenue.

Erik Cassile-Arroyo and Catherine Fetter took over management at the Boxcar

Lounge this fall, and Penguin City Beer will soon be brewing in the banquet hall.

“It’s just energized us to hang around these young people and to see what’s going on. ... We’re fortunate to do this. Our kids are all out of town. I laughed – I told my daughter, ‘We have new kids now,’” Mike said.