Free Vintage Penny Farthing Bicycle Printables for Junk Journals & Mixed Media
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Quick Summary
Features a set of late 19th-century penny-farthing bicycle illustrations from vintage trade journals.
Perfect for art journaling, mixed media, masculine collage projects, and travel-themed junk journals.
Includes one printable sheet with variously sized engravings of penny-farthing bicycles.
Ideal for layering with maps, handwritten letters, and antique-style textures.
In the age of invention and daring exploration, few icons captured the imagination quite like the penny-farthing. With its oversized front wheel and graceful, almost precarious silhouette, it became a symbol of innovation, balance, and freedom.
This free vintage penny-farthing bicycle printable celebrates that same spirit of adventure. Sourced from late 19th-century bicycle trade journals, each engraving tells a story of curiosity and progress, when every wheel turn felt like a small revolution in human movement.
If you love combining nostalgia, history, and creative storytelling in your journal pages, this printable is a perfect fit for your next mixed media project.
About the Free Printables
This free collage sheet includes:
One printable sheet featuring a variety of penny-farthing bicycle illustrations
Mixed sizes suitable for focal points, embellishments, or journal inserts
Crisp black-and-white engravings with fine Victorian detailing
These images make a wonderful addition to any vintage-inspired journal or scrapbook.
How to Use This Printable
Here are a few ways to bring these charming illustrations into your creative work:
Junk Journals: Create pages about travel, innovation, or curiosity. Layer the bicycles with map fragments and handwriting for a storytelling effect.
Mixed Media Collage: Use the circular forms of the wheels as compositional anchors alongside watercolor washes or texture paste.
Scrapbooking: Highlight memories of trips or adventures. These bicycle images are perfect metaphors for movement and discovery.
Tags & ATCs: Use the smaller images to create miniature keepsakes or steampunk-style gift tags.
More Creative Inspiration
Try printing the sheet on vellum or tracing paper for transparent layering effects. You can also add sepia-toned distress ink or watercolor washes to create a patina that feels genuinely antique.
For an inventive twist, pair these bicycle engravings with botanical illustrations or portrait photographs, contrasting the mechanical with the organic to evoke the spirit of 19th-century curiosity cabinets.
Other Free Printables You Might Like
Free Sled Design Printables — Engravings that are part of the story of mechanical progress.
Free Bird Ephemera Printables — Natural history illustrations offering a poetic contrast to the bicycle’s engineered precision.
Free Vintage Store Ephemera Printables — Antique trade catalog illustrations that pair well with industrial or travel themes.
Free Vintage Hot Air Balloon and Dirigible Printables — Soaring 19th-century airship engravings that echo the same inventive spirit as these bicycles.
FAQ
How should I print these for best results?
For tags and journal cards, you can use high-resolution printing on heavyweight matte paper or cardstock to preserve the fine engraved details. If you are layering the images in collages, lightweight paper is great.
Can I resize the images?
Yes. You can reduce them in your print settings to fit your journal size or chosen project format.
Can I sell items made with these printables?
You’re welcome to use them in handmade projects for personal or commercial use (such as handmade journals or collage art). Redistribution of the digital files themselves or print-outs of them "as-is" is not permitted.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re journaling about personal journeys or celebrating the artistry of the past, this vintage penny-farthing bicycle printable adds a distinctive historical flair to your creative projects. They remind us that every innovation, and every artwork, begins with a bit of courage, balance, and imagination.
You may also enjoy these free collage sheet printables.
Terms of use:
Free to use for personal or commercial projects. You may print the collage sheets as many times as you wish for your personal crafts or in your projects to sell, including: art journals, scrapbooks, junk journals, collage art, etc. You may not redistribute or sell the collage sheets “as is" in either print or digital form.
If you wish to share the files on your own website, please do not make the files available for download directly from your site. Instead, include an image with a link back to this site.
To the best of my knowledge, these are all royalty free images that are in the Public Domain in the US. However, you should always do your own research if you plan to use them commercially.
