Son of typewriter covers

Rats... here I am again, up too late on a work night, flailing away on some silly project as usual. In this case, I am referring to typewriter cover #2 (#1, created for the Olympia SM-9, can be seen here), which I created for the Olympia Traveller De Luxe.

I had intended to make a cover for my Royal Quiet De Luxe, but it features a rather daunting slope from platen to space bar, and my sewing skills are about one week old. And so I chose the flat-ish, travel-sized OTDL for my first attempt to make a cover that actually sloped slightly in the front (my first project was in fact just a baggy cube).

Naturally, I thoroughly miscalculated how a fitted typewriter cover would be measured and sewn together, and thus I busied myself with inexpert hemming after the fact. Fortunately, I believe that, in the end, this will suffice to keep dust off the Olympia.

Are those cats in kimonos? Why yes, they are. The OTDL is a tacky machine, and it called for a tacky fabric.

Rambling on the Royal

Typewriter ribbon tins

I do not collect typewriter ribbon tins (yet... yikes) but this guide will introduce you to the hobby, if you're not already familiar.

Non-virtual typewriter museums

Next time you are in Helsinki, consider stopping by the Finnish Business College Museum of Typewriters and Calculators. Is it possibly earth's only actual in-person, public typewriter museum? There is no shortage of virtual typewriter museums out there in web town, but above all, the typewriter is about tactile experience, and thus I find my eyes glazing over at typewriter .jpgs. (although, that said, here is the virtual equivalent of Finland's museum).

If you know of a real typewriter museum, wherever it is, let me know so I can plan a field trip for myself.

Paul Smith's Typewriter Art

You may feel that you are pretty creative and clever to be using a typewriter when creating mere words in this day and age, but Paul Smith was a man who created countless complex illustrations, somehow, using this very same device.

He passed away just this summer, leaving behind a large collection of portraits and landscapes that he somehow created using only the shift-lock characters on the number keys. Now I think we've all heard of the dubious craft of ASCII art, created on computer keyboards, of which the ubiquitous smiley emoticon is but a very low form (I am sure I used it in an e-mail message just today). Although ASCII art can be quite complex, it seems like mere child's play when you consider that Paul Smith did his art with a carriage return bar and a platen, and a piece of paper that you had to scroll to and fro in just such a way to produce the works he did.

I wonder if anyone can scroll down in his biography and tell me what model of typewriter he is using? I couldn't identify it.

Typewriter cover

Armed with about 1 hour of lifetime sewing machine experience, I managed to create a baggy cube of fabric that will serve nicely as a typewriter cover for my Olympia SM9. I suppose a proper typewriter cover would be sloped down the front, and would perfectly fit each side of the machine, but then such an item would probably have to be made by a proper seamstress (what is the gender-neutral version of this term?) since it is a miracle that I even managed to sew a cube.

At any rate, my point is this: I don't have to turn to some random Internet typewriter cover retailer to keep dust off the collection.

Nanowrimo 2007: Better get a ribbon for that typer...

Nanowrimo 2007 is virtually upon us. As of this writing you have barely two weeks to make sure your typewriter is oiled, and you have a ribbon with fresh ink (better have two just in case).

The Typewriter Brigade forum is in full force, and so join if you haven't already.

As I have already stated, the odds that I will get anywhere close to 50,000 this year, typewriter or no, are slim. My glory years of 2003-2005 will have to suffice when I tell noveling war stories to my grandchildren, but this doesn't mean I won't at least be there at the starting line, typing a sentence or two, since I hear that Duffy has allowed honorary memberships in the Typewriter Brigade.

Box cameras, typewriter covers, etc.

I have been busy lately with some random non-typewriter related projects, and still need to put the 120 film into my Agfa Ansco box camera and attempt to take a few shots. Basically, I am scared to load the film. I've been spoiled by the digital era, and it sounds complicated. But I am definitely going to get on the horse, because how else am I going to have box camera photographs to post on Strikethru?

Since a couple of my typewriters are sitting around inside of my dusty house, I have contemplated getting a dust cover, although there is only one source on the internet, or maybe two that I can seem to locate. I recently have attempted to learn how to use a sewing machine (more machines! I love machines) and so might make one for myself. If I do, you'll be the first to see a badly-lit snapshot.

Typewriter review: Olympia Traveller De Luxe

The story of how I bought this typewriter

Reiseschreibmaschinen, or Travelling Typewriters By Will Davis

About the Unis Traveller De Luxe By Will Davis

Typecast: NaNoWriMo. Typewriter. 2007.

Link: The Typewriter Brigade Forum

I was just reminded of the fact that Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, was speaking where I work several months ago, and I was forced to go to an all-team meeting during that time period. Boy, was that ever lame.

Other thoughts on NaNo... do you think it's a young person's game? I notice that the age-based forums, the teen headcount is gargantuan, the 20's numbers are pretty impressive, and the "over 30" (that's it? All of us 30-100 only get one group?) contingent is modest at best. Perhaps it isn't a reflection of rates of participation as much as it is a reflection of rates of the population who basically live online, and do all of their communicating there... which fairly well describes the under-25 crowd. As for me, I am glad to be old enough to have made it through youth without being obligated to be parked in MySpace 13 hours a day. Part of me feels like I really dodged a bullet there, but then take this with a grain of salt, coming from a typewriting crackpot.

Of course, it's safe to say that your average person of 30+ has less time and more responsibility than those darned kids as well-- certainly the sad story explaining why I have serious doubts about my own ability to distantly approach the finish line this year.