“Hello, Mister Typewriter. Welcome home.”
Those are the first words typed on my new (old) typewriter, a Royal Quiet Deluxe portable from 1938. I guess I didn’t plan to start collecting typewriters, but I am slightly obsessed. Where do I begin!
Cameron’s Aunt Jann called me over to the back of her van last weekend while we were up in Santa Barbara. She had a surprise for me. And this is what I found inside, protected within a black dust-covered, hardshell case. Incredible.
I brought it home and spent a chunk of time yesterday afternoon cleaning and restoring it to the best of my amateur abilities. Now she shines—free from years of cobwebs, grime and disuse. I imagine it sat in an attic or a garage for many years, but everything is still in perfect working order. The cleaning brushes are also still present, along with documentation that reveals the typewriter originated in Portland, Maine. Except for needing a new ink ribbon—this current one is, understandably, faded—it’ll work like new.
As a writer, the history attached to these things makes me crazy. I love to imagine what letters or documents it’s seen, what mind has put it to use. What happened over the years, nearly a lifetime, before it was brought to me? There’s an infinite amount of romanticism wrapped up in these machines, at least for me. It’s just enough to be near them sometimes, but it’s an honor to now call this one mine.
(Thank you, Aunt Jann. Thank you.)
Once upon a time in a land far, far away, I turned a sweatshirt into a laptop cozy. It was an easy DIY project, a cheap and customizable alternative to the more expensive store-bought laptop sleeves. I used it for a long time, many trips to the coffeehouse or flights to anywhere. Then, this summer, I retired my homemade sleeve and purchased a different one—typewriter style—from the MOMA store. I’m hardly sick of it yet, but if I were, I’d trade up to the new ohmygosh glorious BookBook laptop case.
Maybe I can just have both?
BookBook by Twelve South is an ingenious idea. I’m always game to disguise high tech in an old-fashioned way. These hardback cases come in weathered red or black and look remarkably like something forgotten at the back of the stacks. I’d love to slip my laptop inside, throw it in my bag and go. The pulls on the zippers are even designed to look like bookmarks.
Twelve South makes accessories strictly for Mac, which is just the kind of classicist snobbery that I can appreciate. Creative design is creative. File this one in the WANT section.
Handmade notebooks that I made by hand! Neat-o, eh? They are made with sweat and gallons of affection from all sorts of cards and old papers.
While I procrastinate writing or simply want to take a mental vacation, I make stuff. The notebooks have been my favorite project over the past several months because almost everything can be made into one. I’m really conscious to save scraps from everywhere now so that I can incorporate them into new books—the Figaro ones (above, bottom right) were check booklets from one of my most favorite French restaurants.
Once I select the right cover, then I use fresh grid paper and colored embroidery yarn and bind it all together.
Originally, I thought I might sell them on Etsy. I created a shop and everything but then never placed them up for sale. It’s been much more fun to give them away as surprise gifts. It makes me happy to know they’re one-of-a-kind, each with its own individual perfections and flaws.
Inside this toolbox are my secret materials that make crafts. I can’t show them to you.
The container came as pictured, dressed like a flashy figure skater minus the sequins and fringe. Every time I’d take it out, it seemed to scream at me. With jazz hands. Ultimately, that’s just not quite my style. I decided to turn my craft toolbox into a craft project of its own.
Take a mental picture. I got masculine with a can of spray paint this weekend, and I made the colors disappear. I’m a really butch dude, you guys. Like, really manly when I get right down to the sewing ‘n stuff.
Behold my toolbox makeover below the fold!
Read more…
We went to Portland, OR in October and I made a point to save any papers, tickets or memorabilia that I came across there. Trips are a great time to gather unique scraps that I can later incorporate into handmade projects. I found a really sweet neighborhood flyer in Lower Burnside and a few weeks ago I transformed that into a notebook for my friend Kimberly. Today, I used train tickets, business cards and rubber stamps to make bookmarks for Cameron and myself. It was very easy.
Originally, I had been using the train tickets as bookmarks alone, but they’re so thin and, unless they are sticking out of the top of the book, they get lost in the pages on their own. I decided to reinforce the tickets and glue them slightly to cardboard cards that I picked up at Stumptown Coffee. Then, on the backside I stamped each of our initials. Mine is above, obviously. My “A” is a little off, I know. Such is handmade.
