Carriage closed, ready to type, 1880s Remington Typewriter. Pay no attention to the clutter around the machine! I always have pieces of art, paint bottles, and print-outs lying around everywhere. My mother would have been the first to admit housekeeping wasn't 'her thing' and I'm proud to say I'm just like her, lol. All photos clickable to enlarge of course.
Carriage open, ready to access the ribbon or a sticking key. Notice the keys are arranged in a full circle and the ribbon lies flat at the top, unlike the typewriters most of us are familiar with. The early stages of some piece can be seen on the upper right. These would be the bright base coat squares, which get progressively smaller and more subtle, and eventually sanded and glazed. I'd say each of my pieces of art consists of at least 25-50 different layers of paint, paper, graphite, metallic pens, glazes and polyurethanes.
C O L L E C T I O N — This is my Remington Standard Typewriter, dating back to the early 1880s. It belonged to my mother's Uncle Art, whom I've mentioned on this blog before. The interesting part is the design of the carriage and keys, which are arranged in a full circle instead of the semi-circle they are on 'modern' typewriters. You can see the wide ribbon lies flat on the top of them also. I have some typed letters from the early 1900s, and typed recipes, and I've determined that this is the typewriter that was used. I did a test of it once, several years ago, and I forget which key it was, I think the lower case 'h' but it was very distinctively worn, and it matched the fragile old typed sheets perfectly. It is kept in its original packing crate, which is a really nice old wooden piece with cool typography on the sides.
The paper holder has the following printed on it:
Keep the machine free from dust
Clean all of the top rods -- especially
the shifting rod -- with a greasy cloth
Every day
Who needs internet tech support or a software update installed when a greasy cloth will work?
The original wooden packing crate it came in. It says Remington Standard Typewriter on it in cool, vintage typography. I like to keep a lot of my antiques all around me. The karma they give off is exactly perfect for my art to absorb, and they remind me of the circle of life every single day.
Your typewriters are very cool. Our family has passed down alot of vintage items. Not all reside with me but they are still in the family. Some of the more interesting ones are common household items, like butter churns and coffee grinders. It's amazing how we take our modern conveniences for granted today - 100 years ago they really had to work for the most basic items.
ReplyDeleteYOU NEED TO OPEN A MUSEUM. YOU HAVE SO MANY WONDERFUL THINGS.
ReplyDeleteI LAUGH, WHEN WE BOUGHT THIS HOUSE A FEW MONTHS AGO, GRAMPS WENT UP IN THE ATTIC. GUESS WHAT HE FOUND. ARE YOU READY FOR THE ANSWER.
RIAHCLEEHW A [NOW SPELL IT BACKWARDS]
JUST WHAT I NEED. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF IT HAD BEEN A BOX WITH MONEY IN IT. LOL
GRANNY
I LOVE VINTAGE.CAN YOU IMAGINE THE WORDS TYPED ON THOSE MACHINES? I LOOK AT THEM AND WONDER WHO USED THEM.THE SECRETS THOSE MACHINES COULD TELL.
ReplyDeleteI WAS SO TIRED LAST NIGHT I SLEPT LIKE A LOG. WHEN I WENT ON YESTERDAY, I FIGURE I'D BE ON FOR ABOUT ONE HOUR, WOULD YOU BELIEVE ALL DAY. MARE AND I SPENT THE TIME CHIT CHATTING BACK AND FOURTH. IT WAS FUN.MADE SOME MORE FRIENDS ON F/B AND CAME BACK AND FOURTH CHECKING YOUR SITE OUT. TODAY, I'M TAKING A GOOD NAP. GOOD BYE FOR NOW.
GRANNY
i love old things a lot, you can tell! I always wonder about their stories too.
ReplyDeletei have an old oak commode i found once. thankfully it was clean inside, lol. my other used it as a planter. not sure where it is now. hmmmmm. must be in the attic.
ReplyDelete