April 27, 2014 - Cincinnati Type-In Recap

Photo courtesy of urbanspoon.com

Editor's note: That was Bryan and Heather Sherwood, the duo of "KyTyper" from Kentucky - whom co-sponsored this event.

View the SCM Electra SS

 

 

photo: Richard Polt

Loading up for the trip

Some of the aftermath - including a couple new typers from the trip

April 25, 2014 - Cincinnati Type-In or Bust

20 machines and counting...

April 22, 2014 - The Typewriter "Heroine" Addiction's Icy Fingers

Not too long ago, I placed myself in a self-imposed typewriter acquisition embargo - I went clean - "cold turkey." The embargo seemed necessary, because our arrival rate of new machines was increasing in frequency, while the departure rate remained at a steady ZERO.... I couldn't look at a web browser without wanting to scan through Craigslist or the Shopgoodwill site. I feel so dirty!

Well, the tides have turned - three machines have found new homes - I am clean and sober. So naturally, having met the terms of my self imposed embargo ("until we sell some machines"), my want once again found its way to Craigslist, striking at my weakest, while I am out of town on business.

This time my sights are on a very clean looking early 60's Olympia SM-7 with a cursive typeface. The price is okay, and in the current economic climate, I cannot bring myself to talk people down from an "okay" price. So, I'll brave the river crossing and traffic and fight my way to lower Manhattan to see this machine tomorrow evening.

I also spotted a nice looking Remington 7 noiseless in the area ... But it doesn't have a case and I am *OVER* buying portables without cases.

The typewriter "heroine" addiction has taken hold once more... Its icy grip again ahold of my wallet!

Hello, my name is Brian, and I have a problem........... :-)

--
"BSBRUM" - Brian @ Brumfield & Sons Typewriters

April 17, 2014 - Update on the "Help Ship John Lavery's Machine" project....

**UPDATE** 9:00am EDT Saturday, April 19, 2014 - First Batch almost done!

RRTM and Writelephant's shirts are the first in the queue. Fronts are done, backs next, and then into the mail.

I did experiment with white ink on a blue shirt for my son and it was as tough as I expected - the alignment on multiple passes is a little dodgy, and I wouldn't want to charge someone money for the way it came out. It's not really bad, but it's not perfect either. Regardless of how this first one turned out, I'll get it worked out eventually.

You can see the second pass offset, up close:

**UPDATE** 5:20pm EDT Thursday, April 17, 2014 - We broke the $200 barrier - now at $210!

April 11, 2014 - Sweetening The Pot - Donate to John Lavery'sTypewriter Fund, and Get a Custom T-Shirt

Okay, Typospherians ... it's time to kick this up a notch.

This is a work-in-progress, so bear with me ... but we need to turn up the heat a little on the "Help Ship John Lavery's Machine" fund, (the link to donate is just over -----------> there!) and this is what I am proposing to do...

What's on the table is a custom, original Brumfield & Sons Typewriters, hand-made by me, "Yes, I WILL fix your typewriter!" T-shirt.

Show those snarky PC know-it-alls with their "No, I will not fix your computer!" t-shirts, what a real technician can do!

Here is the proposal in-process:

1. Buy a T-Shirt for $20, and $15 of that will go to the fund, the rest covers most of the material costs (not including $2.50 shipping to the USA, $5, International).

2. If you already donated $25 or more, I will send you a shirt. We'll have to work out the particulars, but I'll be in touch for size, color, mailing address, etc.

Photo courtesy of Zazzle.com

3. I have limited time to work on these on the weekends, so it will take me a little time to process them probably about 2 weeks for a turn-around - since they are all made-to-order and I do not stock the shirts, so I'll need to get them delivered and then printed.

4. I will channel this offer through Etsy so that my costs are covered, but then all proceeds will go to the "Help Ship John Lavery's Machine" YouCaring fund until we hit the $300 target.

5. Once we hit the fundraiser goal, this offer will cease - but I will still take orders through Etsy, and I will drop the price to about $15 for a shirt.


I am making the silk screen as I type this ... I am not using Zazzle - who would charge about $25 or more per shirt, I just "borrowed" their ability to nicely map my artwork onto a shirt. :-)

The first shirt isn't off the press yet - but as soon as it is, I will post pictures. I am making "safety orange" versions that my crew will be wearing at the Cincinnati Type-In - with our shop logo on the back. :-)

I will offer this as an option - if you want our logo on the back, I can do that, but by default the shirt will only have the text on the  front. We'll set that up as an option on the Etsy store.

Photo courtesy of Zazzle.com

**UPDATE** April 15, 2014
- First official batch of blank Tees on order.
- Secondary, larger artwork in-process for some of the larger shirts (2XL+)
- Also working on open-source solutions for the very, very expensive screen printing "half tone" processing mechanism. I have hopes of adding images such as this to shirts in the near future!

My beloved, hand-cropped "swoopy" Hermes 3000

**UPDATE** April 13, 2014

Nailed the problem - over exposure. First batch is out of the press!!

**UPDATE** April 11, 2014

The silk screen has been giving me fits. This is the third attempt:

The finer detail of our logo is getting partially exposed where the light bars hit the negative (the inverse affect on the exposed image is dark vertical bars).

Going to take another shot at it - I think I have enough emulsion for two more attempts, and then it is off to the Blick art supply store. :-/

 

April 11, 2014 - Unleash Your Inner Writer with a Typewriter! (Ala WORDEO)

http://wordeo.com/w/691f0cad41364d3b99f67dcfe8d698f2

Just messing around with this app, developed by a customer.... Basically using multimedia to convey short messages. Cute concept.

April 10, 2014 - Taking the Woodstock 5 for a Test Drive

1931 Woodstock 5 - Serial #N320977

http://totallyyourtype.blogspot.com

April 7, 2014 : Fundraiser to ship John Lavery's typewriter To Australia

https://www.youcaring.com/other/help-ship-john-lavery-s-machine/160870

April 5, 2014 - Any interest in helping ship a machine for John Lavery?

I have a machine that John Lavery has been looking for, for quite some time - an Olivetti-Underwood Editor II with the unique Diploma Typeface.

John used to be a technician for Olivetti-Underwood, and this machine has a special meaning for him.

You can feast your eyes on the machine with which he would like to be reunited:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/196x-olivettiunderwood-editor-ii.2042.typewriter

The problem is that the machine is in the USA and John is in Australia. Shipping a 40-50 pound package between these two points is obscenely expensive .... Almost 3 times the value of the machine, or *starting* at $450 US for shipping by sea. IT IS SIMPLY INSANE. The best option I saw for air service was about $600. I can hardly believe how much this costs, but it is what it is.

Would some folks in the typosphere be willing to pitch in some cash to help defer the cost of shipping, so that I can get this machine to John? John has been a stalwart in the larger, global typosphere, and I would really like to see this machine in his hands.

I am dropping my sale price for him, by $50, and I am willing to put $25 toward shipping ($75 total). If 20 people would pitch in $15, raising $300 - I think that between my $25 and John, we could cover the rest.

**UPDATE 4/6/2014 ** fundraiser link, via YouCaring.

I can start a fund raiser campaign, and if we can spread the word - once we hit a predetermined target,  it will end, and I'll ship the machine.

Thoughts? Crazy money, huh?!

--
Brian

April 3, 2014 - The New Typewriter Embargo or "Wow, we really need to sell some machines!"

April 2, 2014 - Call for Help - 1933(?) Continental Model 35(?) Is Wonked

We stumbled upon this beauty yesterday (along with a Smith Premier 2 - another post, for sure), and it is darned near pristine. The innards glisten as if just lofted from its shipping container from the factory. The typeslugs are pretty much SPOTLESS. The paint, immaculate! However, as you can see in the picture above, its type bars are "sprung."

To quote the man from whence this machine was purchased, "Hmmm. It wasn't like that when it came here." Yeah, great, sparky!

I have fixed this issue with a Hermes Rocket, by adjusting bent linkages, but I poured over this machine for hours last night and could not for the life of me figure out what ails it.

In the following two photos, you can see the "sprung" bars. One of the main clues, is if you press back on one - they all go back. I looked and pressed, and pressed and looked, and flipped and turned, and peered and poked, and guessed, and scratched, and hurrrumphed and exhorted, I almost cursed - but that wouldn't help! :-) I traced the stresses back and forth and looked for commonalities and adjustment points that might be the trick - but to no avail.

I could not (cannot) crack the code on this one. Please HELP if you know how to fix this - or to whom I should send this machine, because it's over my head, apparently!

April 1, 2014 - Ultra-Rare Oliver 0 PrintType Machine Acquired!

Found in the recesses of Thomas Oliver's private library, the proto-type Oliver PrintType machine.