May 1, 2014 - YOU (we) DID IT! Shipping John Lavery's Machine....... Part TWO *UPDATED*

You folks, and you know who you are, ROCK!

Now on to the second hardest part ... packing and shipping.

Phase 2 of this project is well under way now.

The internal skeletal "crate" is now built, and I am wrapping it in a custom cardboard container. Once the cardboard is done, the internal packing and reinforcements will take place, and I'll have a final weight for the shipping company.

I chose to mount the machine on cleats that are attached to a sheet of luan plywood. This is just to try to stabilize it as much as possible inside the crate. There will be styrofoam and various other foams and bags of foam inside the crate to cradle this baby overseas.

Inside that cocoon is a locked down typewriter. The carriage is completely disengaged from the escapement, and it is locked in place with wire ties in multiple places. The carriage ends are ensconced in egg carton. The keyboard is covered in foam. The whole lot is bundled up tightly with packing wrap, and the leading and trailing edges are protected with 1/8" cardboard L-shaped reinforcements.

The crate skeleton is done, and the outer shell is being moulded around it:

Since the picture was taken, struts have been added on all four sides to solidify the structure.

More to come ...

[added]

UPDATED 5/2/2014

5 pounds under my initial 50lb estimate!!

(Couldn't resist! :)

April 17, 2014 - Any Similarity Between the old Remington Logo andOur's is Purely Intentional

What can I say ... it (the Remington Logo) is a cool logo! :-)

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. :-/