Interior decorating with typewriters

Olympia SM9

I was leafing through my copy of The House Book by Terence Conran (1974) and came across this stylish setting and thought to myself "they picked that Olympia because it matched the color scheme" (even their stationary of choice is yellow to match the accent color!)

Hermes Baby

So I went through the book and found all the identifiable instances of typewriters in their various settings. I think this Hermes (or is it an Empire?) wasn't chosen to match the color scheme.

Olivetti Lettera 22

What's a stylish room without an Olivetti? Putty looks pretty good here.

Olivetti Studio 44

And for this second Olivetti, did they pick it because it matched the table and chair? Or did they paint their furniture to match their typewriter? Part of my hopes it's the latter.

Continental 100

1940  |  Continental 100  |  R335945

I forgot to mention how much I love the three-level ribbon cover. It's unique, totally unnecessary,

and very cool.

Sent from my Continental 100

Loot

1937  |  Erika M  |  646365/M

I promised this typecast way back in December 2014. Here it is, at long last!

The Erika M video mentioned in the text.

Sent from my Erika Modell M.

Hi, it's been a long time

Sent from my Groma Modell N

Mapmaking

Earlier this month, I posted on the map I created from the sketch I made while spending the afternoon outside. While those outside activities have had to be curtailed due to a stretch of uncomfortably hot weather (to anybody from the south this is going to sound silly, but it's been in the mid-80s [~30°C] for the past 2 weeks) I've continued creating maps of places both fictional and real.

This was done in black pen on a 5" x 8" Rhodia pad. It's some of the best paper for fine pen work, though if you're sloppy, it can sometimes smear a little. I scanned it in and colored it digitally to simulate a 3-color printing process. The area is loosely based on northwestern Michigan.

This map was created in the same way as the previous one, except it was based on central Nova Scotia. I used Sakura Micron pens for these two. Click to enlarge.

And this is a full-color (9 colors, to be exact) map of southwest Michigan, done with Sakura Micron (black) and Marvy Le Pen (colors). It's accurate for driving with and nothing on it is fictional, unlike with the others. Errors are therefore less forgiving because I can't just imagine a road or a differently-named city.

This gif shows the process of creating a black and white map of a fictional place.

1. Sketched out the coastline and major cities, and connected those with main roads and added small towns and county borders.
2. Added minor roads and sketched the names for major cities. Added highway shields to main roads.
3. Inked main roads and highway shields, adding road numbers.
4. Inked major city names and filled in the main road patterns denoting highway surface. (you'll notice here that I smeared the ink on the highway above White Cloud, the first error I made)
5. Inked small town names, then the coastline and water features. (my second mistake was inking a minor road near White Cloud as a river)
6. Added decorative lines to coastline and lakes, and inked county lines. Fixed both mistakes by turning the smudge into a minor road and re-routing the river. (this is why I like creating fictional maps based on reality rather than maps of real places!)
7. Inked minor roads, added hills, and added compass and title. Erased pencil sketch.
8. Scanned and colored digitally.

I just got this new old stock Berol RapiDesign general mapping stencil which will help out a lot!

Typewriter stamps, round 4

Learn more about the typewriter rubber stamps

Don't submit a stamp order form yet—I will announce the time for that later.

I certainly said "comments" often enough.

Yes, that's my address. Send me a letter, if you dare. I'll try to respond but I'm kind of bad at that.

Sent from my Groma Modell N

Torpedo 18: '56 v. '59

1956 Torpedo 18b 873763

1959 Torpedo 18a 1078677

There are a lot of little differences between my '56 and '59 Torpedo 18s. I'll be focusing on the changes made due to different year of production (most were made around serial number 1050000), but there are also other differences I'll point out. My 1956 Torpedo is a model 18b and was sold in the US, while my 1959 is an 18a and was sold in the Netherlands. This isn't an exhaustive list of differences, but I have tried to be fairly complete.

The 1956 18b comes first in each image pair, followed by the 1959 18a.

First, the location of the Torpedo logo changes in 1959 from the paper table to the ribbon cover. Also seen in these photos, the card holders (both metal and plastic) are slightly altered in 1959.

The Torpedo Werke emblem is removed in 1959. You can also see that the exposed metal pieces are black on the 1956 model, while they are silvery on the 1959 (and corroded in this particular example; not an uncommon problem with the 1959-1962 Torpedoes)







The 1956 model has a matte-finish segment center, while in 1959 it is chromed.

The ribbon cover is hinged on the 1956 model and can be removed with considerable force, while it pops right out on the 1959 model. You can see the empty screw holes where the hinge was removed.

The US-imported model has an American-size ribbon spool pin, while the Dutch one has a larger DIN center pin.

The location of the rubber pads under the ribbon cover changes from 1956 to 1959, as does the serial number paint color.

The end of the paper arm is more rounded on the older Torpedo.

The ribbon color selector plate is body color on the 1956 model and chromed in 1959.

The difference here is unrelated to the year of production. The addition of a tab key on the 18b and a tab set/clear lever beside it that is lacking on the 18a.

The same goes for this. The extra lever on the 1956 model is the tab stop all-clear.

The "Made in Western Germany" decal is often found on Torpedoes imported into the US, but not always. In this case it is present, while lacking on the Dutch Torpedo.

The older Torpedo has a less-rounded case and a different handle.

It can't be shown in pictures, but the feel changes a bit between the two years. It's subtly refined in the 1959 model, though the two are comparable in touch.

My original blog posts on the 1956 Torpedo 18b and on the 1959 Torpedo 18a.