Friday 27 February 2015

"What Use Would You Have for an Old Typewriter?!"

Project Poloroid!
My First 'Catalog' of Typefaces... A most beautiful handmade gift!
Our Little Type Out Picnic at Marina Barrage! Typewriters basking in the sun :)

Hello everyone,

It is the start of the weekend here in Singapore (yippee!), and I thought what better way to start my day than updating this 'minty' blog of mine! I am realising now that I have so much to learn about blogging, and I will need to seek help soon on how to navigate and make use of all the different tools and functions... For example, silly me just realised that I had even neglected to include a title in my first post, yikes! Meanwhile, I thank you for bearing with my extremely elementary skills :)

I was pondering on what my second post should be about, and then it struck me to share on the common reactions I generally get when people learn that I use and collect typewriters... First there is what I term the 'thinking gaze', then usually a smile creeps up on their faces (some openly guffaw at my 'insanity'), and then the incredulous, "Huh? Do people still use the typewriter? Do these things even still work? Why don't you just use a computer?"

However, I must say that more often than not, my machines have become great conversation starters, and I have had young children, to teenagers, right up to the more experienced who have approached me to ask keen questions and share stories, and these always light up my day! I am also always happy to have others 'peck at' my typewriter, though I must admit I often catch myself unintentionally hovering over them, even though I know typewriters are sturdy little things, hee hee...

'Public Typing' at Seabreez, Mercure Hotel (Correction fluid is a must!)

'Public Typing' at Carvers & Co at East Coast Rd
But back to the question... My response is that I in fact use my typewriters more than I do my PC, so much so that colleagues have 'complained' about my loud and overenthusiastic tapping of the computer's keyboard, and I am still always taken aback that the apostrophe key on my computer keyboard have somehow mysteriously moved! (I am still always expecting it to lie above the numeral 8!)

I use my mechanical marvels for a variety of reasons and these include (but are not limited to)...

Type In/Type Out with Lovely Friends!


With Ton S. who was here in Singapore! From left to right, Naznin, Elaine, myself and Fudlana!

A most enjoyable time (and in beautiful weather too) with
Fudlana, Aqilah and Elaine,  and of course our gorgeous typewriters!

My Pink ABC at our little Type Out picnic!

For Capturing & Sharing of My Favourite Quotes
(I have so very many, these are just a few!)








Kept in my wallet!


To Journal About Events/Experiences...






Typecasting from our hotel room in Taiwan!


For Work


Typing up notes of encouragement for my wonderful students!


No more complaints about my illegible comments resulting from my awful penmanship!

Last But Not Least...

For FUN & Games :)



Favorite evening activity!

Thank you for hanging around, and I think for the next post, I would like to share about my obsession with typefaces! Have a most wonderful weekend ahead!



Warmest regards,

Claudia

11 comments:

  1. What an absolutely lovely article, Claudia ! And the pictures are breathtaking ! I am looking forward very much to your next article on typefaces :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice blog Claudia. I will visit often.

    Welcome to the Typosphere.

    Your blog is now on my blogroll and I put a link on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Welcome to Blogger and the Typosphere, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Looking forward to many more posts. I like your enthusiasm and crafting skills. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have certainly answered the question!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a gorgeous collection of typefaces on lovely typewriters. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's about time you joined the Typosphere proper :D
    Welcome, looking forward to more sparkly creativity!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely typecasting! I was a high school typing teacher in the 1970s, and I'd dictate instructions for typewriter mysteries to my students. It was a great exercise in following verbal instructions, but they considered it a treat. Those books look very familiar, and I'm fairly certain they were the ones I used.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I could make a lot of use of that gorgeous red Lettera 22! Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. London calling to faraway towns... Welcome! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read my post and leaving such kind and supportive words everyone! I am an avid reader of many of your blogs myself, so this is most exciting for me - more than you can imagine!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm new to typewriters and the typosphere and I really enjoyed reading through your posts (I'm reading back through your archive).

    I have one question though. I see that you typed your quotes on a lot of project life cards. How did you center the quote? When I try to type my journaling on them I either end up with too much space at the top, or too much space at the bottom...
    Any tips you can share would be great!

    ReplyDelete