Saturday, November 2, 2013

Revolution in the mailbox: archy, a handcrafted letter, and cards galore

I've been tardy in my correspondence and in sharing the sharable items online, but here is another installment at last of Revolution in the Mailbox.

First, from Alan Brignull came these beautifully printed pieces of paper:

(archy typing)


Alan comments in his elegant hand:


Thanks to Peter Eipers for a very nice letter featuring a custom Underwood stamp and a clever card. I like this concept and think this ought to be a trend!



From Holland comes a postcard from Agent S. W., featuring a Royal Quiet De Luxe that has seen better days:



If I'm not mistaken, S. W.'s report can be found here.

From Richard Jarvis comes an appealing typewriter postcard:



Thanks, Richard! A very nice design. Feel free to post a link to the Etsy store if you comment.

From ZetiX in England came a package of Typosphere postcards in four great designs. Thank you! How can other typospherians get these?


I'll also take this opportunity to thank Mark of TotallyYourType for his nice letter and for finding an Adler Universal for me! He brought it to West Virginia and surprised me with it. I knew that if I complained long enough, someone would connect me with a Universal. I've been cleaning it up and enjoying discovering its features.

I appreciate everyone's correspondence. Forgive my less than prompt response, it's been a very busy couple of months.



14 comments:

  1. I like the red Olivetti L22 postcard!

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  2. That is some very nice correspondence.

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  3. Sweet! Some great graphical art there.

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  4. That's really nice handwriting from Alan. Lovely postcards too, even the one of the decrepit Royal Quiet De Luxe. I especially like the coloured typewriters on black background from Zetix's series.

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  5. Thank you all for your kind comments on my postcards here. I was inspired by Rob's post mid summer that I was unfortunately late to enter the competition. So I wanted to give it a go myself and try out the Vistaprint printing service.

    Those who watched the movie "Populaire" can clearly tell that the typewriter on first two cards is directly sourced (ripped?) from the "Cha, cha, cha de la Secretaire" song. I thought it was great conversion of a typewriter shape to a logo so I wanted more people to enjoy it - not only the ones that saw the movie.

    Anyway - I don't plan to run a shop so I can only place them somewhere - most likely onto my blog's page - for people to download and make the hard copy through printing services available to them locally. Or if Rob decides to go with a second run of the postcard sets that are printed for you and available for purchase maybe he will find a place for one or two of these to include in the final release.
    I made only a small batch of them and half of it is already gone (as a thankful offering/sacrifice - to our Typosphere gods ;) ) but maybe a quick giveaway (RichardP's style - again) of two or three sets can be arranged somewhere at the beginning of December.

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  6. Thanks for sharing the letter and cards, Richard. Peter's handwriting is lovely and inspirational - and legible!. I like the graphics, and the general idea of postcards, too. I've been feeling bogged down in my letter-writing round to the kids (7) and grandkids (12), and I like the idea of an interestingly-crafted, but fairly quick, postcard as an alternative to a letter as a way to make a personal contact, typewriter-wise

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    1. Good for you for keeping up correspondence with your family.

      I should point out that it's Alan Brignull who gets credit for the calligraphic paragraph.

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  7. That's some of the neatest correspondence I've seen in a long time. There's really some amazing creative energy and work out there. Very cool. Thanks for showing this to us, Richard!

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  8. Those are superior postcards from ZetiX! Some real graphic design talent there. I look forward to pirating some copies for myself... The Typosphere Gods in my neck of the woods must be appeased, as well.

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  9. Super cards, all. And how great to be reminded of the inspiring archy, pounding away.

    I'd be interested, Richard, in your thoughts on repairing the Adler Uni. I've got one that, sadly, doesn't work. In single space mode, it freezes, and in double space mode, it loses all sense and the carriage slides around aimlessly. My guess: the long arm that is connected to the switch that toggles between single and double is positioned wrong, but I haven't figured out how to reason with it. If you have any thoughts after inspecting yours, I'd be happy to hear them.

    As archy wrote ...
    'an optimist is a guy
    that has never had
    much experience'

    Rob N. in NYC

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    1. I had a similar problem: double spacing was OK, but single spacing froze up.

      If you remove the carriage you can look down into the escapement from the rear. Note that the single/double switch moves a plate left and right. Attached to this plate should be some soft rubber padding. It was pretty deteriorated on mine, and I think that was the cause of the problem. I pulled it out and attached two little pieces of thin adhesive felt (available at craft stores for $1 a sheet). So far -- cross your fingers -- it is working OK.

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    2. Thanks, Richard. I have seen the plate and it has no padding. Getting to it will be messy, as mine has a tab array on the back of the frame. Cheers!

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  10. He, it arrived! And indeed, that machine has seen better days, even before it got molested by trying to type the post card... What a task, sure need more practice doing that. Unfortunately there are not many typewriter postcards to be found here. Maybe I should also print my own next time I need one.

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