Vintage type

 

I have been thinking about making limited edition publications using a vintage manual typewriter rather than setting up letterpress type. I'm thinking about typing on tea-bag paper - not a new idea I know but it is new for me. I want to be able to use my own words and achieve an outcome similar to the type in the image above and below. Of course I'm will need to focus on typing accurately!!!!

I brought a vintage manual; typewriter online. It arrived on time and it was well packed -  but as part of the postal procedure the carriage of the machine had been locked. Apparently this is the usual procedure when transporting older portable typewriters. The challenge for me was that there was no manual; and I knew nothing about carriage locks.

As you can see from the photos below I took the case off the machine after checking out online how one might free up a vintage typewriter - just not mine. I did manage to find and operate the carriage lock button; but still the carriage would not move.

I was just about to give up when Fiona and I had another look together and that is when I noticed that a small pin that would move the carriage on letter at a time had jumped out of its bracket - see below.

Once the pin was back in place we tested the movement - hey presto it worked. I put the machine back together and then we tried typing - a few of our efforts follow.

I'm happy that I can now test out this slightly dodgy old machine actually typing a small edition of a prose poem of mine based on fallen autumn leaves cascading over the local weir wall.