nathanguitars

June 27, 2017 · 2:11 pm

Cafe Stop

cafe fantasico001

a bike ride on the trail downtown
tall buildings and street people
coffee shops, pot shops, names like Heavenly Smoke
tattoo parlors full of posters
waiting rooms filled with customers
adorned, pierced, pre-decorated
jewels in orifices, eyebrows, nostrils
plentiful tourists consulting maps
riding pedicabs, human powered rickshaws
even a giant horse plodding
halfway there coffee with a view
extracting a pocket paint box
twelve colors in tiny squares
holes in the centres after many years
these colors have lasted long
since I gave this box to my mother
nigh on thirty years ago
she never used it but I have made many a sketch
blocks of paint with years left
at the rate I wash them down
hard to blend colors without making them dull
I use them straight, like whiskey
my sketches are so rough
a price paid for speed and simplicity
yet they improve when no longer compared to reality
for a sketch is distilled, yet murky
distinguished by what is missing

2 Comments

Filed under Poetry, Sketching

Tagged as plein air watercolours, outdoor cafe

June 23, 2017 · 2:35 pm

Once We Were Safe

I’ve been lucky this week, I found this at a thrift store for $5.

Gillette mod. 195 adjustable safety razor c. 1958

I had to celebrate this and the fact that 90 years earlier, today in 1868 Sholes received his typewriter patent! From my Scottish made Lettera 22, typed on Baron Erasable Bond 25% cotton content:

Here’s a close look at the adjuster ring, which has 9 settings. The blade pack was empty, but I appreciate that whoever donated this thought to include it with the razor. My Dad shaved with a similar Gillette razor and Wilkinson stainless razor blades, a major advancement in technology in 1962. Gillette knew how to make them but didn’t, because the blades lasted too long!

adjustment ring no. 1 setting

For more on razors see bruceonshaving.

Eaton’s 703 Portable Phonograph

Eaton’s 703 portable phonograph

Last year I missed out on a wonderful old German portable phonograph I saw in a thrift shop but didn’t buy. See that post here.

When I saw this old suitcase phonograph the other day I grabbed it. It worked poorly at first but I was able to remove the stuck platter and clean off the old grease, lubricate it and get it going. It has a BSR automatic turntable which was very common, and there are many videos about fixing them. The amplifier, a mono unit with one vacuum tube, puts out a decent sound through a very small speaker. These units generally had ceramic phono cartridges which although not hi-fi were good enough for their purpose. Here is a video demonstration using one of my old LP’s with the Beatles classic No Reply, from Beatles 65, featuring evocative vocals by John Lennon. The sound, although poor by modern standards, is still thrilling and I even enjoyed the 60 cycle hum!

I have no idea who manufactured this unit, but it was sold by Eaton’s, and made in Canada. It could be an Electrohome, or perhaps RCA Victor.

Anyone have 16 rpm records?

The wiring is stereo but only two wires are connected to the amplifier, and the cartridge is mono too. It has a dual needle stylus type ST8, which is still available, and plays 78’s too.

Plein Air Day

Sometimes we just stop doing things for no apparent reason. For the past year I didn’t do any painting. I can’t figure out why. However, today was the annual Plein Air Challenge here, sponsored by a local art store. I’ve done it the past few years and decided I’d take part again. Last night I put my kit together and this morning I went out and did a painting. I was rewarded with a beautiful day, and a very pleasant time spent closely observing a boat and the harbour. One hundred and thirty people came out, and it was great to see them all over downtown with sketchbooks and easels. There were no prizes for artwork this year, only door prizes selected at random. I didn’t win any but I felt like I’d won a lovely day enjoying myself. Maybe I’ll be back painting and sketching again before I know it.

Fastenephemera

Bostich B5

Yesterday I printed a 10 page manual for my guitar amp, downloaded of course since I didn’t have the original. I went to staple it together with my trusty VICTOR stapler, but that failed miserably. Later on I was passing the office junk aisle in a thrift shop (where else) and spotted this old stapler for $4. It looked rugged, my foremost criterion for a stapler, so I purchased it in the hope it would blasted through 10 pages like “butta”. It didn’t disappoint! I began to wonder how old it was. I was shocked to discover, through circuitous web searching, that the basic design dates from 1936!

One other reason to like this stapler is how well it matches old Smith Coronas, dull greyish crinkle paint and all.

Smith Corona Silent Super 1955 – script type

Here’s a US Patent drawing for the same stapler from 1939, filed 1937. This fellow Maynard filed a whole lot of patents, many for staplers, but lots of other stuff. It wouldn’t surprise me if he even designed a typewriter…

Here’s a side view of mine. Dig the background – a vintage George Shearing LP cover. The record itself was awful, but we generally like most of Shearing’s stuff.

The other old item I acquired yesterday was a pink depression glass plate, $2. Someone out there who knows more than I do says this is Federal Windsor button & cane design. Beats me, I like the colour!

pink depression glass plate

Last night I served myself a Peek Frean tea biscuit on this plate, with a beer. Both were delicious!

1 Comment

Filed under LP's, Staplers, Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters

Tagged as bostich B5 stapler, george shearing, pink depression glass

March 28, 2017 · 3:05 pm

Typewritephemera

This morning I came across an interesting ultra-portable typewriter: a Majestic 700. It is in fact a Smith Corona Corsair/Skywriter/etc, with plastic case and lid; probably the lightest of any machine I’ve seen. I had no camera but the picture above is the same model. This one was made in Canada. Curious about the Majestic brand I searched and discovered most were made by Brother. I also found an interesting old advert from Eaton’s of Canada. Eaton’s carried a good variety of everything made on earth at one time. The copy states that the Majestic case was made of “Cycolac”, a new material then. Among the small portables you could buy a Lettera 22, Hermes Rocket, Underwood 18, or Majestic 700, each for $80. The Majestic 400 however, presumably a Brother JP1, was a mere $55. All machines were available in English or French, Pica or Elite; no mention of script!