Appreciated

Typed on "Etta," the 1953 Royal Quiet DeLuxe

• ITAM: Deek's modest proposal
  

Ambassadors of the Golden Bell

Typed on "Etta," the 1953 Royal Quiet DeLuxe


This also gives me a chance to prove the point that you need to adjust your technique and touch to the particular machine, if you plan to rotate them through. Consistent with my other Royals, Etta requires a more even typing technique than I use on my computer keyboard or that I can get away with on Olympias, speed-demons that they are. You'll note the bunched up letters here and there in the typecast, resulting from me getting to the next letter before the escapement advanced to the next position. Also, Etta is outfitted with a knob used to adjust the tension of the mainspring, so on its loosest setting, the carriage almost flies to the end when you move it. I had to add some tension after the first two lines, which revealed that other problem that sometimes plagues Royals: the infamous "soft left margin," where it will return not quite to the leftmost stop. I see this on my model "O" Royal even more. Grievances aside, the QDL is a fine machine, and it really is very quiet, something I'd forgotten. Searching this blog shows that I've only used her twice, both times for a color-cast. I'm rather embarrassed that I have not used this machine more, in truth. It's no wonder I'm still getting used to it.

On Noodling

Production note: I was trying to emulate Joe Van Cleve's color-wash technique, but had little luck getting the wax to transfer to the page. My color wash of diluted fountain pen ink made the page a lovely mushy blue, but no letters. So, I fell back on the method demonstrated by his grandson and just scanned the wax paper outright, boosting the contrast in Gimp.

At Last

Update: for those having trouble getting a clear impression (*cough* Speegle *cough), here are some detail photos of the paper used for this typecast. I tweaked the "levels" on the above pic to boost the contrast a bit, though I'm not sure that was necessary, since you can see the lettering on the other side bleeding through.