Chromatic Typewriter

June 16, 2013 1:15 AM

American painter Tyree Callahan converted an old typewriter from 1930s into a machine that prints colors instead of letters.
posted by chavenet (23 comments total)

Why yes she did! And it's lovely. Thanks, chavenet!
posted by trip and a half at 1:50 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Even if this wasn't cool--and it is--I'm just relieved to see the creative destruction of an antique typewriter is unrelated to anything steampunk.
posted by dgaicun at 1:52 AM on June 16, 2013 [13 favorites]

That's so neat! I went to see Marian Call play on Friday; she uses the typewriter sounds as a musical instrument. They make interesting bases for a lot of different artistic works, though a lot of them do tend to fit into the steampunk aesthetic.
posted by NoraReed at 4:10 AM on June 16, 2013

Not so much "steampunk" as "rainsteamandspeedpunk." I begin to wonder about whether Turner had access to some primitive type-painter device.
posted by yoink at 5:36 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

That's pretty freakin' neat. Great post!
posted by polly_dactyl at 6:01 AM on June 16, 2013

Wow, thank you for this. I love the incorporation of old tools into new art.
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:02 AM on June 16, 2013

The photos are great and it's a cute concept. I'm not sure how easy it would be to use, though, given that it's apparently "soaked sponges" that paint the page. I imagine you have to re-soak frequently and that color bleeding is a problem...
posted by vegartanipla at 6:12 AM on June 16, 2013

That's pretty. I suspect the paintings in the pictures aren't actually produced from the typewriter (what, no video?) but a cool-looking art object and concept nonetheless.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 6:13 AM on June 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

A painting is worth a thousand keystrokes.
posted by samsara at 7:45 AM on June 16, 2013

Just the idea of this is lovely. If you could solve the re-inking issue, it'd be a really cool way to focus on painting.
posted by xingcat at 7:54 AM on June 16, 2013

I would love to own something like this. Djeco or Playskool needs to produce a version for kids that I would purchase for my daughter, then take it over like I do with all her other art supplies.
posted by peagood at 8:04 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I dig his paintings too. You know, I've been thinking about getting an landcape oil painting for a few years now...
posted by nathancaswell at 8:15 AM on June 16, 2013

I imagine you have to re-soak frequently and that color bleeding is a problem...

From the images, color bleeding appears to be a virtue.
posted by kenko at 8:21 AM on June 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

I suspect the paintings in the pictures aren't actually produced from the typewriter (what, no video?) but a cool-looking art object and concept nonetheless.

You are exactly right. The typewriter is not an actual working device. It is a work of art itself and the painting on the typewriter was hand painted to give the illusion that it had been typewritten. Nicely done.
posted by JackFlash at 9:15 AM on June 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty sure this is just a sculpture. Like laconic skeuomorph said above, "I suspect the paintings in the pictures aren't actually produced from the typewriter (what, no video?) but a cool-looking art object and concept nonetheless." If this were a functional object that actually produced those paintings, there would be a video.

And JackFlash beat me to it.
posted by cropshy at 9:16 AM on June 16, 2013

I wonder how hard it would be to make a functional version - perhaps with felt pads on the strikers and a inkjet head that was positioned to hit the pad just before the pad hit the paper. Seems Arduinoable, with the hardest bit being positioning the head so it doesn't obstruct the path to the paper. I suppose you could stop the strikers hitting the paper and just have the print head directly ink the target, but it seems nicer to retain as much of the nature of the typewriter as possible.
posted by Devonian at 9:27 AM on June 16, 2013

From the first link: the artist says it is "a conceptual art piece" and "it does not paint."
posted by Orinda at 11:02 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I would like to see a functional version with paint reservoirs supplying the sponge heads. I suppose that would require lots of very skinny tubing leading from the reservoirs to the sponge heads, and the tubing might get clogged easily.
posted by Orinda at 11:06 AM on June 16, 2013

Could heads cut from crayons work?
posted by concrete at 11:11 AM on June 16, 2013

This portable learning typewriter has enough room between the type heads that you could maybe rig up an ink bath system for them to rest in.
posted by Darken Skye at 11:27 AM on June 16, 2013

I would like to see some of my favorite poems typed through that machine.
posted by Kloryne at 12:43 PM on June 16, 2013

From the first link: the artist says it is "a conceptual art piece" and "it does not paint."

Interesting how the comments on that page completely ignore that statement. People really want this to be functional.
posted by Wordwoman at 7:52 PM on June 16, 2013

From the images, color bleeding appears to be a virtue.

Well, now that I know it isn't real, it makes sense. And I get that the above is tongue-in-cheek, but: by color bleeding, I mean everything would end up a muddy brown very quickly.
posted by vegartanipla at 2:47 PM on June 17, 2013