Typing Lesson

People ask me where I get my ideas. Honestly, I don't know. Well, that's not completely true as I keep my eyes open all of the time. I browse the web, look at catalogs, gift shops and the ever dwindling supply of magazines. I tweak each idea and try to make it my own.

Here is something fun.

Pottery Barn has this piece of art, now on sale for $300. Susie Harris has knocked it off. Go here to see how she did it.

I opened my Ballard Designs catalog and saw this - individual typewriter keys used to create words. Too cool! An idea is born.

Materials

wooden disks

black paint

white acrylic paint

pencil

ball point pen

white paint pen - fine tip

permanent black marker

silver leaf permanent marker

brown shoe polish

Tools

bottle cap

Download this Times alphabet here and print. You may wish to enlarge it to fit your circles.

I got my wooden circles here. They are leftovers from a wind chime factory. Go if you are in the New York area as they don't mail but call first to see if the disks are in stock. (they have tons of other stuff too) Wooden disks are available at any craft store or cut them out of chipboard with one of those circle cutters.

Paint the disks black. When dry, place the tip of the silver marker on the front edge of the disk so that part of the tip is on the front and the rest is on the edge. Draw around the rim. You should have a thin silver line showing on the front of the disk. Fill in the rest of the outside edge with silver.

Dip your bottle cap (or any other circular object a bit smaller than the disk), in white acrylic paint. Press it on the front. The idea is not to have a perfect impression, rather a spotty one. Look at the Pottery Barn plaque for inspiration. I can usually get two impressions from one dipping.

Cut out the individual letters leaving 1/8" around the print; this helps to center them on the disk. Scribble pencil on the back then turn over and place in the center of the disk. Trace over the letter with a ball point pen. The pencil should have transferred onto the disk.

Carefully color in the tracing with your white paint marker. Elmer's and Krylon make these and they are usually found in paint departments. If you make a mistake, allow it to dry, then repair with a black permanent marker.

Apply brown shoe polish when all has dried. Let sit for a few minutes then buff off.

Hang as is or use to create pithy sayings. You might even tie them onto packages. You can have the last word on this (and spell it too).