My Mid Century Modern Tension Pole Shelf

with my "Type In Poster" and more (and the Friday Freebie)

Mickey Mouse doesn’t have much of a nose, but I do love this shelf. set up and the poster of course, printed by me at Bayview Printing in Milwaukee. Wish.

I wouldn’t call myself a collector, but I’ve got quite a few tension-pole lamps. This bookshelf with its tension-poles might be favorite. I got it for $80 during the COVID-19 plandemic on Facebook Marketplace. Today it would command at least $300 but I’m not selling. It fits perfect in this wall space next to my mid-century modern lady’s writing desk (story for another day).

Yes, that’s my laundry money cash sitting on the vintage Clue play board, the vintage classic car images are inspiration for linoleum cuts.

When you’re top of the word, you need to be on the top shelf as this 1980s globe is. It’s lovely to see at night and my studio is dark.

Let me share this shelf from top to bottom: the lighted globe, from the 1980s, was a Facebook marketplace find in nearby Wauwatosa. I haven’t turned it on in a while. When I turned it for this photo, I thought I should turn it on more often. Next to it there’s a stack of used red-and-black typewriter ribbons that I intend to give to the local art school one day.

Next shelf: an iron stamp wheel that needs to be fixed that I found in Milwaukee at a now-closed antique near the Bayview neighborhood. One arm needs to be welded but I haven’t used the rubber stamps on it in a while. The more frequently used ones are on a lower self.

Mid-shelf: (See top pic) Austin typewriter collectors will recognize this Type In poster. I printed several of these at Bayview Printing in Milwaukee. Susan Kuver has one and I have two others. I love the color combination. I don’t make type-in posters regularly, but I might once I get an in-demand Showcard tabletop proofing press. The toy car is $3 or at one of the shops in Clocktower Antiques. Mickey Mouse from a colleague at American Hospital News, when I worked there. The green wood doll house coach is from my mom when she was a little girl.

Writer Charles Johnson recommended this dictionary in his book, “The Way of the Writer.”

Lower shelf: “Webster’s New Twentieth Dictionary” (Unabridged). I bought that on eBay a few years when I got inspired after reading writer Charles Johnson’s book, “The Way of the Writer”. He memorized words in this dictionary. So I was inspired to do the same…for a while. But I like the heft of this dictionary, it reminds me of the ones you see in libraries even today.

My Epson printer hides beneath a dust cover intended for an office-desk size Selectric. Got that from Ribbons Unlimited for my Selectric 721. It doesn’t really fit, but it’s perfect for my printer.

Bottom: A box of my favorite Southworth paper that I use type letters to my Typepals worldwide. It’s great paper, I can highly recommend it and it will last you a while. That box rests on a tray of thousands of adhesive letters from WebWay Letters, which I wrote about a while back. I can’t find a lot on the history of this company but it looks like it started back in the 1950s and ran at least through the 1980s. I’ve used them to fix ‘mistakes’ on my letterpress posters.

One more thing: The tension-pole lamp, it works but at least two plastic shades are shattered. I’ve looked for replacements online, and what I see on eBay is not cheap. I’m tempted to take the lamp arms off and turn the pole into a vinyl-record display stand, just like the expensive ones I see online.

Still with me? If you subscribe today, I’ll send you a Friday freebie, a PDF of a custom letterhead that I made on Canva, that you can print out and use in your typewriter.