I, uh, don’t know quite what to say. I’d toiled so long over Pumpkinseed back in ’96 that I guess I needed a good, wild ride to shake out the head cramps, or something....
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
I happened to mention to the proprietor of an antique barn near here that I’d be interested in any old typewriters she happened to come across. A conversation ensued, the proprietor withdrew into a...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
The tale of Pumpkinseed began with a bit of hand-printing I noticed on the dinner menu at a local restaurant. I took a menu home for future reference. Several months later, some similar hand-lettering...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
My father is retired from teaching after a distinguished career as a professor at the University of Texas (and other colleges). He’s also retired from writing in longhand, ever since I digitized his script...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
There’s a little restaurant in an old house on a sidestreet in town (Rockland, Maine, USA) called Cafe Miranda. The staff is friendly, the setting intimate, and the appetizer a basket of hot bread...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
While helping produce a trade magazine years ago, I admired the hand-lettering of the art director — a woman named Marydale — and suggested she let me model a font after her penmanship. She...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar had an exotic name for a historic Texan, but he left his mark beginning in 1836, the year of Texas independence and the first year that pioneers other than mountain men...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
Early Texas patriots had fascinating penmanship. In researching Texas Hero years ago, I had occasion to pore over copies of letters by the likes of Stephen F. Austin, William B. Travis, Thomas J. Rusk,...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
An indomitable woman who traveled a lot, Emily Austin (Bryan) Perry was one of the children of Moses Austin, of Austinville, Virginia. Like her famous brother, Stephen F. Austin, she settled in Texas as...
by · Published May 26, 2015
· Last modified May 15, 2024
It hit me one day that the ’60s-vintage labelmaker I had lying around might make an interesting display face. I began playing with it — clicking out letters at various pressures, scanning the results,...