Kiera Rathbone Typewriter Art

Thanks to Sharon's Manual Typewriter Rescue Society, I am the proud owner of two lovely typewriters: a solid blue beauty and a dainty, cream-colored cursive one. Trendy as they may be, I think typewriters are beautiful pieces of history. So when I stumbled upon the artwork of UK artist Kiera Rathbone, I was floored.

 Portrait of author Bonnie Greer

Rathbone uses vintage typewriters to create layers of dashes, letters and numbers to slowly build up her image. Each piece takes approximately 90 hours. Rathbone's passion for typewriter art began when she found an old orange 1960s typewriter in a thrift shop. She now has 30 different typewriters, each one with their own unique characteristics.

Rathbone at work

 

Detail of Wimborne Minister, and the piece in progress

I love the detail shown above -- the typewriter's alphanumeric shapes form such intricate textures... it almost looks like pen & ink stroke marks and hatches. This video shows Rathbone at work -- I'm amazed how quickly she types out each mark! To see more of Rathbone's work, visit www.kierarathbone.com or her Facebook page.

All images via Kiera Rathborne's Facebook page.