Antique typewriters have a way of taking us back in time. The sound of the keys striking the page acts as percussion before the final satisfying ring of the bell. “I remember taking typing classes in Junior High, and the sound was wonderful,” Ruth Deakins says. “Everybody had to be in sync. It was like music.”
Based in Temecula California, Ruth is the owner of Typewriter Transformations, a small business that sells handmade jewelry featuring vintage typewriter keys as pendants, bookmarks, and ornamental accessories. She has been selling her jewelry at the Farmers Market in Old Town Temecula for a couple of years. “I used to sell my jewelry at the Famer’s Market, but the rules changed,” Ruth says. “Now they only accept vendors who have handmade items so I had to come up with something handmade and that is how I came up with typewriter jewelry.”
Ruth does not limit her creativity to the keys of the typewriter. She wraps each personalized package with antique typewriter ribbons. “I love something that has a story behind it, something that has history,” Ruth says. “Every piece of jewelry comes with a card that says which typewriter it came from. All of the gifts are gift-boxed and wrapped with a typewriter ribbon. I just like to make jewelry that’s special.”
May