Month: July 2017

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 7: Postal Week

Make some envelopes or postcards for postal week

Is it already day 7 of IZM?! I’m just barely starting to catch up with the fact that it’s July. Eep!

I really wanted to make postcards for this, but I didn’t have paper thick enough for me to trust it would survive in the postal system. Sigh. However…

Envelopes! Given my paper thickness worries regarding postcards, I now feel a smidge silly making envelopes out of wrapping paper. But the paper was so cute that I couldn’t resist. I will probably have to reinforce them a bit for sending, but that’s okay.

Did anyone else make envelopes? Did anyone make postcards? Let me know!

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!

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Zine Review: Botanical Photography

Botanical Photography
Jessica Jane
www.jessicajaneillustration.com
IG: @jessicajane.illustration

For me, photography is like art and poetry: I don’t know a lot about how it works, but I know what I like and what I don’t like. Everything else gets lost in wondering what the creator intended…

Botanical Photography is a photo zine featuring pictures of flora around Victoria, Australia. There are flowers, trees, sunshine, and lovely little things that make this state beautiful. I may be a bit biased, but if you’re going to take pictures of nature, Victoria is a great place to do it.

While I do really love photo zines, I felt like some of the impact of the photos is lost in the production quality. The pictures were a little washed out sometimes or a little too dark. I found myself thinking more than once that a little higher GSM could go a long way, but…

Therein lies the problem for me: intention.

Were the photos meant to be a little blurry or washed out? Is this meant to be the mark of someone still learning? Or perhaps it’s all due to the paper and ink used in printing. The slightly washed out quality of the last photo adds an ethereal quality to it, so it’s harder to guess than you might think.

If this wasn’t the intention, the suggestion of higher quality paper isn’t necessarily a simple one. With the zine already at $7, I don’t know what better printing would do to the price.

I really liked the touch of the sewn binding. With a zine that’s all about nature, I may have not really thought about staples, but the sewing adds to the ‘closer to nature’ feel in a way that metal staples wouldn’t.

I love photography, and I like to see a beginning (I think) photographer’s work. I think Jessica caught some truly beautiful shots, and I’d like to see more. But I must admit I’d also like to see it printed in a way better suited to photos.

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 6: ZineWiki.COM

Add your zine to or update your ZineWiki

I added the ‘COM’ in all caps because the IZM flier says ‘.org’, but it’s definitely a ‘.com’ these days.

It’s IZM Day 6, zine friends, and that means it’s time to update the ZineWiki. If you’re not familiar, ZineWiki is a directory of zines, zine makers, distros, and more. You can search by zinester, but geographic region, by zine, so on and so forth.

(It can also be a great way to check if that title or zine name you love has been used elsewhere.)

Being a wiki, if you want a page for you/your distro/etc, you need to sign up for an account and create one. From then on, anyone with an account there can edit and add to it as time goes on. The beauty of this is that if your favourite zine or zine creator doesn’t have a page, you can make one for it/them.

The creation of a page and the rough HTML to make a page can be a little daunting at first if you’re not sure what you’re doing (like me when I started). However, there’s help in the ‘First Time Here?’ section right on the front page.

You can check out my page here. (I found peeking behind the curtains on various pages to see how they worked was just as useful as the help pages.)

Have fun and link to your pages in the comments below!

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!

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Quick Call for Subs

I’m looking for people to write short (around 500 words) pieces on their first zine – not first made but the first one they ever read/the one that got them into the whole ‘zine thing’. Your zine world origin story, if you will.

If you would like to share your story and can get it to me within the next few days, please send it to theauthor@inkyblots.com along with your name (can be your zine name, of course), one or two links you’d like to share (optional), and your mailing address if you’d like a copy of the zine once it’s finished.

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 5: Zine Organisation

Organise your zine collection

Oopsie. Hahaha.

Hello, zine friends! It’s IZM, and I knew this one was coming. I knew it was coming and thought I’d have it sorted by the time it rolled around.

Alas…

As much as I want to blame the chaos of the house move, I have had this system of doing things for quite a while now. It’s really not something I would call organised, but I’m not going to reorganise right when I have packing up to do right around the corner.

So for better or worse, here’s how I organise my zines:

This is the shop stock! I made a big push early in the year to get lots of stock ready and waiting, and here it is. Well, what’s left of the big rush. The switch to the ‘it’s sea green colour in person’ basket happened… a month or two back, I believe. It makes it much easier to pull out or put away as needed and to easily see what I have and don’t have.

This is my bedside table. In two mesh mail-sorter type things (technical terms only here at Sea Green Zines) I have the zines I’m going to read next. ‘Coming right up’ level of ‘reading soon’.

One mesh holder has zines that were sent to me for the purpose of reviewing. Just in case I’m in a waffle mood and am not sure what I want to read next, I know to look to that one. The second has ones that I’m eager to read sooner rather than later. (Though they did get a little mixed together because Asimov the cat got a little crazy… But I’ll sort them back into their proper mesh homes.)

I keep them in the mesh things along with a couple of pens and some paper so I can reviewer wherever I please. Not that it’s a difficult thing to review a zine, but with this, I can grab it when I’m about to go sit in the recliner or have a long bath and all the bits and pieces are in one place.

In my dear cube shelf, I have a cube filled with zines that I have not read yet that aren’t quite ‘next on the reading list’ and haven’t been sent to me for review. In fact, most of these were sent to me by the amazing LogPoes when she was cutting down her collection. There’s nothing wrong with them; I simply prioritise them last because no one is waiting on me to review them.

Lastly, we have the home of the zines I have read and (possibly) reviewed. This is where they go to sweet rest until I decide to rummage through them and relive the good reading times.

That’s me for today with my system that works for me now but will probably change once I’ve moved. I’ll be back tomorrow with IZM day 6 and a review!

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 4: International Zines

Read a zine from a country other than your own

Today’s IZM prompt makes me want to go through my whole zine collection and figure out which ones are from what countries. I’ve had the pleasure of reading all sorts of zines from Australia, Canada, the US, the UK, and even a couple from Brazil that were in Portuguese!

Today I’m wrapping up in my cosy winter blanket and settling down to read Mythologising Me.

I have #11: “40 page A6 size perzine, half by me, about quitting my job, winter blues, friendship, self esteem and starting a band for the very first time. Say Hi and Wave is made by Alexa and talks about being vegan, libraries, gigs she’s been to and fun times with friends.”

I also have #12, which is a split zine: “40 page A6 size perzine, half by me, about quitting my job, winter blues, friendship, self esteem and starting a band for the very first time. Say Hi and Wave is made by Alexa and talks about being vegan, libraries, gigs she’s been to and fun times with friends.”

What are you reading today?

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 3: Zine Distro Appreciation Day

International Zine Month 2017 Day 3: Zine Distro Appreciation Day

Hello zine friends! It’s International Zine Month, which means I’ve shouting my zine love from the rooftops even more often than usual for the entire month.

Zine Distro Appreciation Day! Order from a zine distro

Zine distros! Those beautiful places that gather ziney goodness and organise it for easy purchase by the masses. They give us a chance to get our cut and pasted words out to people we will probably never meet. Thank you distros!

So today’s task is to order from a distro. I would love to do that and shout out about the zinelicious goodies headed to my post box… but I have a rather spendy neuro appointment coming up. Until I know if I need more than one of those spendy appointments to get my noggin’ sorted, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to purchase any zines.

Are you in a similar financial position? Well we can still show our distro love!

I would love to show my distro appreciation by shouting out to my closest zine distro: Sticky Institute! I visit them every time I’m in the Melbs CBD, and they stock my zines as well!

I’m also going to show my distro appreciation by shouting out to the distro I would like to order from next: Pen Fight Distro! They are located in the UK and have a unicorn on their logo. Does it get any better?

If you love your local – or not so local – zine distro, please leave a link in the comments! I love looking through the listings of new-to-me distros.

Until tomorrow, keep those glue sticks out and scissors cutting.

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!

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Happy Mail Monday: Pin Rich Edition

It’s Happy Mail Monday when I celebrate and say thank to those who have spread a little sunshine in my postbox and my life.

My wonderful friend Billy from the States sent me a postcard update about things. He was playing with the idea of moving Down Under, but alas, he remains Up Over. I wonder how many people had a laugh like I did when they saw the alien. So cute.

Comedy is in the air with a cheeky Bush postcard from Erica D that made me laugh. Erica was giving me a heads up about her new address and reminded me that I’ll need to whip up a few ‘new address’ cards soon!

Shit’s Fucked completely surprised me with an envelope of zine goodness. They even sent me a couple of pins for my rapidly growing pin collection. I’m getting pin rich! Hehe.

Fun Fact: I first heard about Shit’s Fucked on It’s Pronounced Zine – a podcast I highly recommend.

Butts 4 life!

Many, many thanks to Billy, Erica, and Shit’s Fucked for making my post box and my life a brighter place. Nothing makes me happy like mail does, and I appreciate everything that comes my way.

That’s it for me for now. I’ll be back later with IZM Day 3!

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International Zine Month 2017 Day 2: Read Your Favourites

Re-read your favourite zines

My favourite zines? How am I supposed to pick favourite zines? Ack!

It’s been a long and busy (in good ways) Sunday here in the land of Oz, and I’m finally sitting down to relax a bit. (I’m thinking hot bath to take off that annoying winter chill in my bones.) But reread a favourite zine? Actually pick one (or two, or three)?

I’m a bit tired and want something nice to look at, so I might go with zines by Bodie Hartley or Rebecca Sheedy because I love their artwork.

Then again, it’s been a long, tough week, so Sober Bob’s pull no punches writing and sense of humour could be the ticket. It’s International Zine Month, too, though, so I could really get my zine nerd on and get into some copies of Xerography Debt and admire their dedication to zines.

Then there’s the tactile experience that I love so much, so there’s Kerbloom’s awesome letterpress aesthetics or the satisfaction of holding a thick little zine that I know is full of goodness like The Screever.

I could go back to the very first zine I ever bought or brush up on my zine knowledge with Stolen Sharpie.

Then again, there are really so many to choose from that, in the end, I may just do a lucky dip and go from there.

Happy IZM, my friends. ^_^

Other Zinesters Joining In (Let me know if you are, and I’ll add you to the list!):

*@eintervital
*@dre
*@queerarcana

Play along with 31 Days of International Zine Month Activities here!