I'd never done a zine fair before, or indeed even made a zine (although arguably the Maison D'arc Manche cookbook counted)
I decided to fling myself into it wholeheartedly, over the course of the last 6 weeks or so, bashing out the Maison D'arc Manche cookbook Vol II (with help from fellow residents Alex and Justin, of course), a zine titled 'Everything is awful and I'm not okay' based on a customised version of this text, and finally 'Am I adulting right', a zine about our housework habits, full of infographics created from a data set of ~120 people who completed my survey.
I made some badges (with very much appreciated help and badge machine lending from m' colleague Anwen)
I also sold some Christmas cards I'd made in previous years.
All that managed to fill up my half table very nicely, if I do say so myself!
Anyway, I haven't had the opportunity to do a proper nice photoshoot of my zines yet (let alone set up an online shop, although it is on my to-do list), but I've worked so hard and I want to do a blog about it now while it all feels fresh, so I tried to get some reasonable pictures in our ever diminishing daylight hours this afternoon!
First up, here's some snippets from 'Everything is awful...'
This, and the 'adulting' zine were riso printed with the lovely Dopple Press, which has been a real treat. I've loved riso print for so long and it's been great to finally have a chance to use it for myself. The colours/texture are just so gorgeous. (This one is printed at A6 on an uncoated recycled stock).
The content/title actually feels a lot timelier now than when I originally started working on it. This world, eh?
Here's the 'Adulting' zine...
Also riso printed at A5 on recycling stock, although quite a different style to the other one — much more of a flat graphics approach since it's all about COLD HARD DATA... (I did do one illustration on the back cover of Alex's least favourite chore)
This one was super fun to get together, and I hugely appreciate how many people took a moment to fill out my survey. I personally think it's really interesting, and just shows the huge diversity of our habits and weird little ways!
As mentioned, I also wrapped up Vol II of the cookbook, which includes a whole range of new treats...
(I also got a reprint done of Vol I). The cookbooks are a collaborative effort, with contributions from Alex and Justin too.
Finally, I made some badges out of a whole range of my illustrations from past projects. Here are the ones I have left after the zine fair!
Small ones... (Approx 38mm)
Big ones (approx 70mm)
If you couldn't make it over to the zine fair yesterday and you'd like to own any of these things, in the absence of an online shop, feel free to drop me a tweet/Facebook message/email saying what you'd like. You can paypal me money, plus the cost of a stamp if you need postage, and I can get things to you. All the prices are in the first picture!
I hope to do more zine fairs in future, especially after we move up North in January. I had such a great time yesterday, and Alice and Adam did such an amazing job of organising. It was busy all day, which was an impressive feat any time, let alone on such a rainy Saturday! Thanks so much to them for inviting me :)
