Friday in Room 206… September 24, 2007

We had five people in the studio last Friday evening. Three more dropped in to visit for a little while, so it was a busy evening. Most of us are working on Halloween. You can visit A Happy Miscellany or Living Out Loud. They may be posting their Halloween creations sometime soon. I drew (realistic) crows, or tried to.

I had a great time; I really love having friends come to the studio, and they seem to enjoy it too. As a matter of fact, I enjoy it so much that beginning next month (October) the studio will be open on the first Tuesday of the month as well. Same time, same place, same program. That is to say no program; bring your own work and get something done, or just have fun messing with my stuff.

Last week I finally got around to eating at one of Tom Douglas’ restaurants, in this case Etta’s. And it was just about as good as I had heard. Had his famous crab cakes (what is IN that luscious green sauce?!) Chowder is good, although I am not a huge chowder fan in the first place. The atmosphere was really nice, service exceptional and there were outstanding homemade doilies! You will just have to go see what that’s all about–I don’t think I can do them justice here. (Bear in mind that I love the small, unusual details.) Anyhow, I recommend you try Etta’s. And by the way, it would be a perfect place to take out-of-town guests. Go at sunset and it might be spectacular.

Halloween is coming! September 19, 2007

Yep, it’s not too early to start thinking about Halloween. Get your costume made, your cards addressed and your shopping started. Make some cookies and what not. Decorate. Oh yes, decorate.

If you have a need for Halloween fonts, go here. There are some great ones with names like Bloody Stump and Zombified. Sick Postman–there’s a font name for you! I think I have to do a Halloween zine this year. And “Thanks,” Laurie for the nod from your blog.

Off to do stuff. Third Friday in the Studio is this week. I’m brainstorming some fun new things to do. Probably Halloween things. After all, if we wait until the Third Friday in October it’ll be way too late.

See you.

Zine Lust (apologies to Nancy Pearl) September 11, 2007

I have been rummaging through my zine collection, big shopping bags full of zines from swaps, from Powell’s and Elliot Bay Books, and from the Portland Zine Symposium. Oh, and a few bookstores I have visited while traveling whose names I may never remember again.

Zines have been particularly on my mind recently because I am one of the new moderators of the Yahoo group The Zine Pool. The group was previously run by Vickie Enkoff, whom many of you knew and who died last month. Vickie did an amazing number of things despite health problems and confinement to a wheel chair, and was always up for making and swapping zines. So we are carrying on in the Pool and my zine bug is flaring up again. Our first project is a one-page zine; the whole thing is made of a single sheet of paper. A homemade mini-magazine! And I may have to roll out the next “quarterly” issue of Destroy This Zine. It’s already half begun anyway.

The picture above is the centerfold from a 24-hour one-page zine I made for one of Vickie’s swaps a couple of years ago. It was all about towns (most of them are pretty small so I can’t call them cities) in the US whose names are also food–Bacon, Two Egg, Toast, Coffee. Amazing how many there are.

I don’t know where the drive to publish comes from; I’m certainly not the only person around who feels it. Many times I’ve heard someone say “I want to make a zine. I don’t even know how to start but I really, really want to make a zine.” And then they do. And then they’re hooked.

Wikipedia has a pretty good introduction to zines, if you want to go look.

The Lady of the Studio September 7, 2007

September! Back to school month! Horse chestnuts! Brussels Sprouts! I love fall.

I just finished a batch of hand-shaped book pages for a collaborative project online. Of course I was working right up to the last minute and didn’t take the time to scan them, so I will show you this old picture instead. This is a doll I made for fun a long time ago. I never could part with her and so she has become one of the Ladies of the Studio.

I’m thinking about hosting one or two more monthly events in Room 206 this fall. Any suggestions? Maybe some Book Art evenings, or a Collage Free-For-All. Maybe an occasional Zinesters get-together, since we don’t seem to have a Zines meetup around here anymore. Stay tuned. Meanwhile the Third Friday Mixed Media Evenings continue. We’ve made it almost through a full year, and no collisions with major holidays! 2008 is looking pretty good, too. If you are in the Seattle area and think you’d like to come, check the “Events” tab at the top of the page, or email me (link at right) for more information.