I just had to post photos of Lil's delightful parcel that she sent me:
Nice postcards...
A zine and blog |
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Just partaken in a zine swap with artist Lil Ashton. Since there is so much joyful, giddy fun to Lil's work, I sent my zines out to her wrapped up in an offical Russ trolls envelope from the 1990s, that I had rooted out from my childhood bedroom. I taped up the package in Snufkin Moomins tape that I acquired last week...! I just had to post photos of Lil's delightful parcel that she sent me: Tiny gem stones and stickers and and a badge spilled out of the package, as well as postcards and zines. Yes, that is a zine about Jarvis Cocker! I love that Lil draws Jarvis with bottles of Lambrini, and then going to sleep in a banana skin bed....! Nice postcards... Great cartoon characters in band t-shirts (another character is pictured in a Dolly Mixtures band t-shirt!)
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Issue 13 of Athemaura is now ready!
Themes include: new beginnings, art and art funding, finding space and calm, eco-therapy, lino-printing, photography, disconnecting from the internet, Viv Albertine/female rock biographies, favourite talking voices, library work, 90s music magazines, anti-badger cull, art libraries and love of books, anti-high speed rail, feeling happier and healthier for leaving a difficult job, green politics, The Cure/Robert Smith in old interviews, work horror stories from my youth, community displacement and housing crisis (Save Earls Court), plus the odd drawing, and plenty of collaged images. Comes with hand-glued cover, as above. Oh and it's now half the size it was before, but just as full of content, if not more so. Will be on sale at DIY Cultures this Sunday in east London. ***** Will be on sale via this Etsy shop very soon! ***** I have been working on issue 13 of Athemaura. It's close to completion - I just need to finalise the cover, as for the first time this part has actually come last and I've been switching ideas about. I just wanted to post some of the drawings I have been doing for it, as I've been enjoying the escapism of sketching and ink drawing today, I completely lost track of time, totally absorbed. Hopefully this resembles Viv Albertine...! I think the second drawing ended up looking more like myself in the end, though, but it was fun... I've signed up to a free drawing course (courtesy of a library!), so I'm sure more refined etchings lie in store...
(Issues 11 and 12 of Athemaura)
Issue 12 of Athemaura is newly ready to go. Above are the master pages. Themes covered include: feminist heroines in film (including Wadjda and Frances Ha), my history with making zines going back to the days of electronic typewriters!, reflections on perfect pubs and arguing against gentrification of pubs, an article about temporary workers' rights and how tough it can be as an agency worker/how you can get treated, thoughts on library work, bird sightings, and other assorted things. Issue 12 of Athemaura comes in time for the Yorkshire Zine Weekend, where the zine will be on sale all weekend. I did that usual thing where a dozen ideas come to mind that had to be made into zines right there and then and in time for a zine fest. But I honed in on making this one new issue for now. It does come pretty hot on the heels of January's issue 11, though, I must admit. Issue 11 is s round up of highlights and memories of 2013, including the ludicrous number of zine events and things I was involved in last year, also travel, gigs, and learning to take better care especially when involved in many creative pursuits as well as working in (then) really tough job circumstances. The zine goes into 2014, looking ahead to a calmer year in mind, as well as some of the year's highlights so far. Etsy has now been updated with the new zine if you would like to buy it. Front cover of one of my new mini zines, a guide to integrating vegan products into your life whatever your diet: I've had such a hiatus from 'zines that finally I have a whole bunch of mini-zines ready!
L - R: 1. Fun for A Fiver/Fun For Free, a guide to cheap fun with creative angles, 2. Veganise Your Life: tasty and good vegan products to integrate into your life/lifestyle whatever your diet, 3. Zine Lovers' London: a guide to zine-related shops and zine-related resources. July 8th: Zine picnic with friends in Guildford! Swapping favourite recent zines, sharing our newly made perzines, and generally sipping and eating and enjoying. We even piqued the curiosity of a duck! Gorgeous entrance to grounds of Guildford Castle, where we picnicked... July 9th:
Headed to our favourite zine library for photocopying of our zines, new and old. I also photocopied some flyers for a feminist charity project that a friend is involved in: Armpits for August. July 3rd: Plotting 24hr zine ideas in my head... have an idea! Go through old zines again and pick some old ones out for the journey to work next day. I pick out what has been a recipe bible to me, when I was still eating meat, and when I became vegetarian: Grime & Punishment, the 56a cookbook, which is vegan. Take it along with a tiny in-season foods booklet I bought at a really lovely farm café in Dalston. July 4th: Went to Stuart Hall library at Iniva art gallery, photocopied some out of print zines. Started writing my 24hr zine! Got the text typed up and printed, before cutting/pasting collation. July 5th: Read an old zine called Kersax Must Be Destroyed! by Tukru who writes Your Pretty Face is Going Straight to Hell and Vampire Sushi fame. Loved the artiness of the layouts, especially the photography, handwriting, and personal style. Finished 24hr zine (naturally!). Phew! I also somehow managed to find the time to finish making a hand-sewn/crafted purse from upcycled materials (old pajama trousers with hearts on!!) to replace my broken wallet. It is festooned with a pretty patch, made by Emma Jane Falconer, and has a zip and is customised with a keyring with a supermarket trolley 'coin' attached (from the Mayhew Home cat charity). Somehow, today, also managed to fit in a visit to the local library, and a spot of local campaigning talk. Here's the purse as I was sewing the Write More Letters patch: And here it is finished:
The tenth issue of my perzine Athemaura is ready to go! I did think I would launch it at Bradford's pop up zine shop on my travels there, only I was too caught up in nerves, and feeling tired from travel and overwhelmed by the joyousness of all the zines and creative people around, that I totally forgot to even mention my new zine ! I'm disappointed in myself, but my modesty and inability to promote my work never seem to wane! So, here is the newest issue of Athemaura. I decided that the poor badgers needed some support. If you have not yet signed the petition against the hideousness that is the governement's planned culling of badgers, here it is. The key facts laid out by the RSPCA are that many healthy animals would be killed as the process cannot be selective, and that research has proven it does not make a meaningful difference to controlling the spread of TB from badgers to cattle. This issue not only features a bewildered looking badger (small wonder), but a mini zine that I made by hand, to set out reasons for not supporting the cull. Athemaura #10 also features writing on: the joy of reading your way to work, favourite independent book shops and libraries, the need for solitude, coping with being a radical mind in a conventional work environment, an ode to a friend who recently passed on. There is also writing about feminist literature and feminist networks. And there is a feature about doing battle with assumptions people make about part-time workers (and actually how part-time work doesn't easily = working less hard than a full-time worker, nor is it necessarily less stressful or time-consuming!), and as is becoming usual, lots on gardening, libraries and enjoying a vegetarian diet. There is also a little on veganising
your life (whatever your diet choice), but I shall be writing lots more about that in issue #11 of Athemaura, I think! You can contact me by email for a copy, or head onto this online shop on Etsy. Or look out for the next SW London & Surrey Zines event where you can buy a copy in person! I am so proud of my latest 'zine! I hope it's okay to feel that way. I mean, usually I am so self-effacing. I think this is my most positively written 'zine, and also my prettiest and most artistic too. I don't know if anyone else joins me on this, but I am primarily a wordsmith, and layouts were a bit of a bugbear/afterthought in the beginning. But now I feel happy to embrace the design and laying out process. Since Athemaura 'zine began in 2009, I subconsciously set myself the challenge of always making the cover of each issue different visually, often in shape/format or with added craft. I made Athemaura #9 a travel 'zine. I had a few days in Bath and Bristol, and all the scenery, parks, activities, cafes, pubs, shops, art galleries, etc, made me really happy. I thought it would be nice to write a positive 'zine that is not so much about me, but places/activities/experiences others might enjoy. This is the first 'zine where a colour photograph features - on a coloured paper background. I have also tried to make the 'zine have a 3D feel, with craft tape, a little pocket on the back, layered collages as backgrounds, and so on. There
is also a handstamped title page inside - used with my new typewriter style ink stamp set. There are 14 different photographs used across the copies of the 'zines. You can choose one if you buy it from me in person at an event, or get a surprise if you order online. I shall be selling copies of this travel 'zine at DIY Cultures Zine Fair on Sunday 7th April, in Hackney, London (a free 'zine event, with many many self-publishers and stalls!). Alternatively you can buy from me via my Etsy shop shortly. Or, failing those options, via Paypal or email by emailing me here. More zine making activity recently!
Creativity and culture and politics are central to my life and inform my ways of living, and that shouldn't be attacked as wrong or odd, and it certainly oughtn't to be viewed as selfish or lazy, either, that makes no sense! So this was my way of vocalising about me not being conventional and not appreciating assumptions/conventions being imposed on me. I also broach labels/labelling and to have/have not and what feels to me like 'comparison culture'. |
AthemauraEnthusiastic about 'zines, libraries, gardening in the city, independent book shops/record shops/cafes, vegetarian and vegan, London in all its variety, local living/community. Archives
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