I have been wanting to put together a zine of blog posts and sketches for a long long time but have never plucked up the courage to do so. I have been greatly inspired by other people’s efforts in the recent past and think that the zine plays a more important role now, more than it ever did as its a reminder of how creative people expressed themselves and got their work out there to the masses before the days of the internet.

This bank holiday weekend, between working on the bathroom I decided to assemble a few posts and drawings and tidied them up a little. Before long the first edition soon took shape.

Wanting to support the local businesses in town I visited one of the independant printers. There, a very kind man tried to understand my ramblings about page arrangements. Unfortunately his confusion was added to further when he led me to “The Machine” before admitting he wasn’t sure how to use it. Luckily I quickly figured it out and was churning copies out at a fast pace. I suggested that the guy should operate a sort of drop in centre where people could pop in and print their creations up themselves. He thought it was a good idea but I got the impression he was just being polite.

Triumph #1

I’m really pleased with the way it came out. I love its rawness and amateur feeling it has about it, its rather like the old fan newsletters I used to get as a kid or local band fliers that you still see about today. Its a little random which I go through phases of liking and not liking this fact. For the second edition I think I would like it to follow a story or common theme.

Triumph #1

Walking back from the printers I stopped by the park and read it from cover to cover and couldn’t see any spelling mistakes but its just my luck that I have just spotted one at the time of writing this. Not to worry.

If you would like to get your hands on a copy, just drop me a line on jez [dot] whitworth [at] googlemail [dot] com.