Jemibook

Art Journaling and My first ever Kits!

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 18:10:00 +0000

So as you all may or may not know I have been going pretty strong on my Art Journal obsession this past year - I decided to take it to another level this weekend and make my very first Art Journal Kits!!

I was pretty stoked about it! It contains pieces from my personal stash and some new pieces I picked up this weekend - like the little jellyfish and sticker sheet.

I even spent time to make a kawaii header package for it - pretty proud about it!

I was so inspired I made two other ones the next day :

A Blue Back Street Boy kit.

This one is Yellow with Michael Jackson and Power Rangers!

Here they are all together

I love how pretty and inspiring they look together! I can see them for sale at local stores hanging on a wall!

I think these are one of my favorite products I've created in years because it fuels my passion for shopping and sourcing fun kawaii things - and assembling them into something someone can get inspired with and create some new with!

I have a couple other new products in the works! I am getting some fabric printed with one of my drawings for patches! I also sourced more things for the kits - including some Sailor Moon sticker / trading card packs!

I wish I had more Kawaii friends locally - I was thinking about making a little flyer and posting around town to see if anyone would be interested in in a Kawaii Crafting Club? What do you guys think?

p.s. if you are interested in any packs they are for sale at my etsy!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jemnifur

International Zine Month (Day 29) : Zine Collection Photo.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 16:40:00 +0000

Day 29 : Post photo of you with your zine or zine collection.

So this has been kind of a tradition for me to pose with my zines for the photos on etsy where I sell them. It all started with Lolita Issue 1 :

I wanted to dress up like one of the girls that I had illustrated in the zine.

Lolita Issue 2 was all about panda's and I made a little panda mask to wear for this photoshoot!

Lolita Issue 4 was my Raw food issue.

Lolita Issue 5 was all about Robert Downey Jr. !

The 15 - a zine I did on 15 different topics.

I loe you! - zine I did with different date ideas.

I haven't done a photoshoot for one of my zines since I first moved to NYC nearly 4 years ago. It's high time I get to it!

International Zine Month (Day 27) : Organize a zine event!

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 15:25:00 +0000

Day 27 : Organize a zine event! : any size! big or small!

So I had been considering this since I started this challenge. Because I have enjoyed doing these challenges every day (or every other day when I have time) and well I wanted to keep on with this - it was helping me be so much more productive than I have in a VERY long time. But I couldn't find any other challenges that I liked - most of them were exercise related - or if they were creative they were one word prompts. I liked this challenge so much because it was specific and it had you do actual things - and different things. I would get bored if it was the same thing each day ( like with drawing challenges) so I decided to try my hand at coming up with my own Monthly challenge.

So here it is! I made it with the same dimensions as the Zine Monthly challenge so you can do as I did and print it out (link for bigger one here) and keep it in front of your desk to influence and inspire you. I added pictures of some of the things you will be doing during the month to get you excited as well!

I hope that some of you will be following along and doing the challenges as well. I've even created my own hashtag for this event to use on instagram and such (and if you use it I will post some of the photos here!)

Hashtag : #JemChallenge

Feel free to share this image on other social networks as well!

I am excited for next months challenges and I put some easy self indulgent ones in there as well. Because some days I was just too tired to do the challenge but really wanted to - and if it is an easy one like 'eat watermelon' I think I can press myself to do it!

International Zine Month (Day 26) : Submit something to a compilation zine.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Day 26 : Submit something to a compilation zine.

Another thing to check off my zine check-list that I've never done! It was actually a little bit difficult to find a zine that was looking for submissions that was something I was interested in - or had knowledge in.

But thankfully Sarah over at Winged Snail mail was looking for submissions for her snail mail themed zine! I mean how could you get any more me!

I shot her an email asking if I could mail her a copy of a pamphlet I made on pen palling would work for her zine - otherwise I could create something new for her as well!

International Zine Month (Day 25) : Teach someone about zines.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:19:00 +0000

Day 25 : Teach a friend or family member about zines.

I would like to think that most people who know me (friends and family included) have to in some part know about zines considering I've been blabbering on about them in one way or another for the past 6 years.

I've given explanations as best as I can to people when they ask about them - or show them one as reference.

There have been a lot of 'What are zine' books I've read, or online articles I've come across in my time as a zinester so I decided that I will just post some of those links below as examples for people to check out!

Wikipedia's definition of 'What is a zine' : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

The popular blog Rookie's explanation on what a zine is and how to make one!

http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/05/how-to-make-a-zine/

The Barnard Zine Library gives an explanation from a zine of what a zine is

https://zines.barnard.edu/definition

International Zine Month (Day 24) Organize Zine Collection.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 17:03:00 +0000

Day 24 : Organize your zine Collection.

So unfortunately I have been way too busy this week to do some of these challenges on time - and so instead of beating myself up about it - I've decided to just post what I can about each of them.

As for organizing my collection - it does need to be done, but we are moving again in about a month (not sure where yet) so organizing it before I move and have no idea where they will be going in a new place seems kind of pointless.

But I will post some zine collections and their organization for future inspiration!

And lastly here is a photo of me from a couple of years ago checking out a friend's zine collection.

International Zine Month (Day 23) Make a One Page Zine

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 16:43:00 +0000

Day 23 : Make a one Page Zine

I've made two different one page zines before. Both for specific occasions.

The first was for a superhero party that my boyfriend's bar was hosting. I decided to create my own superhero or anti-hero named "Madem Lovely Tights" and came up with a zine story about her.

The second was for a 'Grease' themed birthday party that I was going to here in NYC, I made this zine for the birthday boy.

This time around I wanted to make a mini-edition zine based off my Kiss & Tell zines. I decided to do one that was based off of pictures I've taken of myself over the years that has some idea of 'sexy' to me.

Unfortunately I am horrible at figuring out proper print layouts when it comes to photoshop and my printer so that is why this is still not done - but I thought I would post a work in progress.

I still want to add some translucent pages in the middle pages with an overlay of quotes from my sex blog Goldicocks so that is another thing I am working on for it as well.

International Zine Month (Day 22) : Send your zine to a zine library.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:45:00 +0000

Day 22 : Send your Zine to a zine library.

As already noted in Day 21 I have most all of my zines at the Barnard Zine Library here in NYC.

So today I decided I would post about the zine mail/trades I have received since the last post.

The first is from (Day 3) Challenge : Order from a zine Distro. I chose http://www.sweetcandydistro.com and my order got lost in paypal but the owner graciously remedied the situation and let me order a couple of other zines for free to make up for it! So here is my lot from that order

The second is a zine trade from (Day 13) challenge. I traded with the amazing Sarah McNeil (https://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahMcNeil) and received these lovely goodies. She prints a lot on a risograph which I have always been interested in because it looks so beautiful!

The third was a zine trade with Jennibelle (https://www.etsy.com/shop/paperclayjunkie). Who makes amazing handmade journaling supplies as well as zines! A girl after my own heart! I was stoked when she said she would trade! Also it came in this super colorful and fun packaging!

Snail mail is kind of an addiction to me. Receiving mail gives me such a high!

International Zine Month (Day 20) Free Zine Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 09:42:00 +0000

Day 20 : Free Zine Day : Give away a copy of your zine.

The day is here for one lucky instagram follower to win a free copy of any one of my zines. Head on over to my post and be the lucky one to comment with your email address and I will send you a free copy of one of my zines in the mail!

http://instagram.com/jemibook

My first zine review via One Minute Zine Reviews DJ Fredrick

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 09:29:00 +0000

". . . .So ... dear readers in zineland ... please do not send me zines like Kiss and Tell Volume 2 for review - you're wasting postage. One of the last things I want to spend my time reading or writing about is a poorly written, narcissistic expose of someone's so-called sexual adventures, or lack thereof."

I have to say that ever since I started Kiss & Tell and my other blog Goldicocks (which is a blog based off of my sexual experiences) I've never had anyone with this view. I would like to say that it's because of the people who find it are generally interested in it. But I generally write the stories very tongue-in-cheek or at least with obvious humor intended for the reader.

I could go on further with my rebuttal of this review but honestly I think DJ Fredrick is probably right - I didn't know his reviewing style or what he was interested in before sending him my zine for review - I kind of just blindly sent it to him because on his website it said he reviewed zines?

International Zine Month (Day 19) : Zine Shop Appreciation Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 17:31:00 +0000

Day 19 : Zine Shop Appreciation Day

Well this one seems vague enough to me that I decided to do a post on the zine trades I've received since starting this Zine Month Challenge.

Amazing package from Steven and Dierdree with their split zine 1997: A Teen Queen Time Capsule

Package from Laura-Marie with Gardening is for Eaters

I have more to come - but mostly from out of the states so it will take awhile to get here - hopefully not before the zine month is over though! We are over halfway through now!

International Zine Month (Day 18) Order from a Different Distro

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:41:00 +0000

Day 18 : Order from a different zine distro than normal.

I had a hard time finding a distro that carried zines I was interested in - Also I wish more distro's cataloged the zines by topic instead of by the title. I usually just search by a topic I'm interested in learning about - unless someone has recommend a specific zine to me and it sounds interesting.

I ended up ordering from Last Word Press : https://www.etsy.com/shop/lastwordpress

About Last Word Press:

Last Word Press is located in Olympia, WA in the catacombs of Last Word Books. Last Word is more than a bookstore, more than the four walls that contain it. Those nattering naboobs of negativity have long declared the death of the printed word, but we refuse to let that happen. Using an antique letterpress, offset presses and digital copiers we are slowly cobbling together the foundations of a publishing empire.

More than ever we believe in the need to invest in the traditions and habits of the printed word, to give voice to the lives and livelihood of a life that cannot be captured in pixels alone, a life that is more than the sum of its reading. With each our own story to tell we must capture that illusive spirit that lives between the lines and after the closing of the book of our days, where we all live past dreams and remembrances of things past.

I ordered this zine : A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance by an anonymous writer.

I have been wanting to learn more about how to fix up my bike just incase something happens while I'm out on the road - because as it stands I am absolutely clueless on any bicycle maintenance. I hope that this will shed some light on the mystery for me!

International Zine Month (Day 17) Review a Zine

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:01:00 +0000

Day 17 : Review a zine online or write a review to share.

I love these challenges because they make me break into parts of zine-culture that I have never partaken in before. Such as zine-reviewing.

I've chosen to review 'Healing your Magical Body with Plants and Minerals' by jo-jo sherrow

As a person who is always looking for a natural way to heal any ailment I loved the idea of this zine.

Firstly I will say that I love the illustrations throughout the zine and that it is completely hand-written as well - which is something I usually do in my zines.

It is very well laid out and contains a table of contents and bibliography - which is quite professional in my opinion.

She goes through the entire body - each system and body part and gives you recipes / tips for herbs to use to help certain ailments.

As a woman I liked the pages about how to help cramps naturally because I always preemptively just pop an aleve before I get those life altering pains every month.

She explains how to use tinctures - how to makes your own, as well as infused oils, herbal infusions, and aromatherapy. She presents them in an easy concise way - so you can get started right away. These are all things I have been interested in for awhile but always felt so daunted by trying to develop my own for at home use. I feel like I can get started making my own with her directions.

I feel that Jo-Jo does an excellent job presenting the material expected in this manual and I am happy to have it in my collection - and would highly recommend it to anyone just starting out with natural healing - or interested in it! It's a great resource to have in the home.

You can buy your own copy here on her etsy!

International Zine Month (Day 15) Leave a Zine

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 17:19:00 +0000

Day 15 : Leave a zine in public for someone else to find.

I used to do this all the time when I first started making zines back in 2008. I would leave them on park benches - at libraries - pinned to coffee shop boards. So it was nice to have an opportunity to do it again.

I chose to drop one off in the holds section at the Washington / Irving branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Get a free copy of Lolita Issue 3 if you are in the area!

International Zine Month (Day 14) ValenZine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:49:00 +0000

Day 14 : ValenZINE's Day! Write to ZineCrush.com (or your zine crush!)

So I've heard of Zine Crush and thought that it was a cute idea - but after looking at the submissions - I really didn't feel like I had anything to contribute. I don't really know a lot of zinesters personally other than the couple that I have met while doing zine fests. I kind of keep to myself so I didn't have any one in particular I could crush on.

Instead I decided to do an art journal page about 10 things that I LOVE. Hopefully it will do.

I made this layout fairly quickly - used my memory to do all of my crappy lil drawings instead of sourcing images for the drawings - that's why my bike looks like the way it does.. haha. Oh I also used my Tim Holtz Distress Paint for the background. First time using his products - and I have to say it was fairly easy to put on and other than one of the pens I used I didn't have any issues writing on top of the acrylic paint!

International Zine Month (Day 13) Zine Trade Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 13:23:00 +0000

Day 13 : Zine Trade Day! Ask someone to trade zines with you.

This has got to be one of my favorite things about making zines. Being able to barter with them to trade for other cool zines that I am interested in. Honestly this is how I deplete my stock more than selling them - and I am quite okay with that! One of my favorite things is to go searching on etsy for new zine listings and see if the seller would be interested in a trade - and if not I usually purchase them if they are super cool. But 9 times out of 10 zinesters are usually interested in a trade.

Here are the two zinesters who agreed to trade with me for Zine Trade Day!

gardening is for eaters: plant zine

by Laura-Marie

Plant Feelings Zines

by Sarah McNeil

Very excited to receive these two in the mail - obviously you all know my love of gardening and thus I am happy to add these two to my collection! Some people collect gardening books - I collect gardening zines!

Here are my zines heading out into the world!

International Zine Month (Day 12) Zine Reviews.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 01:26:00 +0000

Day 12 : Send your zine out to be reviewed.

Another one on my zine list that I have not done. I have had my zine featured in another zine and have featured other people's products in my zines but never sent my own zine out to be reviewed - which is interesting considering I've purchased a collection of zines from reviews I've read from distro blogs I follow.

I guess I've never done it because I've always made my zines just for me - so as much as I think it's cool when people want to purchase them or trade with me it's never been my reason for making them - so I guess I never thought to send it out to have someone judge it.

But hell we will see what comes of it.

I chose two separate review blogs that I found using a google search to send my zines to be reviewed on.

1 : One Minute Zine Reviews : http://zinereviews.blogspot.com
2 : Syndicated Zine Reviews : http://syndicatedzinereviews.blogspot.com/

I like the idea of owning a zine reviewing blog or magazine because I would love to get tons of free zines in the mail. But I can imagine it is a ton of work.

Here they are all ready to be sent out!

International Zine Month (Day 11) Mail Art

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 13:44:00 +0000

Day 11 : Make some mail art

Wish and ye shall receive!

I just did three designs. Inspired by ones I found on pinterest. The Blue one I blatantly ripped off because honestly I am no good at coming up with intricate designs but I want to try and get better at it - and I learn best from copying others first getting ideas and learning little tricks and then implementing it into my style.

My version

My inspiration

My version

My inspiration

My version

My inspiration.

I haven't sat down and hand-drawn out anything like these sorts of things in so long - it was kind of tedious and not my normal style of creating/collaging. But I like breaking out of my instant gratification type creativity every so often.

International Zine Month (Day 10) Send a Package

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 19:31:00 +0000

Day 10 : Send a care package to a zine Friend.

Here is the contents of the care-package I sent to a zine-friend of mine : Alaina who has always supported my zine making habit through etsy throughout the years. I thought I would send her a surprise package!

International Zine Month (Day 9) Write a Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:10:00 +0000

Day 9 : Write a letter to a zine maker that you don't know.

It turns out that not many zinesters (myself included) provide their addresses on the back of their zine any longer. Luckily while searching through my collection I stumbled upon Jennifer Busby's Love Letter #2 that just happened to have her address on the back so I may write her.

I neglected to take a photograph of the letter I sent - but I packed a couple of zines and sent them her way hoping that the address is still current.

I couldn't find much on her and even her etsy is empty - so here is hoping she is still continuing the zine game!

International Zine Month (Day 8) Make a Flyer

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:55:00 +0000

Day 8 : Make a flyer for your zine to send with trades

I've made a couple of flyers in my day mostly for tables I've had :

Here is one for a show that I played showcasing some of my hand-made albums

Here was another one I made for an art show at a friend's house that I performed at. I made little blueberry shortbread cookies and blueberry vodka with shot glasses for people to have.

It actually makes me miss how easy it was for me to find amazing thrift finds in FLA so much.

And this is what I created today to send away with zines :

Sweet and simple !

International Zine Month (Day 7) Postcard DIY

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:39:00 +0000

Day 7 : Make some envelopes or postcards for postal week.

Honestly I have never heard of postal week - and upon googling it I didn't find anything either. But I love sending and receiving things in the mail so I really don't have any trouble appreciating the Postal service in general.

I found a lot of great DIYs for making interesting envelopes. But this Packaging Tape DIY really stuck with me. The perfect parts kawaii and futuristic to make me have to try it.

It's incredible easy to do. Just lay down three sheets of packaging tape slightly overlapping. Lay down whatever you want facing down - I mostly used glitter, tinsel and random bits of paper. Then cover with three more sheets of packaging tape and trim the sides. Super easy. Whenever you want to use it to write a message just write your message and tape it onto the postcard using more packaging tape!

Here are the ones I made!

Make some of your own for Postal Week!

International Zine Month (Day 6) ZineWiki.com

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 10:50:00 +0000

Honestly I had never heard of ZineWiki.com . I'm not much into cataloging my works on websites other than my own - and I've never edited anything on Wikipedia before - but I figure why not add myself to the ZineWiki.

http://zinewiki.com/Jemibook

It's just my personal page for now - I will make links to each of the zines at a later point - but for now it has been done!

International Zine Month (Day 5) Zine Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Day 6 : Teach yourself a new zine skill.

When coming up with ideas for these challenges - I am doing my best to avoid seeing others ideas for these posts - and picking the first thing that comes to my mind.

The first thing I thought of when learning a new skill - was my ex-boyfriend Marcus Tegtmeier (http://marcustegtmeier.com) who is an amazing artist/illustrator/etc.-etc. gave me these sheets of paper he made covered with instructions on how to make hand-made books from paper/etc. and I thought they were the neatest things ever.

They could easily be translated into zine construction so I thought I would share that as a new Zine Skill to be learned today.

I love how he illustrates each step - so it's actually understandable - I'm horrible at doing things like this. So I'm always envious of people who can accurately portray step-by-step instructions.

Till tomorrow!

International Zine Month (Day 4) Read a zine from another Country.

noreply@blogger.com (Jemibook) — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 13:00:00 +0000

At first thought - I didn't think I would have a lot of choices when it came to zines from other countries in my collection - but as it turns out I have a pretty fun collection of different types. Here are 6 different ones.

To Tired to Sleep : Maddy Young : Brisbrane Australia

I'm not the biggest on art-zines. But I really loved Maddy's line work - and the little quotes she had - I thought about tearing the book apart and using it in my art journals.

My GirlGang : Frl Zucker : Germany

I've tried to collect all of her zines - they are perfection.

Tales from the Cadaver Lab : Kent Ross : Canada

I'm the kind of creep who loves reading about the lives of cadavers - especially after reading 'Stiff' many years ago and watching Six Feet Under religiously. Love Kent's insights!

Facts about Menstruation - that every woman should know : Sarah Evans : Canada

Informative little zine about the history of sanitary pads - how wasteful they are - and alternative methods!

Gardener's Delight : Fliss : UK

You can't go wrong with a gardening zine in my eyes. This is mostly about outdoor gardening which I'm unable to do currently - but I love reading and learning about it nevertheless.

Epitaph for my Heart #2 : AmandaPandaJapanese : Sydney, Australia

Lovely little zine about how to be social. Probably should read this one again - I have certifiably become a home-body!