My creative time has definitely been filled these past works. From doing my paid project work to subsidiary design projects and commitments, the third issue of Pensieri really started to weigh down on my back. After finishing I’ve come to realize more important points about self-publishing and just physically getting a zine together. I might have realized this before as well, but maybe I didn’t take myself seriously enough…
TIMELINE
I totally understand why magazines have such future deadlines for submissions. I suppose the bigger the organization and the more people involved, the more time it will take. But even working alone, there is time needed for proofing, printing and construction. There are certain things that can never be an all-nighter kind of situation and I’m way past the age of all-nighters. Just can’t do ’em anymore. Also, if something personal were to come up, working ahead of time gives you the cushion for unforeseen events. I was actually sidetracked for a while in the printing of Pensieri because of our new puppy, not to mention it’s the holiday season. Eeek, there’s never enough time! So I should be already working on issue 6 of Pensieri already now…
PRINTING AND CONSTRUCTION
I’m still not totally satisfied with the printing quality of the zine and dealing with printers out there, suddenly the paper is too thin, then too thick… then you have to change to this other paper for another printer….ugh! I haven’t found the right combination yet, but I have to say this something that I totally did not consider beforehand. I mean, it seemed so simple – just get it printed at a shop, what’s the big deal? Unfortunately, lots of details start to pop up and you have to get the right combination for your needs. Balancing, cost, paper, printing sources and construction methods as well as considering the timeline from the point above – even to packing envelopes! I think it’s one of those things that looks simple and fine from afar, but when you are actually doing it, you realize it’s a lot of work.
POSTAGE
One of the aspects I’ve really struggled with living here in Italy, is the cost of postage to the rest of the world. It’s not too bad within certain weight ranges, but if you go 1 gram above to the next level, suddenly it’s double the cost. No such thing as a flat rate envelope or such like in the USA. I want to keep the price of the zine into the postage, because then it’s all up front. But at the same time, those farther should have to pay more… but… I dunno. I find it sad when I want to purchase something from far away but the shipping just costs soooo much. I suppose this is why real magazines have supplies and get it all over the world so folks can buy locally. It’s something I think about a lot, but don’t really know how to deal with. Besides working to keep things under certain weight limits and trying to account for the pricing…I don’t know what else to do. Someone should invent a teleporting machine already.
Finally, the big time suck in issue three was actually illustrating the knot patterns. I didn’t realize it would take so long, but it got confusing. In the end it might have been easier to just draw it by hand, but I had already gotten too far digitally. I suppose this goes back to the original point about working really ahead of schedule, because that makes everything more tolerable.
All in all, I am super happy with the latest issue of Pensieri and have knot projects left and right all over my desk as well. It’s super fun and I’m glad to be able to share it with others.
Thank you again for everyones’ support 🙂
