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lifetime of incoming advice being an artist, thus blending craft, hobby, soul-crushing passion, and device in which I put food on the table: You need hobbies. You need to do things other than your craft. You love your craft and that's great -- it will empower you, it will drive you, it will keep you alive -- but you must feed it, and the things it feeds on are life experiences.

me: that's brilliant advice and I agree for every single person on the planet that isn't me, a person who must work on the craft as much as possible, constantly finding new ways to work harder or more precise

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I feel like something that doesnt get talked about enough is how fast fashion is coming to hobbies as well. Sure, you can sew, knit, and crochet something better than youd buy in store, but good luck finding quality materials

Want a fabric that doesnt fray from being gently caressed? Want yarn thats not 100% plastic and splits if you touch it wrong? Good luck finding that if you dont have a genuinely good crafts store near you.

Go on any thread where people are trying to figure out where to buy fabric. 50% of it is people saying big stores are servicable, online stores work, or the like, and the other 50% are talking about how bad the quality is or how the quality of a website dropped because it was bought out

Were running into a problem where fast fashiob is so integrated into society that even the ability to make your own, comfortable and long lasting, clothes is being threatened by capitalism

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I have stated in the past that one of the keys to sewing well is learning how to deal with mistakes

because you will always make mistakes

Granted, what you consider a mistake may change as your skills advance

but no amount of advanced skills will eliminate mistakes

It's fine.

I say this because I finished a shirt yesterday--or, rather, thought I had finished it yesterday, and I was so thrilled with how I did pattern matching where the front bands attached to the shirt fronts...that I failed to notice how the rest of the prints would align

Now, I understand that some people may not see this as a mistake. I have seen garments on pattern envelopes with similar print repeats on either side of a seam or opening, and I have no problems with that. This, however, is something I deeply dislike in things that I make.

I despaired, thought about it a while, and realized that I had enough of this fabric left that I could, with fiddliness and annoyance, remove and replace the upper front band. I had to cut and remove a lot of stitching, and work around the buttonhole in the neck band that I refused to remove, and there are awkward elements present now, but no-one is ever going to get close enough to see, and now I have a shirt that is obnoxious in a fun way instead of a "You Made A Mistaaaaaaake" way

Some mistakes you live with, and some you rip apart and stitch back together.

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being a crafter is so weird because it's like. here's a necklace that between materials and minimum wage labour cost me £1 to make. you will happilly pay me £6 for it because the same thing in claire's is £15. here's a blanket that between materials and half minimum wage labour cost me £700 to make. you will tell me to fuck off because you can buy a blanket in a shop for £100.

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I don't know who needs to hear this, but

YOU DO NOT NEED TO START A NEW HOBBY!

STEP AWAY FROM THE TEXTILES!

YOU DON'T NEED MORE YARN!

THAT FABRIC IS NOT CALLING TO YOU! LEAVE IT ALONE!

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I used a piece of one of my favourite background fabrics to make the sail for this tiny dimetrodon!

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Rented a 6 month po box today so hopefully I can get the email newsletter set up later this week as well as figure out the tricky business license form that gave me a panic attack last time

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This dress isn’t plaid! The linen underdress and silk chiffon overlay are both striped, and running in opposite directions, to create the illusion of a plaid fabric. I am so delighted by how clever it is.

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I got a gaming chair for my sewing area and it was good for a few weeks until it started feeling too hard to sit on without pillows underneath me and behind my back. Though I am plus sized and have a lot of chronic pain in general so that might just be a me problem 🙃 since my partner can use it for hours no problem.

I've heard that a better choice to get is a high quality office chair since they are made to be sat on 8+ hours daily and reddit had a lot of good suggestions. I just googled something like "good office chair reddit" I think and got a lot of good options, including how to find the good chairs pretty cheap. I haven't actually upgraded mine yet but I'm hoping to in a few months

I wonder if a gaming chair would also work at my sewing machines. I want a better chair for sewing and I also want a confy chair for discord dnd gaming night... It would be best if they were the same chairto save money, but I can't decide what to buy...

Anyone our there use a gaming chair for a sewing chair too?

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With the various rumors and releases of Tumblr possibly changing how they do things... (gestures to the vague rumor mill)...

Zines.

I really think we as Folks Who Make Things and Folks Who Like Art Writing Poetry Music Comics Other Things need to explore zines. And I mean ZINES. Nothing glossy. Nothing fancy.

Very. Cheap. Zines.

I've been threatening mentioning I was going to create a guide on how I'm going to approach this -- and I'm going to -- but I am also realizing in the writing I Do Things Highfalutin because I am who I am + had a career in graphic design.

Let's talk about how you can make a zine very cheaply and very pretty.

STEP ONE: SUPPLIES

Very bright paper. I like "Astrobrights" because they are absurdly bright. Here is a link in a store I like. I buy a lot of paper and envelopes from them. You can generally find Astrobrights in big box office stores. It prints on laser printers and ink jet and photocopiers.

Very bright envelopes. What's that? Astrobrights has envelopes?! AM I SOLVING PROBLEMS let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Letter paper is 8.5" x 11" and is the most common size in the united states (overseas folk will have to use this advice with a grain o'sea salt and search yer own waters).

A9 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half.

A2 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half, then folded in half.

#10 envelopes are your common long envelopes, letter paper folded in thirds.

Pick the size you like.

If you want to get big and fancy, Tabloid is 17" x 11" -- so double a letter sheet. This gets tricky to work with but is neat in sizing.

STEP TWO: ZINE CONTENT

Do you know how to use InDesign or similar program? Use that.

No? Use Google Docs or Word or whatever other program and ramble.

Want something special? Write out some or part with a sharpee or pen.

Mix and match both.

If you are feeling fancy, design it like a booklet -- mock up a sheet of blank paper as if it were a brochure. If not, just design it straight up and down like a letter. There are no zine laws.

STEP THREE: ZINE PRINTING

Print at home on your home printer.

Don't have a printer at home? Print it at work (don't get fired)

Can't? Your local library may be able to help.

You need 1 copy on white paper.

FedEx Office has photocopiers. Your local library may too. Or your job.

Print 1 copy of your zine on white paper and then photocopy the rest onto colorful paper (or white paper, it be yer zine seadog).

Or print everything on the color paper if you have access to free printing, that's fine too.

The photocopy setup is purely "printing tends to cost more than photocopying."

If you want to slash prices, print 2 per sheet and have FedEx office cut them for you, this will cost $1 - $5 depending on how many sheets you are dealing with. This is for when you're doing a LOT of zines at once.

Or use their manual paper cutter yourself for free.

STEP FOUR: ZINE STAPLING

"Long reach stapler" is what I recommend. There are a few varieties. They tend to be $20 - $30.

Or just use 1 sheet!

STEP FOUR: ZINE POSTAGE

A single first class stamp for 1-2 pages. If you get up to 3+, go to the post office and ask them to weigh a comp you have assembled.

This is a guideline.

It's a really good idea to check at least once how much your zine weighs just in general. Post offices have scales. And are pretty. And have stamps.

OKAY ENOUGH LUSTING FOR THE POST OFFICE FROM THE GHOTS POST OFFICE BLOG BACK TO WORK

STEP FIVE: ZINE MAILING

This is actually the most difficult part. Label printers exist with various costs -- if you're starting out? Go with printable labels.

Your office supply shop will have them and they'll have templates you can drop in the customer addresses.

Save yourself time by using this label as the thing that seals the envelope -- don't lick envelopes.

A key tenet to staying in business is constantly reviewing physical (and mental) labor and stressors and reducing them as much as possible.

Return address labels are intensely cheap in literally every online printer, google "return address labels." Make sure you have this because at least a few of your shipments will come back to you.

STEP SIX: ZINE PRICING

Okay here is where we get uncomfortable because we're talkin' coins.

Prices are based on above links. You can get whatever paper you want, so this is guidelines. All numbers rounded up.

Payment processing ($0.30) + $0.05 sheet + $0.15 envelope + $0.66 first class postage = $1.16 base cost

$1.16 + 2.9% of $1.16 payment processing = $1.20

Plus taxes. I'm not getting into tax figures YOU DO THAT (just say 30% for easy math, this is not saying "your taxes are 30% or that mine are" I am saying "I am going to factor 30% for this equation to complete this guide".)

I did not include the mailing label (it will be $0.01 - $0.05 depending on how fancy and how many you buy) because you have the option to just write things and also it fits into the rounding of the above.

If you use Patreon, include your fees. Probably replace the above processing fees with your patreon processing... fees? I don't use patreon I don't know how it works.

Retail option 01: $1.50 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.21 / net / zine.

Retail option 02: $2 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.56 / net / zine.

Retail option 03: $3 - 1.20 = $1.80 gross - 30% = $1.26 / net / zine.

Should it be $1.50? Should it be $3.00? MORE? LESS?! That is for you to decide. Base it on what your zine contains, how long it takes you to write/draw/etc. it and how you want your flow to be.

STEP SEVEN: ZINE FREQUENCY

When my shop launches, it'll have a zine once a month. We are going to offer a subscription option + a "I just want 1" option.

You can do a zine monthly, or every few months, or whatever.

Keep in mind that the purpose of doing this is to break the dependency on social media marketing.

KEEP IN MIND AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER TO A CREATOR YOU LIKE THAT THEY ARE DOING THIS TO BREAK THEIR DEPENDENCY ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.

If you have a lot of energy and an audience that comes to your shop a lot? Consider doing a zine monthly.

If you do not have a lot of energy and/or your audience is tapped for cash frequently? Considering doing 1 zine per season.

Consider 2 zines a year if that works better for you!

NO RULES ONLY JOY

Not sure? Experiment! Be upfront! "This is new. I'm figuring this out. Billionaires are tinkering with these things and we gotta figure something else out."

BONUS STEP: NETHERWORLDPOST.COM

so hi I'm atty and I'm your loud long rambler today

Netherworld Post Office used to be @evilsupplyco and now we are rebranding in prep of relaunching. Same person behind the rambles and comics, new name with a more focus (mail instead of mail + seemingly everything else in experiment)

if you enjoyed this ramble and/or like ghosts, monsters, witches, mermaids, and fun stories and projects focused on cozy Halloween, you may like us when we finish the rebranding and relaunching in autumn 2023.

email sign up (the zine will come when we are open)

WHETHER YOU JOIN MY LIST OR NOT

I really, really, really hope you consider doing a regular, or irregular, zine. Something outside of email, something outside of social media, something that connects I MADE A WEIRD THING and the people who say I LOVE THIS WEIRD THING YOU MADE.

The walls are closing in on free social media as a platform for people who make weird things to build audiences for free or very cheap.

And with that...

netherworldpost.com as one final hat pass

good luck folks

thanks for listenin' to the ol' ghost

[craftcoffin]

This would be the perfect match if not for pesky things like seam allowance

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Listen I am not going to name anyone specifically, but pattern makers need to talk to one (1) fat person before they can post their patterns online.

I am so sick of finding a cute pattern, getting all the supplies, checking my gage, and starting to knit, only to find that my sleeves are a foot longer than a normal human because the pattern maker just multiplied all their numbers by 10 when they sized it up. I can't believe I have to say this but, just because my ass is fat does not mean my arms go down to my knees???

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I thought I could avoid the ironing by making bags instead or quilts or clothes, but no. Turns out sewing bags often requires many different types of interfacing and various temperatures that you have to iron with correctly otherwise it won't adhere to the fabric.

Now it goes without saying that learning to sew gives you this amazing engagement with the way textiles come together (which rules) but what they don't tell you is that sewing is a psyop to encourage you to do Ironing

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I have some ideas for the shop that would be really cool with sublimination printing and honestly sub blanks and transfers don't cost very much and are easy to get through a lot of the custom fabric printers I use. The only thing really stopping me right now is the cost of a heat press. I think I could make it work with the really mini kind, but that's at least $30 (twice as much if I want to get the cricut branded one, oof). Plus I'd still need to buy the blanks and transfers, so looking at $60ish+ to start? It's not a lot but I already have a bunch of stuff cut out that I haven't had time to sew yet so I need to put off the compulsion to start a new craft- for now. Plus I would probably want the slightly larger press so I could eventually do shirts and that's like $60-$75 on it's own. Would be the better long term investment though.

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