A Shortcut to Mushrooms...
New zines and a poem print!
Hi, friends! Transitioning into the school year and trying to work on multiple projects, along with continuing to try to figure out my physical needs/accomodations has meant that I haven't had a lot to share here (or, at least, nothing I've felt ready to write about) beyond my end-of-the-month collections and the occasional poem. Thanks for your patience as I navigate these changes.
I will still be sharing my End of October post as usual on the 31st, but today I have an update about zines and poem prints!
I was introduced to zines at some point last year, I think — almost definitely through something shared by Sarah Shotts (they/them). Before then, I had no idea what I was missing. Now, I've started collecting zines from all over, and I'm starting a zine library at my local library!
And, of course, I'm making some of them myself.
Some of you may remember my mentioning a couple in-progress zines months ago, and I finally have an update! It took some time for me to get my footing, but after working in stages and redrawing/reformatting a bit, I finished the two zines I first started, as well as two slightly different versions of a third zine. I'll share individual links below, but all of them can be found at my ko-fi shop here.
The first zine is called Snail Mail; it's a mini zine with a bunch of ideas of things to send your friends that fit in an envelope:
Snail Mail is available via free download as well as in printed form.
The second zine is a poetry zine (titled Write now — after the name of the poem inside) for writers who need encouragement:
Write now — is available in a hand-bound printed form on a sturdier cream-coloured paper.
The third zine is called A Shortcut to Mushrooms1 and is full of fun(gi)2 facts/reasons to love them:
There are two versions because I couldn't decide between the designs, but the content is the same. There's just a slight adjustment in the formatting of the pages to accommodate the differences in font. The Hobbity version and Whimsical version are both available in hand-bound printed form on the sturdy cream-coloured paper.3
I feel really proud of myself for finishing these and sharing them despite their inevitable imperfections (that's part of the point of zines, really, isn't it?) and I hope, if nothing else, they might spark some interest in making some of your own, because zines are great.
And, finally, since a couple of you mentioned that the graphic of the poem I recently shared would be nice as a print, I also created a print of a vision:
The prints are a little bigger than 4×5 inches (about a quarter-page size) and are printed on the same paper as the Write now — and Shortcut to Mushrooms zines. They're available on my ko-fi as well. **I also have a set of 4 of these prints with a lighter/brighter yellow that I decided not to sell because they're a bit more difficult to read and because it was my first time using my new paper cutter, so the margins aren't all like the listed prints. If you'd like to have one of those, send me a message or email me at awestgate93@gmail.com and I'll send you one of them for free. 💌
If you enjoy and would like to support my work, you can send me a tip/donation via ko-fi:
I'm excited to finally share these with you! Let me know if you have any questions about the zines or prints. And as always, feel free to share if this resonated with you.
Yes, this is a LOTR reference.
Not sorry for the pun.
I'm happy to consider offering a printable version of these if there's any interest. Let me know!
Your zines are delightful! 🥰🥰🥰
I love them so much!