I’ll be at the San Francisco ROFLthing (an offshoot of MIT’s ROFLcon) and I’ll be selling some of my crafts. I’ve actually made a batch of LOL-lets just for the special occasion. These LOL-lets were made with vintage yellow upholstery and vinyl (in either red or brown). There is no leather. I’ve posted a small number of the red vinyl LOL-lets in my shop. Check them out here.
I’m so excited about the event and hope to see you there. Oh yeah, and I made this video for it:
I’ve just finished a small batch of coffee cozies and added them to the crafts section of my shop. You can see them here.
As many of you know, it’s been a really long time since I’ve made any of these beauties, that’s because of the amount of time it takes to make them. I estimate it takes just as much time to make one of these cozies as it does to make a wallet. Since my costs are similar, I can’t really afford to spend the same amount of time making cozies and selling them at 1/3rd the cost of wallet or iPhone case.
Recently, I’ve been toying around with the idea of working with some local manufacturers, but I haven’t been able to find one that can work with my denim scraps (from the jeans that I have tailored for Self Edge), so they will be from newer denim supplies.
I still love the look of the selvage denim cozies, so I made this small batch and raised the price a little (to $11) to make it a little more worthwhile to spend the time on. These cozies are totally worth the price, just throw one in your back pocket and forget about it until your next coffee stop.
This morning I dropped off [redacted] unicycle at Pirate Cat radio when I got into a conversation with the girl working there about her new messenger bag. Apparently, the bag is Puck’s old Zo Bag that he had while he was on The Real World. She said it was a gift from her friend Charles who collects Zo Bags. Ironically, it was [redacted] unicycle I was returning.
The bag was in great condition for being at least 15 years old (and spending most of that time with Puck), but Zo’s bags are well known for their long lifespans. It even came with a note. I believe Puck may have been only half kidding when he said “urine and S.F. street funk included for free.”. Although it looked pretty clean, it definitely could have used a wash.
As I mentioned, the bag was in great shape, without a rip or a tear anywhere. I really dug some of the patches it was embellished with including an old Lightning Express patch. The bag’s owner (I can’t believe I already forgot her name) also pointed out that in the left hand corner was an angel patch that was mysteriously embroidered over a pot leaf for some strange reason. It sort of reminded me of when someone covers up a tattoo they aren’t particularly fond of with another tattoo… but usually people just seam rip patches… not cover them up.
Like making arts? Can’t get enough Dr. Horrible? Nom nom nom? Then come hang out with me and some friends this Sunday at Zeitgiest Bar (11 am till 1 or 2) for bloody mary’s, brunch, and singing blogs.
I’ll bring some watercolors, paper, and brushes for anyone to use, but folks are encouraged to bring their own art/craft materials too. Maybe we can get a mix of different mediums going, anyone wanna try making a Dr. Horrible doll? Anyone is welcome to hang out (you don’t even have to draw), but you haven’t seen the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog podcasts yet, check them out at DrHorrible.com
On a side note, Zeitgeist has a new cook named Jess and she seems like a cool girl. She asked me to tell my friends that she’s bringing back the breakfast menu on Sunday’s, so this is how I’m doing it.
Last week I threw out the idea of a documentary club on Twitter and my blog. Like a book club for docs. The idea generated a lot of interest, not just from friends but also on IndieWire’s Docsider blog and even on IMDB’s Indie Hit List
(I didn’t know IMDB blogged about things).
For those interested, www.documentaryclub.ning.com is online now, so feel free to sign up and start pitching ideas. The ning page was built by my friend Scott Stead who has also wanted to start some sort of documentary club for a while now. Thanks Scott.
It will probably take us a few days to figure out how we should move forward with the club, but the basic idea is that we’ll pick 2 films a month to watch and discuss as a group. We’ll probably build some sort of polling page and work on other bells and whistles. I think we’ll also try to find a way to work with the cool features on SnagFilms, the cool new documentary video site.
Whenever a bunch of cartoonists get together, they are going to make a bunch of jam comics. This weekend’s SF Zinefest was no exception. Kraig Rasmussen, movie buff and fellow Cartoonist Conspirator, just sent me a scan of a “poo” themed jam comic he started. See if you can guess which artist did what:
I was just going to post the poop jam, but then I noticed that Wired.com writer Emily Lang had posted her article on this weekend’s event along with some fantastic pictures. The article’s title, “Blogs for Print Nerds”, makes me so happy because I’ve always felt a connection between indie print media (like zines and mini comics) and online media (like this blog). I also happen to be working on an article about the “missing dog head” flier and how it was the first meme I encountered (way before I started using teh internets).
In case you missed it, I also got a little Wired.com loving last week with a detailed article about my “missing lolCat” fliers and new album. There’s also an upcoming Wired.com article about the Nerdcore for Life showing in SF and the afterparty that my band played at.
And to top all of that off, Cory Doctorow blogged about the Wired article and he used that sexy picture of me and Lori Stein at our Cartoonist Conspiracy table. I’ve heard that Cory has bought a couple of jeans from Self Edge. If he got them hemmed, there’s a good chance that the scraps from his jeans could be part of some of those wallets.
Several of the tables at this year’s Zinefest were offering “make your own buttons” services. The basic idea was that for one dollar, you could draw a little image and have it made into a little 1″ button. I did three water colored buttons before I remembered an old idea I’ve had about cutting up a dollar bill and turning it into buttons. The result worked out even better than I imagined, especially the pyramid and eagle sections which must have been designed with this idea in mind because they seem to fit so perfectly.
$4 yielded me 3 buttons. Considering the value of a dollar right now, I think this was a good investment. I’ve long been searching for a 1″button maker, but neither Craigslist or eBay have yet to turn up anything decent for under $200.
I spent the weekend with other artists, craftsters, and zinesters at yet another SF Zinefest. This years Zinefest was in Golden Gate Park and I would say most folks involved would probably consider it a successful event. I came within $30 of my $200 sales goal and actually managed to keep my spending low too.
As expected, the bulk of my money came from my crafts. At $30 each, the few wallets I sold were 60% of this weekend’s profits. I also sold out of my last copies of the Cartoonist Conspiracy tribute to Eric and sold all my remaining copies of Moebius Strip Tease. I sold a bunch of copies of Ideas and a few copies of The Hamster That Wasn’t There, but at only $2 each, those just covered my expenses.
One dude gave me $2 for “Ideas”, but seemed pretty disappointed to discover that “Ideas” was just the name of my comic book.
I shared my table with several members of the Cartoonist Conspiracy, but Mike Hales, Melaina, Jeff Plotkin and a few other conspirators had their own tables as well.
Michael Cappozola, who was also tabling there, gave me this sketch:
Jesse Reklaw’s watercolor techniques workshop was the first “extra-curricular” event I’ve ever attended at a comic convention. Unfortunately I couldn’t help but to spend the whole class painting with watercolors and missed out on what I assume where some really good tips from an accomplished artist.
So the SF Zinefest was announced a couple months ago, but it wasn’t until a few minutes ago that I actually got excited about it. What happened in that time? I dug up my old comics and found a bunch of copies of my first zine, Moebius Strip Tease, and now I’m feeling all nostalgic. I guess I usually have new things to show at these fests, so I don’t bother going through my zine graveyard, but I’m glad I did. Not only did I find 12 copies of MST, but I also found some old copies of various Cartoonist Conspiracy books and whatnot.
Moebius Strip Tease was self published in 2002 with stories, drawings and interviews by me and my friends (Schalicto and Titifreak). I had previously posted my MST interview with Jim Stensland here, but I’m now adding another story from MST titled “Penis” as a downloadable pdf here.
I’m sharing a table with my buddy Mike Hales, from IgorLabs, who’ll be pushing copies of his two newest comics (and handing out tons of business cards). I’ll mainly be pushing copies of my 24 Hour Comics and trying to convince people they need to buy as many of my wallets as they can afford, but I’ll also be selling some of my old comics and zines as well.
