March 2024 | bookbinding, plein-air, zine-making and an exhibition
- Emily Randall
- Apr 10, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 11, 2024
March was surprisingly busy and at times a bit stressful! I had a market/exhibition in Worcester so half of the month was spent preparing for that - restocking zines and making new ones! I also went on a couple of day trips back-to-back, to a zine fair in Bristol, and then to Brockhampton Estate.
New Facebook page
I created a Facebook page for letsgetarty! For a while I’ve been wanting to expand to other social media sites to get out there more, so I created a Facebook page where I will post the same note-worthy things I post on Instagram.
If you prefer to use Facebook over Instagram feel free to have a look at my page and give it a like or a follow if you like what you see!
Ink bunnies
As mentioned in last month’s blog, we have baby rabbits living in our garden! They are still incredibly cute and grace us with their presence regularly. I wanted to paint with black ink one day to start practising for the commissions I'll be offering, so I decided to paint the bunnies!
New sketchbook!
I ran out of pages in my travel sketchbook, made with the cover of a book I got at a Greek bookshop in 2020. Knowing I had a couple of days out coming up where I knew I’d want to draw, I made sure to quickly make myself a new one!
As usual, I used four types of paper to create assorted pages. I used recycled cartridge paper, black paper, kraft paper, and tracing paper. I already had a cover in mind - a while ago I bought some old books from a second-hand shop with the intention of converting them into sketchbooks to sell. There was one book titled ‘Painting as a Pastime’ by Winston Churchill (whom I did not know painted until now!) and I knew that would be perfect as a sketchbook for myself! >:) This was a very thin book - too thin to make a substantial sketchbook out of - so I separated the front and back covers from the already-broken spine,
reinforced the edges with some Gorilla tape, and covered the inside with black cardstock. I was then able to punch holes into the covers and signatures with my Japanese screw punch and bind it all together with some green thread that matched the leaves on the cover. I used a binding method named the coptic stitch, as this method allows the book to open flat for easier drawing.
I’m really pleased with how the sketchbook turned out! I immediately took it out with me to Bristol and Brockhampton Estate to draw in. I love that it’s small and lightweight and still fits in my jacket pocket (one of the things I loved about my previous sketchbook, which was smaller).
Here is one of the drawings I’ve done in it - you will see more further on in this blog!
I filmed some of the creation process and added it to my March vlog on YouTube. The link for the video is at the end of this blog!
Clay modelling
I tried my hand at making a polymer clay model! I created a figurine of one of my mum’s dogs for Mother’s Day. It was a bit of a learning curve but she loved it :)
Zinezilla @ Bristol
Zinezilla is a zine fair that’s been running for a few years in Bristol now. I’ve been once before and it’s a lively, friendly atmosphere filled to the brim with amazing artists. I applied for a table this year but unfortunately didn’t get in. Apparently there were 120 applicants for only 20 tables!
I visited Bristol and Zinezilla to meet up with an old friend. The zine fair was great - I got to see lots of amazing work and talk to some lovely people. I was also able to hand out some of my business card bookmarks! I enjoyed walking around Bristol again, having not been there since the last Zinezilla and since the 5-day trip I went on in my last year at university. We grabbed bubble tea and I drew St Peter’s Church again. It was a lovely day trip!
Brockhampton Estate
Zinezilla was on Mother’s Day, so as a late Mother’s Day treat we went out the day after to Brockhampton Estate. It was a cold day but since it was a Monday and the day after a holiday, the place was EMPTY! So it was as if we had the place to ourselves!
We’ve been to Brockhampton Estate before, but that was before I really began plein-air sketching, so I was excited to revisit the place and draw it!
Speak Volumes! Festival Exhibition
Speak Volumes! Festival was a new, student-led event near the University of Worcester in The Arches. It was 3 days' worth of workshops, talks, lectures, music, poetry slams, and an exhibition. I had the pleasure of being able to present my products at the exhibition, specifically my zines and stickers. So for about two weeks I worked on preparing for this.
I started off by restocking the things I had run low on from the market I attended in November - Cardiff Zine Fest. This was namely my business card bookmarks, business cards for From the Witch’s Scullery and The Green Zeen, my Athens 2022 zine, the Green Zeen Mini #2 and its bundle.
I then got to something more fun - making new zines! As I had finished my travel sketchbook, I decided to make a travel sketchbook zine out of it. I had done this with my previous sketchbook so I thought it would be fun to create a set! I chose my favourite pages while also making sure I had a nice variety of subjects and mediums, scanned them in, and used InDesign to create the final zine.
Here is a peek at the zine! It is now up on my Etsy shop too. You can look at it here :)
I also made a new mini zine to add to my series ‘Places to Visit’. I have made a zine for both Stockton Bury Gardens and Hampton Court Castle Gardens, so this time I made a mini zine for Croft Castle and Parkland. I had a handmade A6 sketchbook full of drawings from this place from a project I had set myself when visiting the castle for the first time in 2022 for my birthday. I had originally planned to make a bigger zine with my favourite spreads from this project, but never did, so decided a mini zine would be a perfect way to still make something out of my sketches.
I love that my little series of 'Places to Visit' mini zines is growing! I can’t wait to make more. This zine is also up on my shop now! Find it here.
After lots of preparation I was ready for the Speak Volumes exhibition! I took all my things to the artist drop-off day the day before the festival started, and set up my little display.
This is the first time I’ve ever sold my products at an exhibition and the first time I’ve had to hand over the job of looking after everything and managing sales to someone else! So it was honestly a pretty scary moment leaving my set-up there. It was a very new experience, and I did find it stressful at times, but there always has to be a first time for everything. Once the 3-day festival was over, I travelled back to pick up my remaining stock.
From speaking to the organisers and following the activity on Instagram, the festival appeared to be a great success. The organisers did a wonderful job setting everything up and running the event. All as volunteers, too!
I myself am very pleased with how much I sold. I sold 20 items, which was far more than I was expecting! I’m really glad people liked my work, and am grateful for the lovely comments and messages I got too.
Speak Volumes! Festival may become a regular occurrence, so if you are in the Worcester area and interested in keeping up to date with them, follow their Instagram page.
I filmed a lot of the preparation for this exhibition and added it to my March vlog on YouTube. The link for the video is at the end of this blog!
Drama Proof Pigeon Club zine submission
At the end of this very busy month was the deadline for submissions to a zine I wanted to participate in.
I have met the lovely @BeastlyWorlds, the person who runs the @dramaproofpigeonclub zine, a couple of times at markets now, and loved the concept behind the first two issues. When I found out submissions were open for the third issue, I knew I had to participate.
For the three or four days leading up to the deadline I worked on my submission, from the initial idea to the final piece. I wanted to keep it silly and fun while also keeping to the theme of ‘Myths and Monsters’ and subsidiary theme of pigeons.
I don’t know yet if my submission has been selected, but I am happy with it and had lots of fun with it all the same!
Upcoming and ongoing projects
I will be at another festival in April! The University of Gloucester Illustration and Animation Festival will be on the 27th April. I am excited to be a part of it!
Speaking of animations, I am currently working on a project that has to do with a couple of upcoming festivals. I can’t say much for now but I should have it ready by next month’s blog post 👀.
Thank you for reading my March blog post! I also filmed a lot of what I mentioned and posted a vlog of it on YouTube, so if you are interested you can see a more detailed process of the things I made over there!
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