We had a great time this weekending wandering around Short Run Small Press Fest. We were broke so we decided to see if people would trade. People were really nice about it. We traded some great stuff. I hope they felt it was worth it, too.
I think the most beautiful thing we found was the screen printer,
Tory Franklin. She has an amazing screen-printed bestiary book bound in fake crocodile skin. The screen printing was done in gold and black, and metallic ink is notoriously difficult to screen print with. She did an amazing job. She was kind enough to trade
An extensive and practical guide to protecting your chickens from coyotes for her book on lycanthropic folks,
Les unfortunates, Vol 1: Origins of Society’s Lycanthropy, another beautifully screen printed book. Olive green paper with yellow ink on the cover. So gorgeous. She also told us a bit about Vera Project’s screen printing and sent us off to talk to the actual people that run it. Abe is really excited now, so expect some screen printing in our future.
Aron Nels Steinke does kids books that look adorable (like
The super-duper dog park and
The crazy cat lady dance), has an autobio that I want to get (
Big Plans), and has a new comic online called
Mr. Wolf. He is a teacher, grade school I think, so I bet his kids books are great. We couldn’t get anything at the time, but possible Xmas gifts this year!
And just down from him was another teacher,
Nicole J Georges! Grammar and writing, it seemed. She also has a memoir coming out Jan 22 and is doing a reading on Jan 30 at
Elliot Bay Books that I would love to go to. We got her mini comic, Invincible Summer #21 ~ Clutch #24, and it was quite funny. She does it with her friend, Clutch McB, and they each document each day for a couple weeks or so. Looking at her site, it seems Invincible summer has been collected into two volumes, so Drat! I have to go get those now too! Nicole happens to be very funny and made me laugh out loud several times. This bodes well for her graphic novel in January. I also got a 2013 calendar from her for my work desk. Adopted animals (she is also a pet portraitist). So great. I can’t wait to look at it all next year. She also mentions whales, XX.
We checked out
Chelsea Baker, who we have seen at other cons. Abe got to talk with her for a while at the
Portland Zine Symposium. When I went back to Nicole’s booth to get the calendar, Abe went back to Chelsea and got a preview of a book she is doing about her sister, Moira (also the title of the book it seems), who has down syndrome. Looks like a good book and has sciency stuff, which Abe loves.
Then we stopped by
Breanne Bolands’s booth. She wasn’t so much comics, but a very funny writer. She also made me laugh out loud. I traded two comics for two zines with her, including
Tighty-whities and their men, which made me happy. I got
How to be more creative more often, even if you have a job, responsibilities, and need more than three hours of sleep a night. Quite enjoyable actually, and I think I will flip through it again when I am feeling uncreative. Here is my favorite quote. “Your dream is your cub and you are a mama bear. Find what threatens it and eviscerate it.” But then there was a tiny zine called
A selection of surreal moments from my recent vacation, which cracked me up. Tiny little stories with an illustration. Great way to commemorate a trip. I just loved it. I will be checking her store when I have disposable income again.
I got a little mini comic by
Colleen Frakes called Sketchbook Follies #2 and it made me laugh right out loud. And I am so jealous because she got to go to the Comic Workshop in Vermont at the
Center for Cartoon Studies.
Oh man. That isn’t even everything. Almost. Sorry. I just get so excited.
