Feeling like a kid again at the Small Press Zine Fest
With a title like A milk carton, a pasta maker and a mad idea, I had no idea what to expect on my way to Frankies Empire Coffee House, for the Small Press Zine Fest event on Monday 8th July.
It was a cold night – in fact we’ve had a few of them in Hobart recently. The cold biting winds that skip off the Antarctic are the fastest on Earth, and deliver Tasmania fresh air as well as a significant wind chill factor. It is certainly a time to stay warm! Frankies has the effect of being strangely warm even when all the cooking equipment, and buzzing fridges, lights and speakers have been turned off; and it was a warm embrace which the loft provided last night.
As I reached the top of the stairs and entered the loft, I found a wonderful collection of people, ready for a workshop that promised madness and creativity, with age and experience ranging widely, though enthusiasm, focus and creative inspiration were constant throughout.
The loft above Frankies Empire has been beautifully adorned with a festive delights including a large black and white tattooed man, with opposing large black and white head – messages have been tattooed onto the man by festival go-ers. Complimenting these canvas pieces are an abundance of colourful little zines, as well as the small press letters hanging from the ceiling centre.
The workshop consisted of an introduction to creating quality screen prints through the use of old UHT milk cartons and pasta rolling machines. This method is simple and cheap, using readily accessible, everyday household and craft items – and it’s heaps of fun.
Iona , who ran the workshop, was helpful and knowledgeable, getting everyone involved and engaged. She first took us through the basics of making your ‘plate’: take the old milk carton and chop it into a rectangle. Using this as a template, you then chisel/engrave your design using a pen or similar tool. Meanwhile, cut some cotton paper to size, soak and blot till slightly damp. Coat the plate with ink, taking the ink off the surface to only leave ink in the grooves. Place the plate into position on the paper, fold in a ‘sandwich’ between a piece of newspaper or old Yellow Pages, then fold that inside a piece of felt. Once you have the felt/paper/plate sandwich you feed it through the pasta maker – pressing the image you chiselled into the template, in reverse, onto your paper.
Unsurprisingly, I opted to make my zine about Silver Words (the semimonthly spoken word open mic night I run at Frankies Empire). For this special task I decided to use silver ink. My inner-child kicked in and I found myself quite at home surrounded by arts and craft tools. The silver ink however was very viscous, and it proved my undoing – unpractised and out of tune with my crafty self, I consistently failed to produce a clean image on the cotton paper. All the while, the small child sitting opposite me – who could not have been much more than 6 – was crafting a beautiful and interesting print, consisting of an epic sci-fi story full of mushroom eyes and all sorts of brilliant things.
I know when I have been defeated. Yet, certainly though my efforts proved rather fruitless, the finished product could be called… interesting, sort of, with my unevenly spread silver ink creating strange and murky images. I felt like I was in school again – on one of those rare days though, with everyone engaged and happy.
Too soon it was 9pm; I could have continued for a good long while as I found the process so fun, challenging and very absorbing. The workshop was held together so well through constant interaction and things to do. There was great music and conversation, lots of stuff to play with, pick at, cut out, etch, ink and press. There were refreshments of tea and coffee as well as a some of Frankie’s hearty sandwiches and tasty cakes.
There were many successful zines created at the workshop with a number of really impressive, imaginative designs and stories; I was in a small minority (of one) that had revealed little or no immediate talent as a zinester.
The results of all our labours will be on display on Saturday 13th July at the closing party of the Small Press Zine Fest.
The Small Press Zine Fest is happening all week at Frankies Empire Coffee House: 129 Elizabeth St, Hobart and the NEXT EVENTS are:
Feminist Zine swap/chat – Tuesday 9 July
The Explosion! – Wednesday 10 July
“Down There” (TasComix) LAUNCH with HIC – Thursday 11 July
Kids’ Zine Making – Friday 12 July
House Writers Festival - 12 July upstairs Frankies
Scribbly Time Capsule Workshop – Saturday 13 July
Drawing a story – Saturday 13 July
Small Press Zine fair and closing party
