Stolen Sharpie Revolution is on tour! A blog tour!

Hey! I’m going on a blog tour with the Stolen Sharpie Revolution book! There will be reviews, interviews, and giveaways! Please check out these blogs on these dates for more info!

• January 17th The Book Adventures of Emily
• January 20th Crafty Mom Zen
• January 21st Literary Lunes Publications
• January 23rd Books and Bowel Movements
• January 26th Flora’s Forum
• January 27th Books are love
• January 29th Book Fidelity
• January 30th Proper Noun Blog
• February 1st Sonya Ellen Mann
• February 2nd The Gal in the Blue Mask
• February 4th my name is Sage
• February 7th Hogwash

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Stolen Sharpie Revolution (5th edition!) Is back from the printer!

After a successfully funded kickstarter the new edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution has returned from the printer! It is available direct from the Portland Button Works Etsy shop and the Portland Button Works website as well as Pioneers Press, Powell’s Books, and Amazon.com More distros and stores to follow soon! If you are interested in carrying Stolen Sharpie revolution get in touch: portlandbuttonworks@gmail.com for wholesale pricing.

If you are in the UK or Europe and would like to save on postage, consider ordering from Steve Larder in the UK.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution

a DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture

Author Alex Wrekk

with contributions by Sugene Mine, Jerianne Thompson, Sage Adderley, Jenna Freedman and illustrations by Steve Larder

Format 4.25” x 5.5” paperback

Pages 152

Price $8.00

ISBN 9780981794112

Since 2002, Stolen Sharpie Revolution: a DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture has been the go-to guide for all things zine-related. This little red book is stuffed with information about zines. Things you may know, stuff you don’t know and even stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know! Stolen Sharpie Revolution contains a cornucopia of information about zines and zine culture for everyone from the zine newbie to the experienced zinester to the academic researcher.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution consists of thoughtful lists and step-by-step how-to guides on everything from definitions of a “zine,” where to find zines, why they are important, how to make them and how to participate in zine culture. This book has everything you need to get started creating your own zine, or to figure out what to do with the zine you just made.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution serves as both an introduction into the wide world of zine culture and as a guide to taking the next step to become a part of it.

*Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads * stolensharpierevolution.org *

Stolen Sharpie Revolution (5th edition) Kickstarter Update!

We have 18 days to go and I wanted to post a little run down of the progress.

So, I’m going to make this chronological list of notable things so far:

• Day 3: The Stolen Sharpie Revolution Kickstarter became a “Staff Pick” on Kickstarter AND we hit the first $1,000. Stoked!
• Day 7: We hit 25% of our total total and I started using doubled sided tape instead of glue sticks.
• Day 8: We hit 33% of our goal and I launched a tumblr giveaway. Check it out on tumblr and feel free to reblog for a chance to win a copy of the book and some other goodies.
• Day 10: I finished with all of the content layout! The page count for the 5th edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution will either be 152 or 160 pages depending on a few things that are yet to be determined.
• Day 12: We reached 100 backers!

I’m hoping to break the half-way point: $3,000 or more this weekend. I’d love it if you could help me reach that goal!

Check out the kickstarter here.

in zines we trust,

Alex Wrekk

Stolen Sharpie Revoltion (5th Edition) Kickstarter Campaign! We’re a Staff Pick!

I am launching a kickstarter to print the 5th edition of the book Stolen Sharpie Revolution: a DIY resource for zines and zine culture and I need your help! SSR has been the go-to guide for all things zine-related for over a decade and we want to keep it going for many more! This little red book is bursting with all things ZINE: things you may know, stuff you don’t know and even stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know! Stolen Sharpie Revolution is a cornucopia of information about zines and zine culture. It’s for everyone from the zine newbie to the experienced zinester to the academic researcher. It is beloved by zinesters everywhere and has even been used in university classrooms as a basic text for understanding zines.

With over 21,000 copies in print, this book is poised to break the quarter-hundred-thousand copy barrier at least BUT I NEED YOUR HELP! Help fund this kickstarter by pre-ordering a book or, get yourself a fun reward.

Tomorrow is International Zine Library Day also, the Portland Zine Symposium 24 Hour Zine Challenge starts tomorrow!

Tomorrow is International Zine Library Day! What are you going to do to celebrate?

Tomorrow at 10 am I will be at the IPRC to spend 24 hours making a new zine! I don’t know what the new zine will be about yet, but I hope it will be awesome! the past two years have been really successful. If you would like to be the first to get your hand on the new issue of my zine you can sponsor me for $10 or more. The money goes to the Portland Zine Symposium to help it continue to be an awesome zine event!

Come on, $10 (or more!) will get you:

*my new zine

*button of new design

*31 Days of International Zine Month poster.

*a copy of my 1 page mini zine/com (that’s right! I attempt to draw stuff!)  made about the stuff that happened on July 10th when I worked a 10 hour shift at Portland Button Works.

Speaking of Portland Button Works, we are having a sale for International Zine Month from now until the rest of July! Use the Coupon code: IZM2012 for 10% off! We’d love for your to use it on zines, but it is good for anything in

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here’s the zine I made in 2010 at the 24 hour zine challenge. it was about all the postboxes  have ever had.

The cover is so-not my style at all- but I do like it. The new copier at the IPRC does color copies at a reasonable price. I cut all these irises out of an old iris catalog from the 60s. I’m not used to working in color so this was fun. The insert is also in color.

 

Portland Buttons Works and zine distro needs your help!

We signed a lease for our brick and mortar shop in Portland, Oregon last week before I headed to Coachella to teach zines! We have signed a lease at 1322 N Killingsworth, just a block away from the Killingsworth yellow line Max stop and down the street from the PCC Cascade campus. We are totally excited about this. Right now our shop is bare and we are working the fill it up with fixtures, buttons and zines! We are also going to offer a space for people to make their own buttons in the shop. We have zines for the distro that are slowly trickling in and a friend helping us build awesome fixtures!

How can you help?  We have launched an Indiegogo fundraiser campaign. We wanted your contribution to be an investment for you to get something you would already want so reward levels range from copies of our zines (brainscan and All Things Ordinary), a Portland Button Works bottle opener, pre-orders of custom items, lifetime discounts on custom orders, gift certificates for when the distro is up and running, and even being able to name something in our shop!

And look!

Portland Button Works made it to the front page of Indiegogo! I’m really stoked on that!

While your monetary contributions would be greatly appreciated, we would also love it if you could help promote this project and spread the word about our fundraiser, or even send your zine for for distro consideration.

We only have 6 more days and we just got to the half way point! Please,  go here and help us out!

30 Day Photo Meme – Day 21 – Brainscan #29/ No More Coffee #4 split zine

Day 21- A photo you are proud of

I like this photos because of the colors in it and that it respresents a finished product on a table and ready to go. I’m also stoked on the photobooth picture that shows up out of or mind  before the tabling at the zine fest ever started. This was a fun project.
Released at the 2012 Chicago Zine Fest A split zine with Brainscan #29 and no More Coffee #4

Brainscan #29 – Ben Spies (no more coffee zine) threw out the challenge of fiction to my land of perzines and this is the grim result. These three short stories are my stab at fiction wrapped in the usual high contrast cut and paste layout you would expect in and issue of Brainscan. One story is about leaving a hometown for greener pastures only to make a stop half way there to visit an old friend and includes thoughts and reflections about the past. The second story is about a weird housemate and his strange perception of the world through Woody Allen tinted glasses and odd notions about art. The third story is about weighing the value of our short lives against the rock wall embankment of a cemetery. I admit that the voice is similar to mine and the subject matter doesn’t stray too far from what you would expect to find in an issue of Brainscan, but it was a really fun experiment and I’m glad that Ben talked me into doing this split.

No More Coffee is a zine of fiction for people who stay up too late. Stories like these are how I get the black bile out of my system, so to speak. Alex and I agreed to do a fiction split not knowing how morose it would end up, but we’re on similar wavelengths, I guess. I’m still writing fiction because I love it and because I’m too scared to write about my own life, but even if these stories never happened, the people in them did. “Photographs of the Dead” is about what the residents of a suburban apartment complex doesn’t know about their neighbors. “Exit 121” is about an impetuous woman living at a truck stop. The untitled story is about Sunday breakfast at a diner.

44 pages, half sized, 2 color risograph

available in My Etsy shop or on my Small World Buttons site.

or for $3 US ($4US rest of the world) put into an envelope and sent to:

Alex Wrekk

5307 N Minnesota Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97217

Day 22- Something you cooked
Day 23- Your desk or work area
Day 24- Something important to you
Day 25- Graffiti you have seen
Day 26- Something you do everyday
Day 27- Your favorite place
Day 28- A favorite piece of clothing
Day 29- Something you like
Day 30- A photo of you today

30 Day Photo Meme – Day 11

Day 11- Your bookshelf

It is true. The red things are filled with only some of my zines. I have a few boxes in my office and a wall of boxes in my basement filled with zines.

Day 12- Your mode of transportation
Day 13- Something you don’t leave the house without
Day 14- Something that makes you happy
Day 15- An old photo of you
Day 16- The view out your front door
Day 17- What’s in your bag/purse/pockets
Day 18- Where you work/go to school
Day 19- Something you love
Day 20- Your mailbox
Day 21- A photo you are proud of
Day 22- Something you cooked
Day 23- Your desk or work area
Day 24- Something important to you
Day 25- Graffiti you have seen
Day 26- Something you do everyday
Day 27- Your favorite place
Day 28- A favorite piece of clothing
Day 29- Something you like
Day 30- A photo of you today

The Portland Zine Symposium needs artwork for 2012, could it be yours?

taking a break from my 30 day photo meme to post this!

Hey zinesters!

The Portland Zine Symposium is looking for art submissions for the 2012 poster for the 12th annual Portland Zine Symposium. This year’s theme is “Sea of Zines.” Your art submission should be your creative interpretation of that theme.

We encourage artists to use any medium or style. We strongly prefer that the chosen artist is able to assist us in the process of transferring (resizing / cropping / etc) the image multiple mediums.

The formatting guidelines are simple:

– We are looking for a 11″ wide x 17″ tall poster that will also be used in other formats (the website, post cards, buttons, stickers, etc), so your design needs to be visible and striking at multiple sizes and resolutions (or have smaller, breakaway pieces).

– Only 3 colors! The design will eventually be silk screened / screen printed onto t-shirts, so limit your colors to black, white and one other color.

Your design should include (or be able to include once all details are finalized) the following:

– the theme –  Sea of Zines

– the dates – TBA (for now)

– the place –  Refuge 116 SE Yamhill

– the website  – http://www.pdxzines.com

– “12th Annual Portland Zine Symposium” and the year “2012”

– “A conference and zine social exploring facets of independent publishing and DIY culture.”

Submission deadline is February 25th.

Submissions can be emailed to pdxzines@gmail.com (most strongly preferred), mailed (to PO Box 5901 Portland, OR 97228-5901), or dropped off at the IPRC.

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The Portland Zine Symposium is free conference and zine social exploring facets of independent publishing and DIY culture. The Portland Zine Symposium is a two day event held in Portland, Oregon every summer since 2001. It consists of two days of of workshops, panels, discussions, games and tabling of zines and independent media.

The Portland Zine Symposium aims to promote greater community between diverse creators of independent publications and art. This fun and free event helps people share their work while exchanging their skills and information related to zine culture. Through workshops, panels and discussions, Portland Zine Symposium explores the role and effect of all types of zines.

Newsletter! L.A. Zine Fest! Chicago Zine Fest! ZOE!

Ack! hello neglected blog!

I recently put out a new newsletter.You can read it online here. It has info about some of my new button designs, upcoming travel plans, and discount codes for both my Etsy and Small World buttons shops. I believe there is still a day or two to purchase things and have them arrive in time for Giftmas.

Speaking of travel! I found super cheap tickets to LA and snagged a table at the LA Zine Fest! So, I’ll be in Southern California over Presidents weekend in February, just in time to get a reprieve from the damp and gloomy Portland winter. I’m hoping to have a new zine done by then. I’m inspired by 90s zines and hope to make a travel zines about my trip to the UK a few years ago. I’m not going to worry too much about pretty layout and am just going to put it all together after hammering it out on my typewriter. hooray for zines!

I also registered last night for a table at the Chicago Zine Fest. I had so much fun last year that I want to do it all again! I’m also organizing another ZOE (Zine Organizers Event) It is a physical space for zine event organizers to meet and share ideas and experiences about running zine events. We had one last year and it was really fun so I’m looking forward to doing it again.

And all this talk about Zine Events reminds me, we really really really need people to help us organize the Portland Zine Symposium. The last two organizing meetings have been pretty empty. A lot of the old organizers are burnt out and we need some new blood. We should be having an open meeting at the beginning of the year.