Until now, I have printed, folded & bound all my zines at home, to order. I love the process of handmaking, from start to finish, however, the more orders I receive, the less time becomes available to develop new ideas and work on new projects, and depending on outside circumstances, it is sometimes easy to become overwhelmed by demand & unable to keep up (not a bad problem to have, but something of a vicious circle!). So I have been looking at ways to diminish my workload, and the most obvious solution was to relinquish control a little, and allow a printer to do some of the work for me.
I am very happy to have found a printer that can provide recycled and FSC (sustainable) papers printed with vegetable-based inks, and has very high environment-friendly standards in all business concerns. This was important to me, as I have always used recycled papers and really didn’t want to give that up.
So I have now done a couple of test print runs, and have decided that this is definitely the way forward for me. The printing & folding will be done externally, but I will continue to bind & add in all the usual extra elements by hand. I can’t afford to alter the process immediately for all of my zines, and I will continue to print from home, also; but one by one, over time, the changes will take effect. And already I can see the difference it will make to the time I have available for project-work. Yay for more time!
But it has been a bit of a learning curve. The first print run did not go quite to plan when I cleverly selected the wrong paper option for the first batch of DIY French Knitting zines printed… The paper used has a high quality shiny finish (but is still eco-friendly, as it is from a sustainable source) rather than the matt, more natural recycled look that I prefer. It’s just a matter of aesthetics & the content is exactly the same as other versions of this zine you see elsewhere in my Etsy store, so if you’ve had your eye on this zine previously but not yet taken the plunge, now is the time to bag yourself a bargain!
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