York Zine Fest
Hi! York Zine Fest’s summer market was later than usual this year, Saturday the 2nd of August. It was their 5 year anniversary celebration, meaning there was a party after until midnight! I stayed from set-up at 10.45ish, the start of Zine Fest at 12 midday, the end at 17.15, then hanging out helping set-down a little and chatting in the front bar with friends until 18.00! It was my 5th time tabling at the event (it’s a twice-yearly thing, one in summer and one in winter).
(a screencap from @bakebaby_’s IG story! nov-posture bad but happy & relaxed)
The venue is a 5 minute walk from my parents’ house, and every time I do the event it feels more safe! This time I was by myself behind the table for 4 out of the 5 hours and set up the table entirely by myself, which is one of the ‘scariest’ times (committing to not being able to super-speed escape). It helps so much that it’s always full of cute community vibes, and now I know a lot of the other people who are regularly tabling! There’s a disco ball in the centre of the room and banners and everyone’s all smiles and support to each other, which is due to how the organisers run it!
This one was also really good for me in terms of people liking my work! I made double-sided star keychains and had clay accessories, which I didn’t have for the winter 2024 Zine Fest. The one I linked to here is sold now! I also made a little portfolio sketchbook-style zine, a little folded scanned collage zine about psychiatry as a religion mirror (which I didn’t adequately finish enough in time to put on the table), new stickers and badges (some with holographic overlays! Big badges!), and updated Death Zine. I made, cut-out, printed, and stapled everything by myself - meaning I could make A4 zine versions as experiments (someone wanted to get the A4 updated Death Zine or Sketchbook, but said it wouldn’t fit in their bag, which is very fair and good to know - maybe I should bring A4 paper bags next time?). It was so cool seeing people who’ve visited my stall at previous zine fests - there are 2 in particular who had my badges from last year on their bags! Still blows my mind seeing things I made being out and about in the world.
Hearing Test doesn’t typically do very well at markets, but it does provoke some of the most emotive and connective conversations. I think that’s worth keeping a few on the table! In general I tried keeping less on the table this time, which I think worked well for the zines, but I still got feedback from a few people that my dishes of stickers and badges are a little unorganised and that it was easy to miss the dish of clay goods. That’s very fair; I’ve been looking at getting organised grid displays for my badges and stickers since early this year. The problem is that they’re mostly one-of-ones, and there’s a lot of designs. Maybe I should make more duplicates and less options? What do you think?
A big thank you again to Jade Blood and everyone else who helps make YZF what it is. It’s really special!
