And some freaking awesome goodnews. Can I swear? I’m swearing. I got my hands on a sweet ass crazy awesome, zine maker’s dream come true copy machine! Jason and his two friends went down to the ISU surplus sale last week and found, I kid you not, a Canon ImageRunner 5000 (refurbished costs about $3k) for… drum roll please… $100. Seriously! Jason’s friends peer pressured him into getting it for me, then they worked all day cleaning it out (4 years in a ISU building will really mess up a copy machine), and then last Wednesday they presented it to me.

It was still jamming quite a bit and it’s future usefulness was shaky, but after a week of tinkering it’s working reliably, the print quality is great and the only thing wrong is that the finisher (staple, hole punch attachment – which I don’t really need corner stapling or hole punching anyway) is not working and the alignment is still 1/8″ off. Not too bad.

We have a service guy coming out to check it out and after that it should be all set to print off the November issue! I’m so excited about this. 

(you see that? “Ready to Copy” Hells Yeah!)

For the last two years I’ve just been going to the local copy center (in dekalb, now ames) to print Craft Leftovers Monthly and every month something is always wrong. No matter how much I make sure my document is set up right, things always happen. And the latest is that they changed all their copy machine margins so I can’t even print to 1/4″ on all sides.

Plus last month’s printing was so bad. The image quality just sucked, if you got it you know what I mean – the face of me as a kid was completely masked out, it looked creepy. I work so hard for each issue and most times I get people who care about the quality, but it’s still frustrating to be given “well, that’s just how it prints”. I mean, pretty much a “too bad, you can suck it, pay up”. 

I am delighted that I will have more creative control over the process. If it doesn’t come out right, I can fix it. I’ve been working with copy machines making zines and fliers since I was in 7th grade. I have some know how and skills. A lot of times it’s just a matter of printing it on a slightly different setting (like text/photo vs text only) to make it look great! I’m happy to Welcome in a  new era of 100% better print quality. 

And a last bit of shameless promotion: Today is the last day to get the zine+kit bundles for November. It’s a great kit for a set of 4 cloth napkins + the zine “just $10.95 + s&h; a $12.95 value! what a deal!” –think cheesy announcer voice. Seriously though, when you order them together, you get a discount on shipping and the price of the zine and kit. Get your’s today in the Etsy shop or the Artfire shop!

(Regularly scheduled post is getting delayed until Thursday for this awesome copy machine announcement + finishing up the November zine for printing)

Happy Crafting! And Printing!
Kristin

This month’s issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly is all about drawing, so when I saw this flashback to issue 6 of Craftzine I just had to link up. In fact, using this method is how I made the coloring pages in the zine!

I used watercolor pencils for the first time in about 10 years and had a bit of fun brushing the pigment around.

Here is what they write about the project:

“This week’s flashback feature comes from CRAFT Volume 06, the Play issue. “Color Your World” by Summer Block Kumar shows you how to make coloring books with your images in 7 easy steps. All you need is a computer (I know you have that one!), Adobe Photoshop software, digital photos of your choosing, a color printer, acid-free heavy-stock paper, a binding machine (or check out the plethora of binding DIYs online), and crayons or colored pencils. And besides the coolness factor, they make great souvenir gifts.”

Check it out in the digital edition, or get the back issue in the Maker’s Shed – it’s so worth it. Issue 6 was a really great issue. Heck, all the issues are really great issues – I fully endorse picking up the box set!

And of couse, make sure to check out this month’s issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly (on etsy) for more drawing related projects. And don’t forget back issues of clm are now available going back to Dec 2008 in the Kro Studio Shop!

It’s in the shop! Hooray! Go Check it Out!

Oh and on a side note, this is Issue #6! Holy Moly! I’ve been doing this for 6 months! I really can’t believe it. So there will be an extra special love note to all of you who have made this possible. Thanks!!!!!