Alex Wrekk is a zinester. She’s responsible for Brainscan, an ongoing zine, and Stolen Sharpie Revolution, a how-to book about making zines, and she’s involved in the Portland Zine Symposium and the Independent Publishing Resource Center. Alex also sells customs buttons and craft roast coffee. She answered Dan Copulsky’s questions by email in May 2010.
How do you organize and schedule your work, life, and hobbies? Are there things you do every day? Deadlines you set for yourself?
The problem might be that I don’t schedule. I’m pretty bad at setting deadlines but I do set priorities. One of those priorities is other peoples’ money. If someone has already paid me for buttons/coffee/zines then they are at the top of the list to get done. I may get sidetracked by drinking coffee, reading facebook, or working in my garden, but at the end of the day that priority to do the job someone has paid their hard earned cash for is important. It’s sort of a weird intuitive thing of knowing just how long I can work in the yard and still get buttons made before the postal carrier shows to pick up the mail. As for as making zines and fun stuff, I sort of wait until The Muse strikes me upside the head. Often I see the cover and layout of a zine before the words.
When I’m home I usually wake up between 8 and 9:30am. I sit in bed with my laptop, my housemate’s cat that has claimed me for its own, and my partner, Paul, sound asleep next to me. I check my e-mails, make mental priorities of what needs to be done that day, and maybe answer a few of those e-mails. I’ll relist sold items in my Etsy shop, check facebook, and whatnot. Then I head downstairs to make some coffee and get something to eat, then start to pack orders or make buttons while watching TV on the internet. I usually quit working between 4 and 6. After that I might have a zine symposium organizing meeting to go to, Paul and I may walk or bike ride to the store to get food to make or craft beer to drink, or we may be brewing beer, I may work in the yard, or my wine steward friend may show up with a few bottles she insists we share in our ongoing vegan food and wine pairings.
How many zines do you read, and how do you find new ones and pick which you’re going to read?
I honestly don’t read as many zines and I used to. I have stacks of them in a basket by my bed and another in my office. When it comes down to it, I read my friends’ zines first.
I understand the value of putting something in print and the unique experience of holding paper between your fingers. But what’s the value of not also putting some version of that work online, where those ideas might reach people that the print version doesn’t?
I do put some things on the internet. I have a blog at alexwrekk.wordpress.com. The difference is the intention of the medium. If I want to share something with you in a print format with cut and paste layout I’ll put it in a zine. If I wanna tell a story about how my housemate’s cat tried to take on a raccoon and I care about the immediacy of the documentation then I’ll write it in my blog. If I wanna complain about personal stuff I’ll call my sister or my friends. The things that I put in zines belong in that format. That’s where they were intended to be and that where I’d like them to stay.
How useful do you think being involved in zines has been for drawing in customers for your custom buttons and roast coffee?
I don’t think most zine folks really think of doing a lot of promo for their zine with buttons, but a few have. I think the crossover is a lot smaller than you would imagine. Most of my custom button and magnet customers are people who found me through my Etsy shop and I do a lot of local custom button orders in Portland.
What are you working on now?
Well, I just rearranged and decluttered my office so that feels nice. I’m working on the Portland Zine Symposium a lot, we have meeting every other week. I’m also about to take a few days off around my birthday to head to our family cabin to work on my next zine. It’s about my trip and mini zine tour of the UK and France last year. I’m also planning an autumnal zine tour with five friends coming over from the UK. It will sort of be a cavalcade whimsy with stories of zines, food, and activism in the UK including my American experience last year. We are calling it Zines On Toast Tour!
Alex’s Etsy Store – brainscan.etsy.com
Alex’s Button Store – smallworldbuttons.com
Stolen Sharpie Revolution: stolensharpierevolution.com
Alex’s Blog – alexwrekk.wordpress.com
3 comments ↓
[...] 2) I did an e-mail interview with Dan Copulsky at Question Riot. It’s not too long, you can read it here. [...]
[...] 3) I did an e-mail interview with Dan Copulsky at Question Riot. It’s not too long, you can read it here. [...]
Every one understands that men’s life seems to be high priced, but we require money for different stuff and not every man gets big sums cash. Hence to get good credit loans and sba loan should be a right solution.
You must log in to post a comment.