From Dust till Dawn
002
Hey everyone! Thanks for all the nice feedback about this new format. Here’s November’s letter, just in time.
1. Proof of print
There are few greater joys in the life of a creative than to see your work made manifest—holding a printed copy in your hands for the first time.
It’s been a fairly long road since I first cobbled together the layout for Artefact’s beak zine format, but this week I got my hands on the final proofs for both zines. I set out Artefact first, back in March of this year, because the game was a ‘finished text’ so I could anchor the format around it. It then acted as a (helpful!) constraint when I was writing Bucket, as I knew the layout I was working towards.
I had some concerns about the visibility of the metallic gold on the lighter paper, but it works great in-person. It’s always a bit of a guess using digital methods to mock up what a risograph print will look like: the way the ink soaks into the paper, the way the light reflects off the print and the subtle quirks of alignment & clarity all combine to make it far less predictable than your typical CMYK print. I love it though—it is a joyously analogue medium to work with. Something about its imperfect nature makes it feel warm and authentic to me, like the soft crackle of a vinyl record.
Hopefully you can see the zines for yourself fairly soon!
2. Proof of life
We’ve been fully in a DIY/home renovation hole this month, a cascading series of jobs that started with new windows and a burst pipe and ended with half the house replastered & redecorated.
It feels like every moment of our scant free time has been spent cleaning dust, gluing architrave or rewiring lights of late, so we decided last weekend to get out into nature & enjoy the autumn. A cold day at Mottisfont was spent raking leaves and racing sticks down the river, and we reminded ourselves that sometimes, life can be fun.
3. Good Stuff
Every month, I’ll share a few choice links that have caught my eye.
This list of ‘pumpkin spice films’ is no doubt a ridiculous concept, but it is actually a really great selection of autumnal films to enjoy with a warm cider and something stodgy and sweet. Of course, due to our aforementioned DIY purgatory I haven’t watched any of them, but it’s a nice idea—even as all thoughts now turn towards Christmas…
I’ve been really enjoying flicking through A Profound Waste of Time this month. It’s probably no surprise that I’m a bit of a sucker for long-form writing and lavish production, and this magazine does not disappoint. The second issue has a great interview with Keita Takahashi, creator of amazing & weird games like the Katamari series.
Edible gifts are always a fun thing to plan, even if they don’t always make it to fruition. These two offerings from the Honey & Co duo look fantastic, and I very much doubt I’ll want to give them to anyone if we do get around to making them. Honey & Co is a Middle Eastern restaurant that opened down the road from my postgrad university in the year I was studying, and I went there whenever my budget would allow. If you’re in London, check it out!
Cheers for now!
Jack