evilsupplyco

[evilsupplyco]

KNIGHT: This a paladin character, a knight character, someone so devoted to their monarch, orders are holy script. This is not to say they do not guide, they do not offer opinions, they do not have their own thoughts.

It is to say their existence begins at the handle and ends at the point of the sword that is their King/Queen/Monarch's command.

or

MONARCH: Either pampered but trained in secret, or a warrior in their own right, but shielded from the front lines by their protector. Whom has just fallen.

And it is time to untie the leash of royal rage, authority, wealth, and the single-minded mission to convert the entire realm's resources into avenging this fallen soldier.

"both" is explicitly not an option provided naturally to the course of this question

[evilsupplyco]

I love you web comics. I love you graphic novels. I love you one that started and then shifted to the other. I love you zines. I love you things that blend and defy basic conventions.

I love you comics crafted in physical media, in digital media, in both.

I love you high concept, lowbrow, experimental that works, experimental that fails.

I love you comics that elevate art, I love you comics that eschew the argument if comics are art. I don’t actually enjoy this argument but I do love when declarations of “I AM” or “I DONT CARE” are made.

I love you comics.

I love not really following any comic in particular and just reading everything and anything.

I love you comics.

[evilsupplyco]

You Marry a Mermaid

You marry a mermaid and the first month you spend on land, teaching her about citrus. Lemons. Limes. Grapefruits. But not grapes?

No, grapes are not citrus.

You love the way she says "grapefruit."

Grapes froot.

You marry a mermaid and the second month you spend under water, learning about coral, tides. How sound flows differently.

You marry a mermaid and you spend the third month on land teaching her about warm colors. Red, yellow. Pink. They exist underwater, of course, but they appear different here, this atmosphere (air) splitting the prism differently than that atmosphere (water).

You marry a mermaid and you spend the fourth month under water learning about heat. You have heat on land, of course, but here there are volcanoes, minuscule to what you think of as a volcano. She teaches you how to enjoy the liminal space between the scalding water and the icy ocean depths.

You marry a mermaid and you spend the fifth month on land teaching her about potatoes. She makes a delightful sound when she tries her first fried potato. The texture almost unbearably crispy. You spend three days on a boardwalk eating potatoes.

When she tries cheese...

...when she tries cheese... on potatoes...

The memory of that expression on her face is worth every jewel, every coin, ever to pass through your fingers, from birth to death.

You marry a mermaid and you spend the sixth month under water learning about the color blue. You think you know the color blue, you've seen the sky, you've seen birds.

You have seen art.

She cups your face with her webbed hands and stares at you with an intensity you did not realize could be experienced in mortal flesh and asks you to say Blue.

"Blooo."

She loves how you say the word, how your tongue

curls like a wave to craft the sound

like you were taught

on land

where speaking is so different

because your tongue is reacting to a throat full of air

not water filtered into something breathable

by magic that

you do not

understand.

You marry a mermaid.

You spend every other month on land, the opposing under water.

You live.

Happily beyond reason.

For years beyond memory.

You marry a mermaid.

"Blooo."

"Grapes fruit."

[evilsupplyco]

Incoming mail from the last few years. One of many piles.

I've been struggling to handle to many things in so many arenas, it is all finally coming together.

Incoming mail cheers my heart. Outbound mail in replies cheers it doubly so.

More soon. More everything soon.

[evilsupplyco]

With the various rumors and releases of Tumblr possibly changing how they do things... (gestures to the vague rumor mill)...

Zines.

I really think we as Folks Who Make Things and Folks Who Like Art Writing Poetry Music Comics Other Things need to explore zines. And I mean ZINES. Nothing glossy. Nothing fancy.

Very. Cheap. Zines.

I've been threatening mentioning I was going to create a guide on how I'm going to approach this -- and I'm going to -- but I am also realizing in the writing I Do Things Highfalutin because I am who I am + had a career in graphic design.

Let's talk about how you can make a zine very cheaply and very pretty.

STEP ONE: SUPPLIES

Very bright paper. I like "Astrobrights" because they are absurdly bright. Here is a link in a store I like. I buy a lot of paper and envelopes from them. You can generally find Astrobrights in big box office stores. It prints on laser printers and ink jet and photocopiers.

Very bright envelopes. What's that? Astrobrights has envelopes?! AM I SOLVING PROBLEMS let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Letter paper is 8.5" x 11" and is the most common size in the united states (overseas folk will have to use this advice with a grain o'sea salt and search yer own waters).

A9 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half.

A2 envelopes are a letter sheet folded in half, then folded in half.

#10 envelopes are your common long envelopes, letter paper folded in thirds.

Pick the size you like.

If you want to get big and fancy, Tabloid is 17" x 11" -- so double a letter sheet. This gets tricky to work with but is neat in sizing.

STEP TWO: ZINE CONTENT

Do you know how to use InDesign or similar program? Use that.

No? Use Google Docs or Word or whatever other program and ramble.

Want something special? Write out some or part with a sharpee or pen.

Mix and match both.

If you are feeling fancy, design it like a booklet -- mock up a sheet of blank paper as if it were a brochure. If not, just design it straight up and down like a letter. There are no zine laws.

STEP THREE: ZINE PRINTING

Print at home on your home printer.

Don't have a printer at home? Print it at work (don't get fired)

Can't? Your local library may be able to help.

You need 1 copy on white paper.

FedEx Office has photocopiers. Your local library may too. Or your job.

Print 1 copy of your zine on white paper and then photocopy the rest onto colorful paper (or white paper, it be yer zine seadog).

Or print everything on the color paper if you have access to free printing, that's fine too.

The photocopy setup is purely "printing tends to cost more than photocopying."

If you want to slash prices, print 2 per sheet and have FedEx office cut them for you, this will cost $1 - $5 depending on how many sheets you are dealing with. This is for when you're doing a LOT of zines at once.

Or use their manual paper cutter yourself for free.

STEP FOUR: ZINE STAPLING

"Long reach stapler" is what I recommend. There are a few varieties. They tend to be $20 - $30.

Or just use 1 sheet!

STEP FOUR: ZINE POSTAGE

A single first class stamp for 1-2 pages. If you get up to 3+, go to the post office and ask them to weigh a comp you have assembled.

This is a guideline.

It's a really good idea to check at least once how much your zine weighs just in general. Post offices have scales. And are pretty. And have stamps.

OKAY ENOUGH LUSTING FOR THE POST OFFICE FROM THE GHOTS POST OFFICE BLOG BACK TO WORK

STEP FIVE: ZINE MAILING

This is actually the most difficult part. Label printers exist with various costs -- if you're starting out? Go with printable labels.

Your office supply shop will have them and they'll have templates you can drop in the customer addresses.

Save yourself time by using this label as the thing that seals the envelope -- don't lick envelopes.

A key tenet to staying in business is constantly reviewing physical (and mental) labor and stressors and reducing them as much as possible.

Return address labels are intensely cheap in literally every online printer, google "return address labels." Make sure you have this because at least a few of your shipments will come back to you.

STEP SIX: ZINE PRICING

Okay here is where we get uncomfortable because we're talkin' coins.

Prices are based on above links. You can get whatever paper you want, so this is guidelines. All numbers rounded up.

Payment processing ($0.30) + $0.05 sheet + $0.15 envelope + $0.66 first class postage = $1.16 base cost

$1.16 + 2.9% of $1.16 payment processing = $1.20

Plus taxes. I'm not getting into tax figures YOU DO THAT (just say 30% for easy math, this is not saying "your taxes are 30% or that mine are" I am saying "I am going to factor 30% for this equation to complete this guide".)

I did not include the mailing label (it will be $0.01 - $0.05 depending on how fancy and how many you buy) because you have the option to just write things and also it fits into the rounding of the above.

If you use Patreon, include your fees. Probably replace the above processing fees with your patreon processing... fees? I don't use patreon I don't know how it works.

Retail option 01: $1.50 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.09 / net / zine.

Retail option 02: $2 - 1.20 = $0.80 gross - 30% = $0.56 / net / zine.

Retail option 03: $3 - 1.20 = $1.80 gross - 30% = $1.26 / net / zine.

Should it be $1.50? Should it be $3.00? MORE? LESS?! That is for you to decide. Base it on what your zine contains, how long it takes you to write/draw/etc. it and how you want your flow to be.

STEP SEVEN: ZINE FREQUENCY

When my shop launches, it'll have a zine once a month. We are going to offer a subscription option + a "I just want 1" option.

You can do a zine monthly, or every few months, or whatever.

Keep in mind that the purpose of doing this is to break the dependency on social media marketing.

KEEP IN MIND AS AN AUDIENCE MEMBER TO A CREATOR YOU LIKE THAT THEY ARE DOING THIS TO BREAK THEIR DEPENDENCY ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING.

If you have a lot of energy and an audience that comes to your shop a lot? Consider doing a zine monthly.

If you do not have a lot of energy and/or your audience is tapped for cash frequently? Considering doing 1 zine per season.

Consider 2 zines a year if that works better for you!

NO RULES ONLY JOY

Not sure? Experiment! Be upfront! "This is new. I'm figuring this out. Billionaires are tinkering with these things and we gotta figure something else out."

BONUS STEP: NETHERWORLDPOST.COM

so hi I'm atty and I'm your loud long rambler today

Netherworld Post Office used to be @evilsupplyco and now we are rebranding in prep of relaunching. Same person behind the rambles and comics, new name with a more focus (mail instead of mail + seemingly everything else in experiment)

if you enjoyed this ramble and/or like ghosts, monsters, witches, mermaids, and fun stories and projects focused on cozy Halloween, you may like us when we finish the rebranding and relaunching in autumn 2023.

email sign up (the zine will come when we are open)

WHETHER YOU JOIN MY LIST OR NOT

I really, really, really hope you consider doing a regular, or irregular, zine. Something outside of email, something outside of social media, something that connects I MADE A WEIRD THING and the people who say I LOVE THIS WEIRD THING YOU MADE.

The walls are closing in on free social media as a platform for people who make weird things to build audiences for free or very cheap.

And with that...

netherworldpost.com as one final hat pass

good luck folks

thanks for listenin' to the ol' ghost

[evilsupplyco]

Bob’s Burgers accurately showcases making a shop out of something you desperately love.

Bob, burgers and fries. Me, monsters and mail.

To succeed at anything, you have to roll a natural 20. Any other result sets you back. You can roll as many times as you have resources.

I took the day off and sat by the lake and ate chocolate and lemons and sandwiches and aside from one photo and music left behind all tech and notebooks and ideas.

I came back home.

I sat down.

I figured out business things that have been locked together for literally years.

It happened about as quickly as it took me to write this.

I accept that my life will never be linear or make sense or follow a guided path.

Thank you for being here and sharing the beautiful nonsense.

[evilsupplyco]

Bob’s Burgers accurately showcases making a shop out of something you desperately love.

Bob, burgers and fries. Me, monsters and mail.

To succeed at anything, you have to roll a natural 20. Any other result sets you back. You can roll as many times as you have resources.

I took the day off and sat by the lake and ate chocolate and lemons and sandwiches and aside from one photo and music left behind all tech and notebooks and ideas.

I came back home.

I sat down.

I figured out business things that have been locked together for literally years.

It happened about as quickly as it took me to write this.

I accept that my life will never be linear or make sense or follow a guided path.

Thank you for being here and sharing the beautiful nonsense.

[evilsupplyco]

Continuing to tackle my mail pile that has been gathering up for years. Thank you everyone whom has ever written in.

It’s taken up until this month to get everything in order, but the Post is slowly shaping up into how I have long envisioned it could be.

Time for coffee.

I hope you see the moon tonight, and if not tonight, soon.

[evilsupplyco]

Mermaid watching

[evilsupplyco]

Test, rest, build. Make art slowly. (And make more Halloween art)

[evilsupplyco]

Please feel free to add commentary to this post and/or tags.

[evilsupplyco]

The art resources you think you have

The art resources you actually have

Realizing your favorite movies, comics, etc. are not high budget so this production standard is purely external

#art #artist memes #writer memes #writing memes #art memes

[evilsupplyco]

Atty just wanted to let you know I got my package today and I love all the cards and the packaging (esp the tape!!) brought joy to my heart after a long day of work and travel. I can't wait to use the cards and I look forward to ordering more and more Friday the 13th mystery cards!! ok love u good night!!!

Cheers to you and enjoy!!

Sorry it took so long to get out. We learned an entire central library's worth of stuff on how to pack, get to the post office, etc. faster, so in time we'll get better and stronger.

I'm so happy that the parcel came on a day it seemed very needed! Ahh!

Me getting ready for the May update WAIT MAY IS LIKE A FEW DAYS FROM NOW?!

[evilsupplyco]

Another day another batch of orders another beginning of adventures. Good morning. May it be full of spooky whimsy

#snail mail #halloween mail #halloween greeting cards #halloween #fantasy greeting cards

[evilsupplyco]

(soft music plays, probably a piano cover of a popular violin-based song)

(a subjectively beautiful person with Giant Blue Hair arises into the frame and they have a large smile and a bit of sleep-deprived hues of body-wear under their gray-blue eyes and Eyebrows Arched in a permanent expression of joy, confusion, and bemusement)

hi i am called atticus

(their voice has the barest hint of lisp and though it is a bit too low and raspy to be heard clearly, it is quite understandable, this is magic, and/or, text-based audio narration)

and i've been studying online marketing in today's world and there are influencers who do this a lot

and i don't know if it's good or bad or not

i reserve space on the shelves

of

"i do not need to have an opinion on such things"

anyway

i have partnered with the moon to bring you a few seconds of what i hope is joy

maybe this works, i hope it reaches your heart, now or soon, and if not, i wish you a peaceful finding of whatever will work

here is a short list of things happening this night throughout the netherworld

an orchard of dryads is playing hide and seek with a forest full of ghosts, there are giggles and laughters and chuckles and howls, squeals even, as finders find and hiders run, they are all having delightful fun

(there are lanterns illuminating)

a trio of witches has a booth set up at the crossroads of Cross Roads Road with a table in front of them, they are reading fortunes and carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, offering advice and potions, it's a bit early in the mortal realms for jack-o-lanterns but this is the netherworld, there are plenty to be had

(join them?)

an elven sailor is lingering on the deck of his boat watching his sea nymph husband swim up, marveling on the aquatic gentleman's speed and power; the nymph is barreling to this ship-home, knowing dinner is prepared, his best friend is waiting, and most assuredly has picked up a bouquet of library books for them to share

(he has, six books, two magazines, and three cassette tapes)

a mountain dwarf is spending a quiet evening alone in the depths of the stones of Mountain Crumble Pass, frowning in delight and pride as he toils on the tooling of his newest work apron, he is hammering dies, laying in glyphs most ancient into the leather, prayers to the fires and metals, to protect his mighty arms during the long hours ahead

(the beauty of the pattern adds more layers of protection than anticipated)

cheers my fellows i hope you have enjoyed this quiet peak into this other world

hoping to complete the windows soon

so you'll be able to peak more often

until then

toodles

[evilsupplyco]

Years ago. Countless kisses ago.

The mermaid stared at the gentle purple paper with the deep sanguine ink written in looping script, a letter, mostly in Dryadic, a few sentences befriending the language of Mer, but not quite there, not quite yet. The window to learning is open, clearly, there is significant effort and edits, most adorably.

“She signs her first letter to me ‘Your Will-o-Wisp’?” the mermaid proclaimed to the moon and seas and all creation!

“How do I be normal about this tenderness?!” she cried aloud, her heart beating rapidly as she clutched this new treasure to her chest.

[evilsupplyco]