#but i have a lot of printer ink

[the-kipsabian]

anyways before i sleep i counted some numbers so here ko-fi has a travel goal now woo

basically this counts for the rest of my travel expenses (trains from home to the airport and back and travel in london), food, the most important activities outside the shows already paid for, and then theres a bit of an extra buffer on top to even it out and to make it as comfortable as possible

anything is appreciated, if youve ever enjoyed my work please consider at least sharing this, or buying a commission as i have the smallest ones open rn (at the time of opening this, to fully cover this with the commissions i would need to sell 135 of those. just putting it out there how cheap they are lol)

this is just the one fun thing im gonna have this year im fairly certain, and since the biggest payments are already made (plane tickets, hotel and both shows im going to are paid for) and im for sure making this trip anyways, this is just to ensure a safe rest of the travel and that i dont have to overly stress about funds and stuff while im out there

that is all. thank you 💜

#just editing this i dont wanna make a new post mmm #but yeah. just. trying to get this out there #i know 117 comms sounds like a lot but also i can bang these out pretty fast if needed and i have nothing but time so like. im gonna do it #if i have to. im not comfortable enough to open the rest and i dont have printer ink to get stickers done (plus i dont really like them...) #anyways. heres a thing. i need coffee my head hurts #night is an absolute mess on main

[birdmenmanga]

WE'RE SO BACK

#just thinking thoughts... #I'm not that hyped though to be honest. i don't think i ever truly got good at dip pen so. whatever. #at least i got white ink. should be alright #i also got paper in case the stuff I've been drawing on bleeds #which i have a feeling they will. #in my experience at least #thin us printer paper bled a lot #i might have to dry out my ink a bit of it's too thin #it's okay it's okay i have literal years of experience backing me up its going to be fine

[viveela]

She was my favorite villain as a kid I love her

#veedraws #wordgirl #word girl #fan art #wg fanart #lady redundant woman #beatrice bixby #lrw #well. she was before miss power had her debut episode oops! she’s still second thoooo #anyway I made her villain form super cymk and have a lot of printer details #very fun hehe #I like to think she looks really greasy in villain form that’s why her hair is thinner #and as she runs out of ink her skin goes back to her sickly malnourished original one #I also think she doesn’t care for her ‘human’ form and doesn’t take care of herself. she just wanna be a full on printer so bad

[dawnthefluffyduck]

day 29 - empty

#it's not the best in the world but apparently my printer has a paper scanner #which means goodbye horrid phone pictures #and hello weird red and green dots if you zoom in too much #ralsei #deltarune #ralsapril #i have a lot of catching up to do tomorrrow #but as of this afternoon #all drawings have been sketched #this isn't my best but i was eepy today and I can't erase ink

[sidereon-spaceace]

I don't know where on the internet to put my original fiction so instead I will be getting into bookbinding. anyone that asks gets a physical copy.

#ramblings #this is mostly a joke i know there are places you can put stuff out there #besides that i'm planning on having it all written out and finished before I start handing it out #but I feel like linking a friend to a one-thousand-plus-page googledoc might be a bit overwhelming idk #it IS fun to think about like. once I finish the story I go through and format it and print it out to make into a physical book #something I can flip through and set on my desk #that would be. a LOT of printer ink. will almost certainly be expensive #maybe if I finish within the next several years I can do it as a big 30th birthday present to myself

[isfjmel-phleg]

Good news: They fixed my hot water!

#random personal stuff #the only good news today #I went in to work for what was intended to be only a little while #and proceeded to dramatically jam my label printer like an idiot and now it doesn't work anymore and I don't know what to do #someone stole a pen I use AGAIN #and when I turned on my regular printer it spat out LOTS of personal junk #belonging to a colleague who insists on using my printer (colored ink!) for pointless things #this has been going on for years and I have had it #but am powerless because you probably need a better reason to tell someone to quit using your printer #than 'it's wasteful and you don't need most of this stuff in color let alone printed at all' #and it seems to be somehow silently understood in this office that we just let this man do whatever he wants and I don't know why??? #...I need some lunch

[sunfloralchaos]

Will be debuting these class prints at ACME tho!

Still got to finish rogue,,,, but have done all of the others in this style

#my printer is going to be so happy once i stop abusing it #though the ink tank has lasted well #i have gotten #A LOT #of prints out of it

[ethereiling]

finally have a functioning printer after like. probably 3+ years at this point of mine being out of ink. so at last... i can print out my horror story ive been working on and chip away at editing/rewriting it at work

#avpswjy #its such a relief and it truly didnt take the time or money i feared it would #had to install the drivers but the ink wasnt bonkers expensive #and now i can work on writing stuff again! wow! #its also gonna be nice for if i have to like. print forms n such. bc i was using the library printer before #but tbh the main use is gonna be writing related #just gotta write more... #i technically could have been editing the story this whole time but i dont have a lot of time and my phone screen too small for editing #i need to see like. a couple of paragraphs at a time

[raidenloml]

just got a new printer (FOR FREE!!!M SOMEONE WAS GIVING IT AWAY YOOHOO YIPPIE) and its the hp envy110 and lord jesus christ this monster is testing me it did the wireless network test results fine but when i wanted to print some of my art in colour….

yeah uhm my beautiful daughter envy110 ate shadow the hedgehog sorry shadow the hedgehog community

#oh yeah i tried asking her very nicely to calibrate the ink cartridges or whatever and she said it failed! sad! #(hopefully i can get it fixed some other time but i do not have the energy for that today no sir #also i know that HP is in the BDS boycott so i wont be buying their ink cartridges since this printer already came with some #(and hopefully there will be some old ones laying around my house if i do end up using this printer a lot)

[daughterofsarenrae]

Sign of adulthood: just put printer ink on my xmas/birthday gift wishlist

#a real detachable sock drying clips moment for me. devastating #why is it $128.99........ #i DID put the lego batcave shadow box on my list as well. and like its 100% fine if i dont get it #but i need some kind of silliness to counterbalance *printer ink*. good lord #my mom is about to start hounding me for what i want and if all i have is printer ink ill never hear the end of it #i have to be able to tease my brother for only asking for erasers for school for xmas one year in high school #bel speaks #gift lists are hard. both for me but also for other people. kinda want to handmake stuff for a lot people this year #but idk WHAT to make and also its very late to have not started even thinking about projects. augh

[chubbswithhuggs]

Me, after failing to complete a simple project: what if I took on one that was in fact more elaborate and complicated?

#what if I made a text game about people watching in a coffee shop? after I failed to complete my zine? #I only have preemptively failed to create my zine because I don't have time to get printer ink or paint rn #but coding an imageless game is a lot easier than creating a mixed media zine in the process of getting materials for it #I already have everything I need for the game (my mind a notebook and a laptop and a book about coding html) #Jovi Talks

[whimsicalpdf]

saw this fancy thing on pinterest and at first was like ooh that looks fun! and then i realised it was just a fancy holepunch and my excitement immediately went down and it basically is a thing you can use to make holes for binding books? which is still cool + accessible for people who want to do it but don't know where to get equipment. but i was like hey man i wonder how expensive it is. and its a hundred and fifty dollars. so i think i'll just buy a book actually.

#chaos whispers #ive been doing this a lot recently stopping and squinting at fancy things and asking ok but WHY is it useful #my mum showed me this cute inkless printer and it Was cute! sleek and small and immediate printing #but we Have a printer. and yeah its cumbersome and big and heavy but it works and the ink doesn't fade #goals for 2024 r largely more mindfulness + being less reliant on corporations #i've made a huge list of websites i want to check out as alternatives to am*zon etc so here's hoping that is fruitful :)! #but im happy with myself that i can look at bigger pictures now. a couple years ago i would've been amazed by the thing on pinterest

[scyaxe]

there are not enough words in the english language to express my frustration with paper categorization

#lbs vs gsm #text vs cover vs book vs bond vs writing vs ledger vs offset #and then the poundage is different based off use! 70lb cover is thicker than 70lb text! #coated vs uncoated #matte vs lustre vs semigloss vs gloss #one sided vs two sided #inkjet vs laser #like i KNOW what i need #i need a 70-100lb double-sided gloss text paper that works for inkjet #but then when you go to any online shop they give you photo paper brochure paper or copy paper #sometimes theyll get more specific they'll tell you what finish the paper is #and then it seems like it's 50/50 whether they use lbs or gsm #and for some reason lbs seems more common for laser printer paper while gsm seems more common for inkjet paper #but its not 1000% guaranteed #like it shouldnt be this hard #and i know a lot of it is due to which type of printer you use like its a lot harder to make coated paper for an inkjet printer #due to the ink sitting on top and bleeding into the paper vs being like blasted on and bonded by lasers #and if i had a laser printer it would be a lot better for what i'm trying to make #but i unfortunately only have access to inkjets #but i do think i found some paper that will work i just have to hope its decent quality #plus i have to hope that it /is/ what i'm looking for

[helloidkwhatimdoing-0]

It suddenly got late and i have school tmrw so i gotta sleep gn gay people in my phone

#moss mumbles #im SO excited to watch the last 2 episode sof season 3 tomorrow #SO EXCITED #i have a lot of thoughts about mike especially. and a lot of it is probably just me regurgitating stuff ive already heard #but there's gotta be some new stuff in the brain soup somewhere #anyway tmrw I'll probably print out some of my art and stick it on my wall if the printer has ink #theres an empty space under my new posters and it needs to be filled #so both bits of mike fanart and my max sketches are going up there #which will be very fun #if it looks cool I'll post pictures but my printer is shitty so it will probably look bad

[krisp-xyz]

Was experimenting with halftone effects after watching this video and it almost has spiderverse vibes honestly. I actually learned some neat things about why printers use CMYK instead of just CMY so I thought I'd share !!

So in our optimal little computer space, Cyan (0,255,255), Magenta (255,0,255) and Yellow (255,255,0) all multiplied together gives us a perfect black (0,0,0) Awesome! The issue is that ink colors irl arent exactly perfect like this, and color is a bit more complicated irl compared to how computers represent it, so they aren't the greatest at combining into black if they aren't those perfect CMY values:

Left: CMY

Right: CMYK

(thats not even black, its a dark blue in the original image but dark colors just look so much richer)

An important step to make sure you arent doubling up on the black values though is to divide the image by it's own "value" (the max of all 3 color channels) that way the value is equal to 1 everywhere, and you're letting the black ink take care of the value on its own.

Left: CMY (normalized value)

Middle: K (black)

Right: Combined

Now obviously the grids of dots cant be aligned perfectly with each other because you'd just get a bunch of black dots in unwanted areas, but if the grids are misaligned, then some dots become more prominent than others which tints the whole image. This was an issue because older printing methods didn't have great accuracy and these grids were often misaligned.

The solution was to rotate these grids such that they can move around freely while getting rid of that tint effect if they aren't perfectly aligned :D

(I have no idea how they came up with these angles but that might be something to look into in the future who knows)

SPEAKING OF MISALIGNMENT

I wanted to implement that in my own filter to get some cool effects, and I discovered another reason CMYK is better than CMY for lots of stuff !!

With CMY, you're relying on the combination of 3 color channels to make the color black. This means if you have thin lines or just details in general, misalignment can make those details very fuzzy. Since CMYK uses a single color of ink to handle value, it reduces color fringing and improves clarity a lot even if you have the exact same misalignment as CMY!

Left: CMY

Right: You guessed it! CMYK

(yes these comparisons have the exact same color misalignment, the only difference is using a fourth ink color for black)

ANYWAY I just thought there was a lot of cool information in this tiny little day project, I also just think it looks really neat and wanted to share what I learned :3c

EDITING BECAUSE THERE'S ONE MORE THING I WANTED TO ADD

So, I talked about how to get K in addition to CMY instead of just CMY, but how exactly do you separate CMY from an image in the first place?

Well, CMY is a subtractive color space, meaning the "absence of color" is white, compared to RGB where it's black. This makes sense because ofc ink is printed on white paper. You can use dot product to get the "similarity" between two vectors, and this can be used to separate RGB actually! Using the dot product of a color and red (255,0,0) will give you just the red values of the image. This is cool though because if we get the dot product of our image and the color cyan (0,255,255), we can get the cyan values from our image too! If we first divide our colors by their value to separate the value from them, then separate CMY using those dot product values, and using K for our final black color value, our individual color passes end up looking like this:

While it's called a "subtractive" color space, I find it more intuitive to treat white as the absence of color here, and then multiply all these passes together. It makes it much easier to understand how the colors are combined imo. Notice how cyan is the opposite of red: (255,0,0) vs (0,255,255) and magenta and yellow are the opposites of green and blue respectively! This means you can actually kinda get away with separating the RGB values and just inverting some stuff to optimize this, but this example is much more intuitive and readable so I won't go too deep into that. THANKS FOR READING I know it's a very long post but I hope people find it interesting! I try my best to explain things in a clear and concise way :3

oh thank you I realized I should probably add an eyestrain tag

#halftone #shaders #long post #eyestrain

[netherworldpost]

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

#small business #small business marketing #small business fun #zines #zine #making zines