Chicago Zine Fest - Update #1

I finally received my confirmation email from the coordinators of this years Chicago Zine Fest, and I am glad that I went ahead and started all my back catalogue printing throughout January.  Because I started early, I am happy to announce that ALL back catalogue material is printed, bound, and ready.  A few weeks ago, I found a perfect tablecloth for my display on ebay for only 99 cents; a Nebraska state flag that is exactly the dimensions of the allowed table space for the fest.  I don't know how many out of state participants will be at Chicago Zine Fest this year, but I thought it would be cool to proudly show where I am coming from.  I snapped a few pics of what I have done so far.  All I have left to do is tweak the Stranger Randy comic a bit more, and it will be ready for print.  Good thing I took care of everything else, because now I have nearly six weeks to complete the project.  Anyway, let's take a look at what I have done so far:

This is more or less how I will have my table set up.  All back printed material will have red covers.  The mix CD-Rs of local bands from last year are now combined into one cd and have an all new packaging!  The new Stranger Randy Comic will be up front and center.  On the lower right are a couple comics from my friend Courtney in Lincoln.  She does funny work.  

For every back printed zine, I designed a custom intro and outro page exclusive just for Chicago Zine Fest!  Each zine is hand numbered and has a custom back cover as well.  Most zines are limited to only 20, with Interviews having a printing of 40 respectively.  

The next series of photos are showing the newly redesigned packaging for the two mix CD-Rs I did last year.  I decided to go for a paper digipak styled design this time around. Everything is true to the Crucial Changes Printing Press way of doing things, with the same hand assembled process of previous projects.  This is limited to only 25, and once gone the project will be out of print. I think it turned out pretty good!

Here is the inside of the newly designed CD-R packaging.  I didn't want to invest a lot of time and money into an old project, so I kept everything inside to the most minimalist design elements possible.  However, I did design a new band listing sheet.  All CD-Rs are (cheesily) hand numbered this time.  Oof, I look pretty bad here

This is the back of the song listing card.  Lockjaw (RIP) were always a good local band to photograph, plus they have a couple songs on the CD-R so I used them for the design.

That is it for now.  I'll have another Zine Fest update as soon as the Stranger Randy comic is ready to show.  In other blog news, expect a super late wrap up of my favorite hardcore punk jams of 2011 with a tape and etc. review.  Also, expect an all encompassing winter scene report within a week or so.  There is quite a bit of happenings that have been going on around here, so expect a bigger than average write up.  Also expect a new photo update soon.  A lot of content is going to be thrown around quickly, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything.  And of course, THANK YOU for everyone who has remained loyal to Crucial Changes throughout the years.  Peace.