I love a fresh pack of business cards, lately I’ve had two different lots done for me. Mini moo cards (I love how much they’ve improved the custom options for the backs) for me & Vistaprint cheap-and-cheerfulness for tinybadges.

I’ll stop posting generic photos of Brighton when it stops being so damn pretty. I loved how especially blue the sea was looking Saturday afternoon.

A while ago Hannah, the lovely creator of Paperbrains asked me if she could print some of my Polaroids in her 3rd issue. I’ve just received my copy and I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s “a self-published, independent zine that prints art, photography and writing from all over the world”, it’s been beautifully put together and features some incredibly talented people.

If you’d like to buy a copy, or would like to contribute to future issues, you can contact Hannah at paperbrains@googlemail.com

You can also find Paperbrains here: Etsy ♥ Facebook ♥ Tumblr ♥ Twitter

Here’s what the first half of my summer has looked like. It’s involved a lot of travelling outside the borders of Brighton, beaches, cycling, painting, eating ice cream and in pubs (the only safe bet to go with a dog).

Hastings:

Brighton (paddle round the pier festival):

(Owl & the Pussycat <3)

(giant plastic-bag swan)

Seaford:

Beachy Head:

Other stuff:

My dad bought me a Polaroid Pogo Two recently. Polaroid have been trying to push this as a digital version of their instant cameras since they ceased production of film, when really it’s a digital camera with a built in sticker printer, and there’s more to instant film than just the idea that you can hold the print in your hand straight away. So even though it’ll never be any kind of replacement (& I’d much prefer the production of some fully functional film for my SX-70), it’s fun in it’s own right for completely different purposes. I’ve been using it to quickly illustrate things in my diary & I’ve got some plans to do a bit of sticky public art.

Pros:

• Easy to use.
• There’s plenty of pre-set modes for different situations to help your photos come out a bit better.
• Some fun (even if a bit cheesy) settings, like colour tints and borders.
• It’s fairly small and light (285g).
• The prints are pretty cheap, if you buy the largest packs available (90) they work out at less than 15p each.
• You can use it to print out any digital image taken with any camera as long as you transfer it over to the camera and rename the file so it recognises it – the one of the dachshund in the above was done this way.
• It can double as a web-cam.

Cons:

• The internal memory is rather small, I find it fills up after about 4 photos, but it does take SD cards.
• Because there’s no viewfinder, only the screen to guide you when taking photos, it’s hard to see what you’re doing in harsh sunlight.
• The camera isn’t great quality (it reminds me of the first digital one I had – about 8 years ago), but it doesn’t really need to be for the size and purpose of the prints – you just won’t want to use it for anything you want to upload online or print larger. I’m not really used to not being able to have any control over things like focussing any more either so I have to make myself let go a little when using this.
• I’m uncertain as to how long the prints will last without fading – I couldn’t find any real numbers on this just some speculative ones that weren’t exactly high.

ps. Was this interesting to anyone? Should I write more things like this or just keep posting pictures?

Here’s a bunch more zines I’ve liked lately.

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Today a copy of Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities was brought to me by Mr postman. It’s a visual reference guide with 1500+ 19th century engravings. The book itself is beautiful – as well as the contents. If you like vintage illustrations and imagery this is a must.

I know my posting has been a bit sparse of late. I’ve been busy preparing stock for the shop/fairs and hunting for a part-time second job. Here’s a few little things I’ve been meaning to update with:

♥ I’m now using Tumblr. Let me know if you have one too!

♥ I’ve also made a formspring account if you’d like to ask me anything.

♥ Dilys Treacle did a great write up of the fair I did in Sheffield a couple of months ago, Hello Amber and 365 zines have both reviewed one of my zines each, and Hello Bee and The Brighton Collective have written a bit about my work (ps. thank you).

Last week I was in the north-east and we took a drive out onto the moors, stopping off in a village cafe for some scones.

The winners for my giveaway have been picked! Apologies for the slight wait, I didn’t have chance to post before I went away for a week. The three winners should e-mail me at vickeh (!at) gmail (dot) com with your address, and your prize will be sent out asap. To everyone else who entered, I’m working out a way to say thank you at the moment that I’m sure I’ll post about soon.

Third place:

Second place:

Annnnd first place: