Alice's Wonderland page by page

No question about it - for MWP, our eight-page mini-zine Alice's Wonderland was the runaway success of last Sunday's Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair. For those who were unable to join us, here it is. The zine is dedicated to Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, who are directly responsible for bringing Alice into our lives. (See Blog Post Thursday, February 8, or click HERE).

Alice's Wonderland is a signed, limited edition of 100 and retails for $4.00.

FOTP2018 #3: Alice's Wonderland

I have to admit that the third of three zines set to debut at next Sunday's Festival of the Photocopier is the one that's closest to my heart. Followers of my Art Blog will be aware that late last year my partner Shane Jones and I adopted a rescue kitten.

We're forever indebted to our friends and fellow zinesters Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison (who have a furry household of their own, and regularly foster cats for the RSPCA) for rescuing the kitten now known as Alice, her brother and their father from a tightly taped box with no air holes and taking them to the Lost Cat's Home.

The rest of the little family were adopted fairly soon, but it seemed that nobody wanted Alice. Gracia helpfully posted a photo of the orphan on social media, and I found I couldn't get that little face with its wide, inquisitive eyes and glorious Groucho Marx moustache out of my head. Minutes after meeting her for the first time, we recognised her zest for life and a gift for comedy to equal the great Groucho's.

Despite a rocky start in life, Alice finds everything in her world simply wonderful. And so a humble duster becomes a much-loved toy (a far more durable one than her more conventional toys) and a weather-beaten set of wind chimes a musical punching bag.

Alice's Wonderland will be documented more fully in a future post. But there's no need to wait until then. If you're in Melbourne this coming Sunday, 11 February, join the throng at Melbourne Town Hall for the annual Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair and grab yourself a copy. The fair runs between midday and 5 pm. 

FOTP2018 Stowaway

Alice’s plans to join us for this afternoon’s Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair at Melbourne Town Hall are about to be thwarted. She’ll be there in spirit, however, in her very first zine, Alice’s Wonderland (made with a little help from me). 

I’ll be at the Moth Woman Press stall from 12 - 5 pm with that and other MWP publications, feeling mighty thankful that the heatwave has ended. If you're in the area, do drop by and say hello.

ALICE - a new zine

Recently I was rummaging around in a second-hand market in Smythesdale, a small town several kilometres from our Ballarat home, and came across a vintage poetry book intended for very young readers. It was somewhat the worse for wear, but the simple illustrations scattered through it were enchanting and, as if by magic, the little book initially opened onto a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) titled Alice.

As visitors to Moth Woman Press may be aware, this just happens to be the name of our much-loved cat, already the subject of an earlier MWP zine, Alice's Wonderland ( 2018). Although Rossetti's poem was written two centuries ago, it captures our 'Merry little Alice' with uncanny accuracy.

After tending the princessly sum of 50 cents to the proprietor, the book was mine. 

I'm constantly photographing Alice, and among the images I've accumulated lately, found several that matched Rossetti's verse surprisingly well (aside from the reference to lambkins). Despite resolving to place all zine-making on temporary hold in order to concentrate on a major painting project, I couldn’t resist the temptation to combine Rossetti’s prophetic, endearingly daggy words with my photos in the cut and folded mini-zine previewed here.

The zine is a limited edition of 60. It is available for purchase at the delightful Playing in the Attic in Ballarat for $4.00. Further details, including individual page views, will feature in our next post.