Blog from a Cafe Counter

Good news!

To commemorate the two week hurdle of the campaign, I am revealing a push goal!

Introducing......Scenes from a Cafe Counter --  Cup Coasters!

Yes! These cork coasters can rest snugly under your hot OR cold drink at your very own coffee counter!

If we push $100 past the initial goal, each $10 perk will receive a coaster with their physical copy and each $25 perk or higher will receive a set of 4 coasters with their deluxe order!

The coasters will of course be hand-stamped with the Scenes From a Cafe Counter logo in waterproof ink, so neither spills nor a sweaty cold beverage will destroy it.

SO!

The proof just arrived today and I have fitted it for the very first sleeve! Isn’t it wonderful?! Making a few adjustments to the inside of the book before approving for print and then we are a go. The books will be premiering at Maine Comic Arts Festival in Portland this June. It’s an adorable show that has always been very good to us, and we absolutely love the town.

Don’t forget that you can still contribute to helping fund the printing on Indiegogo, here!

If you help fund it and show up to MECAF you can even grab your copy from me personally!

Hey cafe peeps!

Work on the book is progressing and believe me there is some super amazing stuff in this little collection. I am very excited! As you can see I’ve changed the icon because this image is the logo for the book.

I am having very nifty rubber stamp made which will be used for each one of the corrugated book sleeves of each book! Just like a real cafe stamp!

This adorable logo was designed by a pal who wanted to do something for the book, a talented stained glass artist among other things! You can find hints of her design work, here. It evolved from idea of the Starbucks mermaid with a cat body, and well, here we have a cat breaking free from a doughnut. Anyhow it’s great!

Call for Submissions #2!

From the time I was old enough to make a legal paycheck, I worked behind one counter or another. As I near the possibility of leaving the life of customer service behind, I must say the memories of working in a café bring up warm feelings and unbelievable anecdotes. Because I just can’t let those memories fade into the ether but I also know I am not alone with those feelings, I thought of Scenes from a Café Counter.

So here’s my call to you.

Scenes from a Café Counter is intended to be a Zine of illustrations, prose, comics, art, or anything we can fit into the book. My intention is to highlight our stories and experiences through self-expression. Pour yourself a cup of Joe and tell us your stories in however you see fit. I really want this Zine to be as full as possible.

Those of us who have worked in cafés know that it’s often a thankless, low tip accruing, yet amazingly beautiful experience. Those who haven’t may have at one time dreamt about working the steamer or coming home with the aroma of dark roast beans steeped into your clothes. With every horror story, we seem to have a jolt of positivity brewing.

Each contributor will get a handful of copies of the Zine that they can share with friends or do whatever they want with. Depending on just how much interest there is for the Zine I will consider crowd funding which will mean contributor compensation of some kind. (Don’t worry; you will get some copies as well!)

If you are interested please contact me via email ([email protected]). As of right now, I am setting a deadline of March 21st to submit your piece.

Since this is the second call for submissions I wanted to set a firm but manageable deadline because I want this book to get underway with all of your amazing work! The purpose of this second call is to make the book bigger since I will be using Indiegogo to fund the printing. That way contributors have the potential of getting even more copies for themselves.

Email me with questions or please refer to an older post with a Q&A here:

http://cafezine.tumblr.com/post/128814351213/panelbomber-scenes-from-a-cafe-counter-i

Things have been zany-crazy, but rest assured I have not forgotten! With fall shows and other projects behind us, we can begin the next stage of this thing! I've received a few works from some of you and it's all looking super excellent. I will email y'all individually to thank you and ask some questions if need be. You are all wonderful creators and I'm very thankful you took an interest in this little project. Those that haven't submitted anything yet, please do not worry too much. I am extending the deadline till January 15th so that a few extra interested parties have some time to cook something up. The ultimate plan for this project is to do an Indiegogo for printing. Depending on how large the books end up being it would be some really nice saddle-back books or a very modest perfect bound run. As I figure out the logistics of such a thing I will keep you all posted. The estimated drop date for this project is somewhere around April or May of this spring to make a nice book. I will accept some submissions past the January 15th deadline but I would appreciate it if you could shoot me an email to discuss this so I can properly lay out the book and ready it for the campaign and printing. Anyhow, that's all for now, time to make a cup of coffee and do some work. Feel free to submit your progresses or anything related to the theme to the blog.

Cheers,