Author Topic: Tactile Zine 2.0  (Read 2143 times)

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Offline CPTBadAss

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Tactile Zine 2.0
« on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 14:20:54 »


Tactile Zine 2.0

What is Tactile Zine 2.0?
A physical zine covering the maker and creative culture around custom mechanical keyboards. And anything adjacent. You can expect interviews with community members, commentenary from me, and other related topics. I am also running a blog as well though so I may cross-post snippets of interviews and will be writing other things. This is a revival of my original zine project.

What's a zine? It's a physical, printed on paper, mini magazine that I am self publishing. And to keep the original vibe of the zine, this entire project is DIY. I taught myself how to self host the website. I made the stamps for the thank you notes. I write and edit everything myself. I'm going to try and work on as much art myself as I can. This is a passion project and as such, things can take some time.

That's not to say I don't want to work with others so if you have an idea, want to contribute, or provide some feedback, please let me know. I also want to hire some of the amazing artists I've seen in the community to provide art for the zines or stickers.




Links
* Blog: https://tactilezine.xyz/posts
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tactilezine
* geekhack forum: I post as CPTBadAss



What happened to Tactile Zine 1.0?
Nothing malicious happened. I lost interest and wanted to get into other things. Check out the original thread on the geekhack forums. I took a 6 year break and I'm interested in mechanical keyboards again so I'm back.



Where can I buy a zine?
Like Tactile Zine 1.0, the zine will be physical only. I cannot offer the zine for free like I did for 1.0 but I plan on keeping the zine as affordable as possible.

When they're available, I'll post an update on Instagram, the blog, and on the geekhack thread. They'll be available at https://tactilezine.bigcartel.com/. If there's nothing up or you can't access the site, there's nothing for sale at the moment. Check back whenever you see an announcement from me.



I'd like to provide feedback, how can I get in touch?
* Email: contact@tactilezine.xyz
* Instagram: @tactilezine
* Discord: CBA88#8728
* geekhack forum: Message CPTBadAss or comment in the Tactile Zine 2.0 thread



How can I support you besides buying the zines?
If you feel this way, I'm truly thankful. You can donate at https://ko-fi.com/tactilezine. Please don't feel obligated. Your donations will help with things such as stamps, stickers, envelopes, printing costs, and other supplies.



On Shipping
In an effort to keep this zine as affordable as possible, I will only ship zines via letter mail. Letter mail means it's mail where you put paper in an envelope and put a stamp on it like your parents/grandparents might have done.

USPS offers a choice of 2 stamps:

1) For US domestic shipping - USPS first-class forever stamps (link for more information including current pricing)
2) For US to all non-US international shipping - USPS global forever stamp (link for more information including current pricing])

Yes this means that you will be paying approximately $0.63 - $1.45 USD for shipping. This also means there is *no* tracking number. I will also be subject to any current service restrictions that USPS has.

I have shipped hundreds of zines when I was shipping Tactile Zine 1.0 and there were only a few lost zines. I am currently not willing to add any other shipment methods. Also as I said previously, I want to keep this as affordable as possible. Please keep this in mind when ordering.

If you do not receive your zine in a reasonable amount of time (~1 month), please contact me.



What's coming next?
Currently I'm working on editing the interviews I have for the next time. That will hopefully be on soonTM. I do also have an idea for a second zine as well so that will be worked on as soon as I am finished with the other.

I have been posting a few things on my blog and will continue doing so. I am interested in doing some new to me switch reviews (lol everything is new to me). I just made my first purchases on Switch Oddities and Keyleido.

I will be attending at least 2 meetups this summer (in Connecticut and the CannonKeys meetup). I have talked to a few people who have asked if I would reprint the 1.0 zines. My intent for those was to stay print only. However, I realize there's lots of new people who may have found the project later and wasn't able to read them. I will be bringing the 1.0 zines to the meetups so people can browse them. So I hope to see you at the meetups. I am hoping to attend more as well and will try to make the effort of bringing the 1.0 zines for people to check out. I also hope to have 2.0 zines and stickers for sale at any meetups I go to.

Please look forward to what's coming next!

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 14:21:08 »
Reserved Post.

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 14:21:16 »
Reserved Post.

Offline LightningXI

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 14:30:19 »
Let's go!! Zine 2.0!!


Offline kyuut

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 14:45:46 »
exciting! :cool:
My Collection ;D
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TGR Jane v2 CE | TGR x SINGAKBD Unikorn 2.2 | SINGAKBD Ocelot | SINGAKBD Kohaku R2 Prototype | HHKB Professional 2

Offline hippiepete

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 18:48:54 »
Came for the content, stayed for the print.


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Offline Halverson

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 30 April 2023, 18:48:56 »
I heard there is a third meeting of the badass and the girlshark too ;)

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 16 May 2023, 20:52:47 »
I heard there is a third meeting of the badass and the girlshark too ;)

Who are you?  ;)   :-*



Ok I've been horrible with updates so I'm gonna try and change that. Also there's been people interested and it's easier to post here then to individually update people.

First off I think I'll probably end up posting in process updates here mostly. I think the blog will be for when I have some more solid thoughts and this is going to be shorter stuff. Who knows though. I don't lol.

Stuff I've worked on or worked on recently:
  • I have finished interviewing 2 people
  • I have finished the zine draft file
  • I have finished editing graphics
  • I have a new sticker design all set to print
  • I have figured out what I'm doing for the next 2-4 zines after this first comeback one

Why aren't the zines printed and ready for sales yet:

So I got really excited to talk to a couple people. Instead of my old style of interviews, I wanted something interactive. For Tactile 1.0, I would come up with a bunch of questions and DM/email them to people. This was great but people were usually a bit short with their responses. So for this time around I wanted to get more interaction....and I selfishly just want to have an excuse to talk to these people. My interviews were at least an hour long and over voice chat in some cases. So I have to edit down hundreds of thousands of words because I got too excited lol. This is taking a bunch of time. I don't regret this choice but I'll have to adjust going forward for a better turnaround time.

Something cool I got to do was use OpenAI's Whisper system to transcribe the voice chats I had. It was shockingly good and was able to figure out words like "Enviro BS". Some links, if you're curious, can be found on Github and on the the OpenAI site.

I am really enjoying the process of making stuff again so even though editing is a grind, it's also been fun. I am pushing to have a draft print out by 5/26. But no promises. Just a goal I set in my head.

More updates to come soon...



Update later in the evening: I got motivated and finally finished editing the voicechat interview I did. I think it started out as a transcribed file that was about 30 pages in Word. Had a blast chatting with the person but there was no way I could possibly fit everything.
« Last Edit: Tue, 16 May 2023, 22:40:28 by CPTBadAss »

Offline hippiepete

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 17 May 2023, 04:48:23 »
Is there value in such recordings through a podcast esque style?


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Offline funderburker

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 17 May 2023, 05:30:53 »
Good god, it's happening! Started following TZ 2.0 on IG so I don't miss any releases! :thumb:

Part of what got me so hooked on this niche hobby was, well, the community! And after all these years, I don't hype about boards that much but about the interactions. DIY-ing, enjoying the journey towards the elusive "end game" and sharing it with others is what makes this hobby interesting to me!

So thank you CPT for making something for the soul!
Keyboard design by Skepur

My boards: TMO50 FE:06 | LAGOM Groda-T | TMOv2 R1 prototype | Onyx FRL TKL prototype | Stege TKL prototype | Ellipse prototype | Cyberstar

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 17 May 2023, 17:12:00 »
Is there value in such recordings through a podcast esque style?

I have thought about this but I don't think I want to get into this right now. Maybe in the future.

Good god, it's happening! Started following TZ 2.0 on IG so I don't miss any releases! :thumb:

Part of what got me so hooked on this niche hobby was, well, the community! And after all these years, I don't hype about boards that much but about the interactions. DIY-ing, enjoying the journey towards the elusive "end game" and sharing it with others is what makes this hobby interesting to me!

So thank you CPT for making something for the soul!

Thanks for the support! I better start posting on IG too lol....

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 17 May 2023, 21:53:43 »
Lmao. Woke up today and looked at the draft I edited last night. Decided I hated how it looked and changed it and did some more minor edits. I guess now this interview is finally done lol. On to the next one.



Later update: Both the interviews are edited now. I need a third one now....
« Last Edit: Wed, 17 May 2023, 22:51:10 by CPTBadAss »

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 18 May 2023, 20:52:59 »

I'm celebrating a milestone today as the first printed draft of Volume 2.1 is finished! We're inching ever closer to the return of my zine.


Also printed out some of the old zines to show at some meetups I'll be at this summer. If you're going to the Cannonkeys or NEKB July Connecticut meetups, come find me and the zines.

Offline Gajible

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #13 on: Thu, 18 May 2023, 23:00:43 »
Hype!  ;D

Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 25 May 2023, 20:28:48 »
Some updates:
  • I'm trying to line up a 3rd interview now.
  • I have figured out a way to have more people be able to see the Tactile 1.0 zines without compromising the original intent
  • I made a new sticker design that will probably come out in the future
  • I commissioned art and used that art to make new stickers. Those have been ordered and are coming soon
  • My edits for the first 2 interviews are mostly over. Still needs a bit more work and then I need to add some writing of my own

Offline funderburker

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Re: Tactile Zine 2.0
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 27 May 2023, 09:44:13 »
Some updates:
  • I'm trying to line up a 3rd interview now.
  • I have figured out a way to have more people be able to see the Tactile 1.0 zines without compromising the original intent
  • I made a new sticker design that will probably come out in the future
  • I commissioned art and used that art to make new stickers. Those have been ordered and are coming soon
  • My edits for the first 2 interviews are mostly over. Still needs a bit more work and then I need to add some writing of my own

It's very cool to read these updates and see your keenness on making Tactile! You're a beast, you got this! :thumb:
Keyboard design by Skepur

My boards: TMO50 FE:06 | LAGOM Groda-T | TMOv2 R1 prototype | Onyx FRL TKL prototype | Stege TKL prototype | Ellipse prototype | Cyberstar