Tactile Zine 2.0

[CPTBadAss]

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.

Table of Contents
What is Tactile Zine 2.0?
Links
What happened to Tactile Zine 1.0?
Where can I buy a zine?
I'd like to provide feedback, how can I get in touch?
How can I support you besides buying the zines?
On Shipping
What's coming next?
Summer Tour 2023

Links
* Blog: https://tactilezine.xyz/posts
* Instagram: @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: @tactile_zine (RIP to the OG account @tactilezine)
* Discord: CBA88
* 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!

[CPTBadAss]

Reserved Post.

[CPTBadAss]

Reserved Post.

[LightningXI]

Let's go!! Zine 2.0!!

[kyuut]

exciting!

[hippiepete]

Came for the content, stayed for the print.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Halverson]

I heard there is a third meeting of the badass and the girlshark too

[CPTBadAss]

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.

[hippiepete]

Is there value in such recordings through a podcast esque style?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[funderburker]

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

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!

[CPTBadAss]

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!

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....

[CPTBadAss]

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....

[CPTBadAss]

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.

[Gajible]

Hype! 

[CPTBadAss]

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

[funderburker]

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!

[CPTBadAss]

Crossposted from my site because why not: https://tactilezine.xyz/2023/06/13/Summer23.html

Tactile Zine 2023 Summer Tour

• 6/17 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin x Milwaukee Mechanical Keyboard Meetup
• 7/8 - Glastonbury, Connecticut NEKB Meetup - Coffee & Keyboards
• 7/29 - NYC Mechanical Keyboard Meetup July 2023
• 9/9 - Providence, Rhode Island CannonKeys Meetup 2023
• x HoffmanMyster showcase

This summer, I'll be attending a bunch of keyboard meetups. I wanna try out lots of new to me keyboards, switches, and see new artisan keycaps. And of course, I want to meet ya'll. Please come find me. I will have zines and stickers. I'll update this post if I plan on attending more dates.

I've also decided that I want to preserve the original intent of Tactile Zine 1.0. These zines will not be reprinted in any public runs. However I learned that Joey Quinn, an old reader of 1.0, was bringing the zines to meetups to show people. I thought this would be a fun way to get more people to see 1.0. So I'm happy to announce that HoffmanMyster and Joey Quinn will be have the full run of 1.0 available to bring to meetups if they choose to. HoffmanMyster has said he'll be bringing the 1.0 zine run to the Milwaukee meetup so please check it out.

New Bustorblador Art!

Also wanted to show off some new stickers I'll have to giveaway at meetups and include with the zines. Booper was gracious enough to allow us to use their capz sculpt as inspirious. The incredible bustorblador turned that sculpt into this super fun mosher sticker. Thanks very much! Please check them out @bustorblador.

Where's Tactile Zine Volume 2.1?

Coming soon! I am working to have these done by 6/24 for reasons. Please look forward to that!

[wigol2506]

This is exciting, can't wait to get into this.

[EdgeOfInfinity]

zines in 2023! what a world 

[CPTBadAss]

Ok third and last interview done. I've figured out a due date for the project (6/25 is the goal, must be done by 6/29 for reasons). I will likely have this for sale first at the Glastonbury keyboard meetup then have an online sale. It's not limited edition or anything. I will likely just post them in batches to make my life easier.

Now to actually grind to getting the interviews edited, finish up my writing, and run some more test prints.

[CPTBadAss]

New date added to the Summer 2023 Tour. See you in New York City.

[loserisms]

Tactile Zine so lit

[CPTBadAss]

I finally finished the edits and got everything put into the zine layout. Just need to do a test print and get some things checked. I almost hit my goal date but will definitely hit my must be done by date of 6/29!

[CPTBadAss]

I said it'd be done by the 29th and it is. I got the OKs from the people I talked to. Formatting is done and tested. I printed A LOT of drafts which I'll share later. I'm done done. I just need to print off the actual for sale zines, without the draft on the cover, fold and staple em, and they'll be ready to sell. Easy.

First round of zines will be available at the 7/8 Glastonbury, CT meetup.

More

Crossposted from my site because why not: https://tactilezine.xyz/2023/06/13/Summer23.html

Show Image

Tactile Zine 2023 Summer Tour

• 6/17 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin x Milwaukee Mechanical Keyboard Meetup
• 7/8 - Glastonbury, Connecticut NEKB Meetup - Coffee & Keyboards
• 7/29 - NYC Mechanical Keyboard Meetup July 2023
• 9/9 - Providence, Rhode Island CannonKeys Meetup 2023
• x HoffmanMyster showcase

This summer, I'll be attending a bunch of keyboard meetups. I wanna try out lots of new to me keyboards, switches, and see new artisan keycaps. And of course, I want to meet ya'll. Please come find me. I will have zines and stickers. I'll update this post if I plan on attending more dates.

I've also decided that I want to preserve the original intent of Tactile Zine 1.0. These zines will not be reprinted in any public runs. However I learned that Joey Quinn, an old reader of 1.0, was bringing the zines to meetups to show people. I thought this would be a fun way to get more people to see 1.0. So I'm happy to announce that HoffmanMyster and Joey Quinn will be have the full run of 1.0 available to bring to meetups if they choose to. HoffmanMyster has said he'll be bringing the 1.0 zine run to the Milwaukee meetup so please check it out.

New Bustorblador Art!

Show Image

Also wanted to show off some new stickers I'll have to giveaway at meetups and include with the zines. Booper was gracious enough to allow us to use their capz sculpt as inspirious. The incredible bustorblador turned that sculpt into this super fun mosher sticker. Thanks very much! Please check them out @bustorblador.

Where's Tactile Zine Volume 2.1?

Coming soon! I am working to have these done by 6/24 for reasons. Please look forward to that!

Online sales to follow. This is not limited edition. I'm just printing them in batches so it's more manageable for myself. The zines and feelies will be $10 shipped worldwide. An official announcement to come soon on my site and crossposted here and on the IG @tactilezine.

[kyuut]

Show Image

I said it'd be done by the 29th and it is. I got the OKs from the people I talked to. Formatting is done and tested. I printed A LOT of drafts which I'll share later. I'm done done. I just need to print off the actual for sale zines, without the draft on the cover, fold and staple em, and they'll be ready to sell. Easy.

First round of zines will be available at the 7/8 Glastonbury, CT meetup.

Online sales to follow. This is not limited edition. I'm just printing them in batches so it's more manageable for myself. The zines and feelies will be $10 shipped worldwide. An official announcement to come soon on my site and crossposted here and on the IG @tactilezine.

so cool!

[LightningXI]

I'll get one at one of the meetup destinations!! Sick work

[pears]

Imagine how cool it would be if you could get access to an old school printing press to make these

[azhdar]

Can't wait to get new Tactile Zines

[katushkin]

Hello yes i'd like to provide some feedback

The zine is cool and CPTBadass is cool

ty

[Rhienfo]

Such a good idea, glad to see that it's being revived. More community stuff like this is always great and we should do more things like this. Will definitely buy it when they get released.

[OfTheWild]

Cant wait to get my hands on the next installment! I'll be driving by you in august headed up to maine...

[CPTBadAss]

Hello yes i'd like to provide some feedback

The zine is cool and CPTBadass is cool

ty

No U

Imagine how cool it would be if you could get access to an old school printing press to make these

I have thought a lot about that and have been trying to find a place that would accommodate me. I'm also thinking about giving risograph printing another go so I'd have another option for the zines. If you've got ideas, let me know

Cant wait to get my hands on the next installment! I'll be driving by you in august headed up to maine...

Message me on Discord or here and let's see if we can link up.

[CPTBadAss]

I'm too tired to crosspost fully but the zine is done and will be for sale first at the 7/8/23 Glastonbury CT meetup. Online sales to follow. I'll have the zines for sale at any meetup I'm at. And these aren't limited edition. I'll print them as long as there is interest. I'm just printing in batches so it's easier for me.

Check out the site post for more info.

[CPTBadAss]

Thanks to nahcttam for the pic

If we talked at the Glastonbury meetup or you bought a zine from me there, thanks very much. It was a good time. And now I really want an Amano or TGR board....

Ok so now I'm prepping for the online sale. The online storefront will be through BigCartel. I got the site mostly figured out. Just need to test out one or two more things with that.

For the logistics stuff: I got my thermal printer working.

The thermal printer has been a life saver.

I'm almost done printing and packing zines. I'm loosely aiming for the site and online sales to go up this weekend. No promises there. The zines will be $10 shipped worldwide via letter mail (USPS stamps).

Thanks everyone for your interest so far. More to come soon.

[Rhienfo]

Show Image

Thanks to nahcttam for the pic

If we talked at the Glastonbury meetup or you bought a zine from me there, thanks very much. It was a good time. And now I really want an Amano or TGR board....

Ok so now I'm prepping for the online sale. The online storefront will be through BigCartel. I got the site mostly figured out. Just need to test out one or two more things with that.

For the logistics stuff: I got my thermal printer working.

Show Image

The thermal printer has been a life saver.

I'm almost done printing and packing zines. I'm loosely aiming for the site and online sales to go up this weekend. No promises there. The zines will be $10 shipped worldwide via letter mail (USPS stamps).

Show Image

Show Image

Thanks everyone for your interest so far. More to come soon.

Do you have any estimates on shipping to Australia? I assume it wouldn't be too expensive but you never know with Australian shipping a lot of the time, I just want to know in advance if that's ok.

[FreeCopy]

This is awesome! So glad to see this is still moving.

[CPTBadAss]

Do you have any estimates on shipping to Australia? I assume it wouldn't be too expensive but you never know with Australian shipping a lot of the time, I just want to know in advance if that's ok.

Yup it's $1.50 USD. Check "On Shipping" section in this post for more info. When I said $10 USD shipped worldwide, I meant it. $10 including shipping.

[Rhienfo]

Yup it's $1.50 USD. Check "On Shipping" section in this post for more info. When I said $10 USD shipped worldwide, I meant it. $10 including shipping.

Awesome, will definitely pick one up then, thanks for clarifying that for me.

[CPTBadAss]

I am pleased to announce that the online sale will start on Saturday 7/15/23 at 12pm noon Eastern Time in the USA. I will have 15 zines to start because I ran out of stickers. Another 15 will be available as soon as I get more stickers in hopefully next week. And 10 will be available at the NYC meetup on 7/29.

Zines will be $10 USD including shipping anywhere worldwide.
Link to the zine and my storefront.

In order to keep the costs down, everything will be shipped as letter mail using USPS stamps. So there will be no tracking. If you want an estimate for shipping time, and live in the USA, (you can check this link (choose 060 in the dropdown). If you're international, please be patient. I have no idea how long it will take. Only that you *will* get it eventually. If you don't get it within a month, message me.

Please keep in mind that this isn't a small business but a passion project that I'm doing in my free time. I am selling in batches because it's easier for me that way. I'm literally folding and stapling every zine, hand packing it, and dropping it off at the post office. The zines won't be limited edition and I'll keep making them available in batches as long as there is interest. Quantities are always subject to change depending on if I get enough time to print and process more.

Links
* Storefront: https://tactilezine.bigcartel.com/
* Link to Volume 2.1 Post: https://tactilezine.xyz/2023/04/30/TactileZine2.html
* Main Website (for big updates and blog posts): https://tactilezine.xyz/
* Link to the Ko-Fi (if you feel like supporting me outside of buying zines): https://ko-fi.com/tactilezine

[CPTBadAss]

Sales up for the first back of Volume 2.1: https://tactilezine.bigcartel.com/product/vol2-1

If you buy it today, I'll ship it out today.

Edit: Sold out in 44 minutes. I'm pretty surprised. More zines coming next week when I get more stickers in. Thank you thank you thank you

[CPTBadAss]

I'm waiting on Stickermule to send me stickers. I'm hoping they actually get them to me by Friday so I can do another sale on Saturday. I have also found a new site to check out.

I also ran out of thank you notes so I'm making more on some new paper that I liked at the art supply store.



More updates when I have em.

[CPTBadAss]

Stickers came in! The sizes are different because I'm bad at ordering online and have been testing different vendors out. Also I finished the thank you notes last night.

Next sale coming on Saturday 7/22/23 at 12pm noon Eastern.

[CPTBadAss]

Round 2 up now: https://tactilezine.bigcartel.com/product/vol2-1

Sold out for now

[Captain Shwah]

What a nice mail day. Tactile 2.1 and a magnet from Booper



This is awesome, thanks for coming back cba!

[CPTBadAss]

Nice mail day! Thanks for sharing your haul!! Hope you pull some fun pokemon

[CPTBadAss]

I dropped off the R2 sale of Vol 2.1 just now. As a reminder there's no tracking.



Estimates on when you'll see your zines (this is based on last week's shipping and may not be 100% accurate):

USA

• Northeast - Tuesday
• Midwest - Thursday
• West Coast - Saturday

If you're international, I'm sorry it's going to take a while.


USPS thinks that the shipping will take this long


As always thank you so much for your patience and support.

[CPTBadAss]

Time for an update.

First off, the NYC meetup was really fun. If we talked, you checked out my boards, or flipped through my zine folder, thanks so much. Next meetup I'll be at is the Cannonkeys ones in September.

Very important pre-meetup meal

Hopefully most people have received their Vol 2.1 Zines by now. I know the one I sent to Australia arrived after about 2 weeks which is exciting! I've started planning for Volume 2.2 and reaching out to folks to see if they're available. I've also started to work on the photozines of the meetup. I shot a roll of Superia 800 35mm in NYC so I'm hopeful there's some usable shots. Fingers crossed.

Nikon FE

Also people seem to have really enjoyed the Pokémon cards I sent out with most of Volume 2.1. Unfortunately I only had 40 packs. So ensure I have enough going forward, my buddy helped to source a box of Magic cards. Specifically 4000ish bulk modern common cards. It turned out to be mostly blues but there were still plenty of cards. So I hope yall are excited for that.

Oh and I don't know much about Magic other than what I've been told and the 3 games I've played.

Organizing the box of cards

Next I'm hoping to get some more new sticker designs in as well as trying a new sticker printer out. More to come there.

Finally I'm starting work on switch and keyboard reviews. For the switch review it'll be a baseline going forward for what I'm looking at in switches. And for the keyboard reviews it'll be on Alice layout boards. Definitely gonna include the Tengu and Dolice. Possibly the Amano. I'm also borrowing a Merisi Ottantaquattro and hopefully an HHKB soon. The reviews will go up on the blog section of my website.

HHKB testing with my assistant


Merisi Ottantaquattro, TGR Dolice, Kingsaver


Tengu


Hmmm

As always, thanks for your interest and support o7.

[bisoromi]

Found out about this project after Volume 2.1 already shipped unfortunately, but really looking forward to the next volume!!

[CPTBadAss]

Found out about this project after Volume 2.1 already shipped unfortunately, but really looking forward to the next volume!!

I have some extras. It's not sold out! Contact me at one of these options and I'll get you sorted!

[CPTBadAss]

Hello I'm back with an update. The CannonKeys meetup is on Saturday and I'll be there tabling some zines. Vol 2.2 is finished and will be there. It's a little retrospective of the July 2023 meetups I've gone to so far as well as a crossword puzzle for fun.



I'll be there with Lamp who will have his Switch+ magazine up for pre order. All Tactile Zine sales at the Cannonkeys meetup with go to Girls Who Code to help Lamp hit their donation goals.



If you're not into zines and still want to spend a little money, I have some stickers that will be for sale which will also go towards Girls Who Code. The bustorblador mosher will be there. And I'll have these new loserism holographic stickers. Huge thank you to both loserism and bustorblador for your amazing art and agreeing to work with me. The stickers only for sale to benefit the charity. They will continue being free otherwise with a purchase of a zine.

Please come say hi at the Cannonkeys meetup and consider supporting a great cause!

Online sales for Vol 2.2 will come sometime in September or October.