Etsy is always a good way to sell things, but I prefer fairs. I like the idea of personally representing my crafts at fairs and sales. I think it gives the consumer a connection with what they are buying that they wouldn’t get from some mass-produced piece of crap. And I like to meet the people who buy things from me. And the idea of having a book collecting dust in a boring chain store is exactly the kind of consumerist nightmare I’d like to avoid.
Chris Morin aka Chrix Morix
Random Facts About You?I only have nine and a half toes – chalk that one up to a childhood lawnmower accident!
Just out of high school I enrolled in Education – at the age of 19 I was teaching a grade 6 class. (I don’t teach anymore.)
As a music journalist, I get to interview my favourite musicians all the time - best job ever!
I once beat Super Mario Bros. 3 without dying.
What got you started crafting?
Growing up, I always admired zines and homemade books, especially coming from a pre-Internet era. But even before I knew what a zine was I would make my own comic books with friends, which we would trade amongst ourselves. I always found that personal drawing and writing was always more funny and touching than anything you could buy in a store.
Coming from a punk background where the effort put into a project often trumps the end result, I liked the idea of contributing to something where it didn’t seem to matter what you wanted to draw or what you wanted to write about – you just do it.
What is your source of inspiration?
I have a collection of 600+ records, which I constantly play at all hours in my home office. The music is largely DIY punk rock and inspires me to create on my own terms. And the aesthetics of the vinyl artwork itself is always a good place for visual inspiration.
What have you made recently?
My most recent endeavour is my novella, OHNO!THEROBOT – The First Five Years. This book is 84 pages, perfect bound, with silk-screened covers and hand-numbered out of a first edition of 44. This is essentially a collection of past zines and stories that I wrote over the course of the past five years. I had sort of forgotten about my early writing and was reading some reviews I had gotten in the past - apparently some people seemed to really like it. So it seemed like a good idea to do a collection-type book.
Making books is a fairly complicated, albeit fun process, and I enjoy all aspects of it, from setting up the layout on a computer to the binding and collating. Even sitting in a copy shop waiting on a dinosaur Xerox machine can be fun.
Where do you sell your crafts presently?
Etsy is always a good way to sell things, but I prefer fairs. I like the idea of personally representing my crafts at fairs and sales. I think it gives the consumer a connection with what they are buying that they wouldn’t get from some mass-produced piece of crap. And I like to meet the people who buy things from me. And the idea of having a book collecting dust in a boring chain store is exactly the kind of consumerist nightmare I’d like to avoid.
Why are handmade crafts important to you?
Handmade is usually the best way to go, especially in terms of art. I find that handmade crafts, whether they are books, prints or whatever, are almost always more eye-catching and satisfying than their mass-produced counterparts.
Find Me
LocationThe Dirty North
Email Address
Chris Morin aka Chrix Morix
Personal Website
http://chrixmorix.com
Store Website
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ohnotherobot
@chrixmorix