Today marks the end of the first week of the 2010 24 Hour Zine Thing. Where is everyone with their zine making process? Tell us how you are doing in the comment section, cure along with any questions and tips for others working on their zine.
As a special treat to wrap up week one, here is an interview with Ainsley Yeager, the extremely talented artist who designed the 24 Hour Zine Thing Participant Pins, and a review of her 2007 24 Hour Zine Thing submission, “Desk Play”.
1. Why did you decide to participate in the 24 Hour Zine Thing challenge?
At the time I didn’t exactly have many zines done. I had just started getting into the community and zines in general and I saw the 24 hour zine thing as a way to both connect with other zinesters and start figuring out what kind of zines I wanted to make in the future.
2. What type of pre-planning, if any, did you do before starting on your 24 hour zine?
The only pre-planning I really did was learn how to do stab binding. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that my goal for it was to just make x amount of copies of a zine that was bound in a more unique way than saddle stitch (stapling).
3. How did you get your idea for the topic of your 24 hour zine?
I was starting to pack up to move out and I noticed that during the move I was really attached to most of the stuff on my desk. Some of the things had interesting stories, and others were just there. Plus, I always think it’s interesting to see what people put on their desk. i mean, you really are sacrificing working space for personal items.
4. How did you come to the decision to use the type of binding method and size that you chose?
I’ve always been somewhat interested by book binding. I was introduced to Japanese stab binding as something easy, fast and good for beginners. As for the size, well I picked quarter letter sized because it fit into my hand fairly well and it was easy enough to fit a fair amount of content into it.
5. Was completing the challenge harder than you expected?
Oh yes. I had a really difficult time getting to the 24 page minimum. It was a little easier coming up with pages considering that I just had to look around, find something and ask myself “is this interesting or is there a story there?”
6. What advice would you give to others who are attempting the 24 Hour Zine Thing challenge?
Keep at it. I know it’s pretty difficult to get something done start to finish, especially in one day. Even after you finish it, it’s easy to beat yourself up saying that you think it’s unpolished or that you felt too rushed to make anything good, but that’s the point of the challenge. It’s to see just how creative you can get with a time limit.
Name: Ainsley
City: washougal, WA
Zine Goal: All I know is that I want my zine to be stab bound and for
the paper to be 1/4 sized. Not sure on my topic but all I really want
to do is get the thing done.
“Desk Play†is a bit more text-heavy than Ainsley’s usual style, but still offers a great example of her creativity as an artist. Bound using Japanese stab binding, Ainsley’s zine is filled with handwritten stories about the objects that inhabit her desk, the center of mess making and artistic endeavors. Ainsley’s trademark drawing style is still featured in the zine, with an illustration of the object accompanying each story, allowing for this simple black and white zine to burst with personality.
You can find out more about Ainsley and see her artwork at her website.
Just as a reminder, all completed zines may be submitted to this address to receive a Participation Pin (designed by Ainsley!), and will be featured on the website to inspire others to create their own 24 hour zine!
Raven / 24HZT
PO Box 2001
Abingdon, VA 24210
USA
Good luck!
2 comments ↓
As soon as I heard about this I emailed a few people I know to tell them and I blogged about it. (I see one person who signed up I recognize. I am waving to her as I type this.)
Two of the people who received the email included my son and daughter. The former still lives at home but often works weekends. My daughter said she’d join me right away or at least soon enough for me to have already rejected a couple of great zine ideas because going into this with an idea is forbidden.
A few more ideas later and my son says he has the weekend off. Woohoo! I’m baking cupcakes today and making something simple we can eat–simple and light. We have plenty of coffee. They may bring along some snacks.
And one of my son’s friends may drop in as well as my other son and his wife. I guess it will be a sort of family affair.
So that is where we are. Today I make cupcakes, clean off the guest bed, and pick up books (for inspiration) from the library. Tomorrow at 10am (est) we shall officially begin.
This has been so exciting. A friend suggested it and somehow I knew that I would be able to do it. It was hard not to pre-plan, although I did check out paper sizes available at my local copier place. Last Friday when I found I WAS planning, I decided my 24 hours had begun. My goal was to finish. My motto was *you dont get perfect in a 24 hour zine.* I left all my cutting and folding marks visible, to help me with the assembly, and they are a nice part of the work. I mostly did things I knew how to do or had done before, but the little stick figures, from a graphic that appeared in a Google search, were new to me and I loved drawing them. Will use them again. After completing the original, I spent all of last Saturday making an edition of 19 more for friends. I sent most of them out on Tuesday and have been getting email and FB notes about how much they are enjoying them. So my first Zine has been a great experience. Thank you so much for doing this event.
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