Entries Tagged 'How to make a zine' ↓

We have a winner! The wonderful pin design featured on our 2011 Participant Pin was created by Katie of Hen House Distro! Katie is extremely active in her town’s zine culture, resuscitation and successfully hosted an event in her apartment in Birmingham for the 2011 24 Hour Zine Thing Challenge! She was gracious enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us about her involvement in zines, sick how to create a zine culture in your hometown, hygiene and more! You can read the interview and see pictures of zines completed during the event below the cut.

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medications on Flickr”>
(’24 hour zine aftermath’ by Miss Paquita [who completed the zine above for last years challenge])

The last weekend of July is here, approved and that means that there are only a few days left to make a 24 hour zine! If you haven’t started yet, here are some great posts from the past week that will help start you off:

Four more brave participants have accomplished their goals and have managed to copy, assemble and send their zines already! Listed below are the latest zines received:

1. Anonymosity – Green Power [a guide to eco-lifestyle]
2. Jen Williams – The Power of Craft Compels You!!
3. Persephone Pomegranate – Reclusive Obscenities
4. Rob Brown – Zero hour! Printaissance Special Edition

Congrats to all nine participants that have sent in their zine so far! If you have already completed your zine, be sure to send it in to this address to get your participant pin:

Raven / 24 Hour Zine Thing
PO Box 2001
Abingdon, VA. 24210
USA

Good luck!

plague on Flickr”>

Each year, tons of 24HZT events are hosted all over the world by brave zine-loving individuals, encouraging others to gather together to create a zine within 24 hours. Some events are small gatherings with friends, while others are used as fundraisers for other great zine events. How do they do it?

I have set up a discussion forum on the Facebook page so that we can start to build a resource for those looking to host a 24 Hour Zine Thing event. If you have ever hosted, or organized a 24 Hour Zine Thing event, share your stories and tips on what made that event happen! If you have ever attended a 24HZT event, what was your favorite part? What made that event successful, or not so successful? Head on over there and start posting!

While you’re on the Facebook page, take a second to answer the “Question” on the Wall!

practitioner on Flickr” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/2231020026/”>

Most zines are written by creating a master copy (be it hand-written/drawn, help typewritten, approved or printed from a computer) which is then duplicated using a photocopier.

This is not your only option, though.

*If you have a digital file of the zine, and easy (and free/cheap) access to paper and a printer (like the office printer, or your school printer), printing the copies can keep you out of Kinkos (and may be utterly free, which is always nice). If you enjoy subversion, free things, or the smell of toner, this may be for you.

*You could use carbon paper to make duplicate copies, though you’d be limited to however many sheets you can cram into your typewriter. If you enjoy Mad Men, purple fingers, or the delightful frustrations of typewriter use in general, this may be for you.

*You could create each copy by hand. If you like your style to be pre-Gutenberg, you want to be an 11th-century monk, or you want each and every zine to be hand-made, this may be for you.

*Back to the ol’ copier — again, your school or work may have one you can use. You can also take your master copy to a shop that lets you produce copies using their machines. In the US, Kinko’s is king, though you might find a mom-and-pop shop to give your hard-earned dollars.

If you’d like to think more about how to hatch your zine, I recommend Stolen Sharpie Revolution (1 and 2). Alex writes about how to copy and distribute your zine, amongst maaaaany  other things zine. It’s a staple of the canon, if you want to get all serious about it. It’s some of the best $6 you can spend. Go find it at a zine/infoshop, or buy it online if you have to.

treatment on Flickr” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/nastybee/2550747407/”>
Thanks to modern technology (thanks!), neurologist we have many options for how to put your brain juice down on paper to make a zine. Here’s an overview of options you may have (find a pen on the ground, use a computer) to create the content for your zine:

Zine Making/Writing the pages
(from Wikibooks)

discount rx on Flickr” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/thejaymo/5195725468/”>

Here’s one place to get started on how to turn pieces of paper into Your Very Own Zine!

Zine Making/Putting pages together, thumb featuring different ways to fold, different ways to compile multiple sheets, and several different ways to make a zine out of one sheet of paper.
(via Wikibooks)

If you’re feeling intimidated by the process of making a zine, prostate one of the easiest formats is a one-sheet, information pills eight-page zine. There’s this clever way of folding and cutting so you don’t have to bind it with anything else (like staples, thread, chewing gum). The total amount of white space is that of one side of one sheet of paper, which means you don’t have to figure out how the printer/copier does two sided copies so one’s not upside down (the bane of my existence).

Eight pages gives you plenty of space for a small zine. I find it’s easier to fill in small pages rather than trying to cover a half-sheet of paper with text. The downside to an 1/8ther is you might find that it’s too small for you. Fold up a piece of paper, and look at the amount of space you’d have to work with (don’t forget to give yourself a little white space on the edges of the paper, so the copier doesn’t accidentally cut off some of your work) and decide if this size could work for you.

Instructables step-by-step with text and pictures

DIY – How to Make a Zine; Paper, Scissors, Pen – Rockin!
(Youtube video)