So lately I've been toying with the idea of writing (creating? making? developing?) a zine. A zine is a little sort of self-published book. It can be as small as 1 folded up piece of paper (a mini-zine) to a multi-page bound book. I'm just beginning to learn about them so I'm absolutely no expert. I jumped on We Make Zines, a Ning site for Zine enthusiasts, and bought Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2, a classic zine how-to. I think I'm getting the hang of it but I'm not sure what I want to say in a zine just yet. I've yet to put Sharpie to paper.
Just as an experiment, I sent a mini-zine template out to a friend to ask if she'd collobozine with me. We'll see how that works out. Eventually it'll have gone through 4 hands so I'm curious as to how it'll turn out. But that's the fun, right? That's collaborative art the way it's supposed to be done. I think.
I've been considering doing a zine on one (or all, eventually) of the following:
· a recipe one of Indian-style/Ayurvedic cooking
· a recipe one of cooking for one
· my own mixed heritage (and how "being American" isn't culturally significant enough to me)
· taking refuge in the Three Jewels (that'd be a Buddhist one)
· living with generalized anxiety disorder (maybe done in a humorous way?)
· modern correspondence etiquette (maybe done in a humorous way?)
I'm not really an expert in any of these but I don't think you have to be some kind of academic in order to write a zine about something. It's an art thing. And I guess mine would be a "perzine" (personal zine) because it'd be written from a personal point of view and not necessarily be some kind of manifesto or something.
I’ve read some zines thanks to the generosity of my friend Paige (she sent me a ton!) and from ones I purchased on Etsy. I tend to like simple, line-drawn ones with cutesy images and “storylines.” I got one from Thimblewinder on Etsy that’s about a Parcel Ghost… the ghost of a fellow who used to work at the post office. Too cute! And Alex W. of Portland Button Works sent along a couple from her Brainscan series because I was the 4000th order for her shop.
So that's where we're starting from. Do you know anything about zines? Enlighten me!
3 comments:
Zines sprang up in the pre-Internet days as a way of communicating ideas, images, and short-fiction (lots of fan fiction, back in the day) that wouldn't quite fly in the mainstream magazines. The word 'zine' comes from magazine, so I don't really think of them as books, more like pamphlets.
Blogs are probably one of the biggest competitors to zines, these days, since it's much easier to put up a blog about something (basic content creation) compared to laying out the pages, getting them copied, and distributing them either in person or through the mail.
That said, zines still have an indie following and I've seen some very well-done ones that teach and entertain in a wonderful format. I prefer the ones that are how-to or otherwise educational--though you're right, you certainly don't have to be a professor to write a zine--since they will take up physical space. The more transient information I leave to the blogs and the ubiquitous Google search.
Oh zines hold such a special place in my heart! I have only made zines for swap-bot swaps - the idea of making my own to give out to anyone kind of terrifies me. Zines pretty much got me into sending mail and mail art though.
My ex, his friend & I all collaborated on an art/collage zine but it is kind of offensive so I don't send it out, haha.
All of your ideas sound great for zines!
I don't know a thing about zines other than what I've read lately but I'll follow your zine-ish posts with enthusiasm and much curiosity! :)
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