JAN: A Resolute Zine

Launch gallery slideshow

Group:	Zines, mail art & other cool stuff
Swap Coordinator:	TangleCrafts (contact)
Swap categories:	Challenges Zines Handmade
Number of people in swap:	12
Location:	International
Type:	Type 3: Package or craft
Rating requirement:	4.90
Last day to signup/drop:	January 2, 2011
Date items must be sent by:	January 31, 2011
Number of swap partners:	3
Description:
Shown in picture: Re:me by @MistiKo ; Eyeball Kicks by @cranialbleeding ; A Handmade Life by @robinomayberry ; Craft Leftovers Monthly by Kristin Roach Swap description: A Resolute Zine Whether you have never written a full size zine before or whether you are an old-hand, this swap is here to nudge you into action! What is the zine you have been thinking about and meaning to write for ages? Make a New Year's Resolution to allow those ideas to spill forth out of your head and onto paper. No more excuses â€“ write that zine! Your zine can be any subject â€“ art zine, craft zine, perzine, lit zine, anything-else-random-in-between-zine â€“ share your stories, artwork, reviews, thoughts, anything else you can think of that could make up a zine. This is not a mini-zine swap! Your zine can be any size you like so long as it is made from at least 4 full sheets of paper (making a minimum of 16pp at half-size, 32pp at quarter-size etc). It may, of course, be longer! Swap requirements 3 partners = 3 zines sent & 3 zines received Zine can be any combination of words and images, handwritten or typed or word-processed, just artwork, or just text, as you prefer. Zine must be equivalent of 16pp half-size (/A5) pages. Binding, format, presentation are all up to you. This must be a newly written zine by you â€“ not something from your backlist or stash! Some potentially useful resources The Zine Wiki gives a good overview of how to get started with advice on page numbering, binding and folding suggestions etc If you can't get your head around the page numbering layout, the Booklet Creator is a very handy device that will do all the hard work for you! Tutorial 1 and Tutorial 2 (more comprehensive) from art zine maven Alma Stoller might help you to organise your thoughts. The obvious bit You already had to have a rating of 4.9+ with no recent no-sends, 1s or 3s to join this group, so the same stands for this swap. But I will still double-check before assigning partners, and nobody with late swaps on their dashboard will be allowed to join. If you have what you feel is an unfair comment or rating, do PM me & we can try to work it out. :-)

Discussion

FiWebster 10/20/2010 #

I have a very basic question about binding options, not covered by that Zine Wiki: if I make a half-size zine that is 4 sheets of paper thick, can I bind that with my sewing machine? I mean, is there any reason I can't just run one seam down the middle of those 4 pages, and voila, a zine? I was surprised they didn't mention this option.

TangleCrafts 10/28/2010 #

Hi melusina, sorry for delay in response. You can bind a zine absolutely any way you like. I have received machine-stitched zines from other swappers, and I usually hand-stitch my own. They can be staple-bound, or bound using any other unique manner of binding you can come up with, so long as it holds the pages together! Browsing a creative bookbinding book (such as those by Alisa Golden, but there are many other great ones!) can unleash all sorts of possibilities.

I'm not surprised that ZineWiki didn't suggest machine-stitching, though. We (on SB) are making zines on a craft site, so stitch binding is almost natural to a lot of us; but ZineWiki is just giving an overview to put the basics of zinemaking out there. I would guess that for the majority of zinesters (writing perzines, music zines, indie culture zines etc) the binding is entirely incidental to the content, and stapling is the most immediately accessible binding method to most people. That's my hypothesis, anyway. ;)

TangleCrafts 10/28/2010 #

I just checked, though, and Tutorial 1 by Alma stoller (linked above) does suggest machine stitching: "I fold and assemble it. Bind it either by machine stitching it, hand bind it with a strong thread, or staple it using my long arm stapler."

Apologies that Tutorial 2 is not currently working. It looks like Alma Stoller has just (in the last couple of days) switched to a new blog. Hopefully the zine tutorial will ultimately be added there, but at the moment, it hasn't travelled across... :(

FiWebster 11/ 5/2010 #

You know, Alma Stoller (she wrote the ZineWiki, right?) says something in that wiki that was upsetting to me when I was planning my very first mini-zine. (It's just plain WRONG!) Do you know her, Su? Is she the sort of person who could handle a pretty persnickety criticism?

TangleCrafts 11/ 6/2010 #

I've had no personal dealings with Alma Stoller at all, @melusina - but no, she didn't write the Zine Wiki; she wrote the last 2 tutorials that I linked in the swap description, not the first. I scrolled down to the bottom of the ZineWiki article and it was written by a Dan Stowell (incorporating some material by P Law) who I also do not know. :)

pengrafyx 01/ 3/2011 #

I will be making extras of my zine and am happy to trade with anyone who wants to send me one of theirs in exchange. If I'm already getting yours, I will trade for some other zine type thing you've got on hand. If I'm already sending you mine - I have other zine type things I can send in order to receive yours. Send me a message and let me know. :)

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