Zine swap maybe?

Im in the beginning of making zines, and I was wondering if there are more people making zines so we could host a zine swap?
Maybe make a zine and send to two or three persons, nothing to complicated. I dont know when, I could do now or wait until next year if people feel it gets too much with other swaps.

10 Likes

Could be fun.

3 Likes

I was thinking about a zine swap just last week! :smiley: I think a zine swap could be fun. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

This is intriguing! I’d do it if it was after Christmas.
Would be a do-able international swap, since the item would be flat.

2 Likes

Zines are fun. I’d probably be interested.

3 Likes

Oooh, I’ve always wanted to try making zines! I would participate in a swap.

2 Likes

I’m not really familiar with zines. I googled, but still feel like I could use an explanation of what would be required for the swap (like a 4-panel foldable book?).

2 Likes

Yes, since Im also new, Im thinking it shouldnt be too difficult. A simple on-page zine, that you fold, so it is a 4-panel book yes. But one can do it accordian style too.
Its a pretty free/loose medium to work with. As you can write, or paint/draw or use scissors and glue.

To be honest, I havent thought that much about requirements, as I wanted to see if there is anybody intrested first. But Im thinking it should be pretty new-to-the-medium-friendly. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I hope the requirements are fairly open, as far as size and number of pages. WAY “back in the day” when I first heard of zines, it seemed like most of them were half-page (4.25” x 5.5”) or greeting card size. They were typically photocopied in limited editions. Content was really wide-ranging, from comics to illustrated stories/anecdotes to photographic essays to art journals… anything goes!
It does make sense to state some sort of “minimum requirement”.

3 Likes

Were they stapled like a small pamphlet? How many pages?

Most of the zines I’ve seen are from a single sheet of paper that have been folded into a booklet. I made a couple of this type years ago but they were on my old Win XP computer and I’ve lost the files since then. :confused: I keep hoping I’ll find them in a backup somewhere. :slight_smile: This is the kind I am talking about.
How to fold a zine video:

For those new to zines - some of these one page style zines have a front and back too. The front side is made of the 8 individual pages, and then when you open and unfold it, the back side of the zine has one large ‘poster’ type image filling the entire side. But others only did the 8 individual pages and then when opened, the back was just blank white paper. :slight_smile: Either way is fine. And, like @endymion said, you make a master version (the original) and then photocopy it, or scan it in and print it on your printer. Then you fold the copies or prints and that becomes your zine. :slight_smile:

I hope the requirements are somewhat open as well. The beauty of zines is how unique they all are. :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Yes, I’ve made that kind out of one sheet of paper. And I’ve been looking at YouTube videos and a lot of them are showing that size.

But most of the zines I collected over the years (admittedly decades ago) were larger, multi-page booklets (maybe 3-4 sheets of paper folded and stapled). And I see a lot of current zines in that format, too. So maybe it could be artist’s choice whether to work in a smaller format or larger format?

I find myself really excited about this zine swap idea! Thanks for suggesting it, @skrutt!

3 Likes

Okay, I think I get it now. I found someone who was explaining in more detail.

Apparently, there are two common sizes of zines (although a zine can actually be any size).

  1. Standard zines: Booklets (usually stapled) made of 8.5 x 11” sheets folded in half.

  2. Mini zines: the 8-pages-from-a-single-sheet kind.

Even if you make the larger format, you can reduce the size when you photocopy, to get the mini-zine size. So it seems like a mini-zine format would work as a swap parameter.

3 Likes

Thanks for all the info guys! I like the idea of a mini zine, especially since I’m still not 100% sure what I’d be doing! :sweat_smile:

5 Likes

Yes, thats my plan! Fairly open, with some minimum requirement. :smiley: Since Im so new to this medium and only have done the single sheet, folded version I think I cant demand more from others.

Im glad we have a couple of replys that want to participate!

4 Likes

I love this idea! I would totally participate (once I meet the 30-day requirement). I also love the idea of doing one-page mini zines!

4 Likes

I started making a list of potential topics/themes and already have thirty things on the list! Also went shopping for zines on Etsy and bought one for my son as a surprise gift.

Aaargh! This swap is taking over my mind, pushing everything else aside. Maybe next year is too long to wait…

3 Likes

Maybe we should do a poll to see when people want/have time to participate?

4 Likes

Great idea! I could prob swing this sooner…

3 Likes

When should we have our swap?

  • During october
  • During november
  • Next year; january
  • Next year; february
0 voters

I voted for all options, which is probably not helpful to you, lol.

3 Likes