Contributor zine: Urban Legends

“Urban Legends” is a quarter-page zine that collects art and writing about urban legends, myths, and folklore. Eighteen people contributed stories, poetry, illustrations, and collages. Work was submitted from the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Belgium, and Germany

Auto-generated description: A hand holds a book titled Urban Legends, which features artwork and text about urban myths, folklore, and legends on its cover.

The finished zine is 36 pages (including covers); 4.25" wide x 5.5" high; printed in black & white; and bound with staples.

The cover is white cardstock. Interior pages are 24 lb white paper.

I’m mailing copies to contributors this week. Limited copies are available in my Etsy shop.

If you’re outside the U.S. and interested in a copy of the zine, please message me.

Check out a few of the pages:

Auto-generated description: A book is open to a page titled Crazy Jones by C.F. Robert, featuring a personal narrative about childhood experiences with an Indian Guides group. Auto-generated description: An illustration of a woman with long hair holding a scythe, seated by a moonlit backdrop with the title ARDUINNA at the top. Auto-generated description: Holding an open book, the visible page contains a story titled Ogopogo by Christine Hart, discussing a personal experience with the legendary creature.

Zine station success

Yesterday I ran a zine-making station at a public library fundraiser. 🙂

The library had a Fall Fair with a bake sale, raffles, magic show, and games. Arts and crafts tables were inside the library. Here’s the zine-making station.

Auto-generated description: A library table set up for a crafting activity is covered with art supplies like markers, glue sticks, and colorful paper.

The library provided magazines, scrapbook paper, markers, glue sticks, scissors, and plain white paper. I brought copies of How to make a mini zine and What’s a zine?

This is the first time I’ve done a zine event with kids. Having collage materials definitely helps, so kids don’t have to write something on the spot.

Two girls spent about an hour and a half at the table, making two zines each, because they said they were having so much fun. 🥹

I think if I do more kid-focused zine events, I might make some kind of template that they can fill in. Having more of a guide might be a nice option besides having a blank piece of paper.

Here’s a zine I made during some downtime.

A hand holds a small zine titled My favorite Fall Things with autumn leaves on the cover. A hand holds pages 1 and 2 of the zine, which includes the text: apple pie, apple dumplings, apple cider, and apple turnovers. At the bottom of the page, there's a photo of a basket of apples. A holds pages 3 and 4 of the zine, with phrases like Fall colors, changing leaves, sunsets. There's a small sun illustration. A hand holds pages 5 and 6 of the zine. The text says, holidays, Halloween, Nov. 14 is my birthday! and Thanksgiving. Decorative orange and brown patterns are on the edges of the paper. A hand holds the back of the zine, which features floral and celestial designs, titled Mythical Type, with event details for the Wernersville Public Library Fall Fair in September 2024.

What's a zine?

“What’s a zine?” is an 8-page mini zine that you can download and print on your own. It includes a brief introduction to zines: what zines are, some historical highlights, and common formats.

Auto-generated description: A hand holds a mini booklet titled: What's a zine? a brief introduction.

The zine is available on Ko-fi for free (or pay what you want).

The PDF is sized to print on one sheet of 8.5 x 11-inch paper (standard U.S. letter size).

This zine is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which means you’re welcome to distribute and share copies for non-commercial use.

If you don’t know how to fold this kind of zine, search for “how to fold an 8-page zine” on YouTube to find tutorials.


Washi tape as collage pieces

I’m working on a new zine, and I want to share some process pics with you. 🙂 I’m making pages with black and white illustrations and then using washi tape to make collage elements.

Here’s how I’m doing it.

  1. Draw the picture in black ink.
Auto-generated description: A drawing features a simple depiction of the Earth with stylized continents and a smaller circle resembling the moon, both using striped and dotted patterns.
  1. Lay a piece of tracing paper over the drawing. With a pencil, outline the area where washi tape will go. For this page, I wanted a curved shape around the planet.
Auto-generated description: A hand-drawn design of Earth and a crescent moon is shown on a piece of tracing paper placed over a cutting mat.
  1. Use washi tape to cover the area outlined in pencil. I kept even lines of tape but you could overlap pieces or rip the tape into smaller pieces.
Auto-generated description: Decorative tapes with star patterns are arranged on a piece of paper, all placed on a cutting mat.
  1. Flip the tracing paper over. Use scissors to cut along the pencil line.
Auto-generated description: A collection of colorful brick-like shapes arranged in an arch pattern is placed on translucent paper over a cutting mat.
  1. Glue the washi tape piece onto the drawing.
Auto-generated description: A paper cut-out art piece features a stylized Earth with textured continents and a cosmic-themed crescent shape, accompanied by a dotted moon above.

Zine: So You Met Your Past Self

“So You Met Your Past Self” includes tips for what to do when you meet a past version of yourself. This fictional zine is a handy guide for the time traveler in your life (even when that’s you).

This zine is available on Etsy (U.S.) only.

Auto-generated description: A booklet titled So You Met Your Past Self: a practical guide is displayed against a red background. Auto-generated description: Tip 1 suggests ensuring time-travel permits and avoiding interactions with one's past self to prevent complications. Auto-generated description: Tips for interacting with Past You include staying calm, being reassuring, and lying if necessary to protect them, with the understanding that future knowledge gives you an advantage. Auto-generated description: A blue card with tips about interacting with the past and timeline risks is shown on a red surface.

I made the background for this zine by hand. I diluted blue fountain pen ink in water. Then I painted the ink on to watercolor paper.

Auto-generated description: A sheet of blue watercolor paper is placed on a measuring grid.

After the paper dried, I drew an abstract design with a dark blue marker and white gel pen.

Auto-generated description: A series of abstract, interconnected geometric shapes are drawn on a blue watercolor background, bordered by a ruler grid.

This kind of line drawing is a technique I learned from Katie Gebely.

First you draw dots on the page, at random. Then you connect the dots with straight lines. That’s what I did with the dark blue marker. Then I added shorter lines in white gel pen.


Visuals in Barbie and Pleasantville

I wrote an essay for The Wrench Dispatch: The Movie Issue about visuals in Barbie and Pleasantville. The zine came out in January 2024 and collected essays about recent movies.

The essay is about 900 words, so I’m going old school and putting it under a Read More. So retro.


Zine: How to make a mini zine

“How to make a mini zine” is an 8-page mini zine that you can download and print on your own. It includes a brief introduction to zines and instructions for how to fold an 8-page mini zine from a single sheet of paper.

Auto-generated description: A hand is holding a small booklet titled How to make a minizine with decorative patterns on a checkered background.

The zine is available on Ko-fi for free (or pay what you want).

The PDF is sized to print on one sheet of 8.5 x 11-inch paper (standard U.S. letter size). No access to a color printer? No problem — the zine looks great in black and white, too.  

To fold the zine, you can follow the instructions directly on the PDF. Or if you prefer video instructions, search for “how to fold an 8-page zine” on YouTube.

Auto-generated description: Instructions for folding an 8-page mini zine from a single sheet of paper are shown on a grid-patterned surface. Auto-generated description: A hand holds two small booklets titled How to make a minizine, set against a black grid background.

This zine is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), which means you’re welcome to distribute and share copies for non-commercial use.


Zine: The antidote to social media

“The antidote to social media” is a mini zine that looks at how negative things are outweighing positives on social media. But social media platforms are still a good way to find people to connect with. The zine suggests ways to work around the negative aspects of social media.

The cover a zine titled The antidote to social media. The title is printed in black on bright yellow paper. On the left side of the cover, there's a large potion bottle. Near the lower-right corner, there are small circles with Like and Heart icons.

Copies are available on Etsy (U.S. only).

Auto-generated description: A person holds a yellow paper with handwritten notes about the negative aspects of social media, including ads and privacy concerns. Auto-generated description: A hand is holding a yellow booklet with text discussing the positive aspects of social media and ways to counteract negative influences. Auto-generated description: A person is holding a yellow paper with handwritten suggestions and reflections on going offline and social media.

A lot of my zines start in a notebook page. Here’s where I started writing out what I wanted to include in this zine.

A notebook page with handwritten notes about the zine.

Zine: Children of Immigrants

“Children of Immigrants” is a half-page zine that collects art and writing about immigrant experiences. Thirteen people contributed stories, poetry, photography, illustrations, and collages. 

The finished zine is 8.5" x 5.5", 28 pages (including covers), and printed in full color.

The cover page of Children of Immigrants, a zine that collects art and writing about immigrant experiences. The image behind the text is a collage of passport stamps in various colors, from various countries.

Everyone who contributed to the zine received a complimentary copy. The rest of the copies sold out, mostly at Lancaster Zine Fest. 😃 So, no more physical copies but you can download a digital version from Ko-fi for free or pay what you want.

Note: The digital version is a PDF meant to be read on a screen. The PDF is not formatted for printing and folding a paper copy. 

A page spread from the zine Children of Immigrants. This is a story titled Horrors within the Household. Two pages from the Children of Immigrants zine. The left page has a collage of Mexican-American imagery including colorful flowers, a rosary, an image of the Virgin Mary, a cutout image of Selena (the singer), and playing cards. The right page has a double-exposed photo of a man at an amusement park.' ATwo pages of the Children of Immigrants zine. The left page has a series of handwritten phrases and questions on the theme, Where are you from? Sentences are examples of questions and comments that immigrants hear about their background and language. The right page has a colorful world map. Black text says, Two homelands, two languages, two cultures. Two names, two identities.

Zine: Shoveling sand - My favorite writing advice

“Shoveling sand” is a 20-page zine that collects my favorite writing advice from several writers. I grouped quotes by themes including “keep a notebook,” “don’t worry about being popular,” and “get the first draft down.”

A hand is holding a zine titled Shoveling Sand: My Favorite Writing Advice, featuring a typewriter design on the cover.

This zine measures 5.25 inches high x 4 inches wide. The cover is printed in full color on white cardstock. The interior pages are printed in black and white on 24 lb. white paper. Designed and laid out in Canva.

The first 2 pages of a zine about writing advice. Black text is printed on white paper. The left page says, Keep a notebook, and has some commentary. The right page has two quotes from writers. Page 14 of a zine about writing advice. Black text is printed on white paper. The top of the page says There's more to writing than writing in a large font. Below that, there's a couple sentences of commentary in a smaller font. Four copies of the zine Shoveling Sand: My Favorite Writing Advice are arranged on a red surface.