Month: April 2015

How to Make a Mini Journal
ShimzBar
A5 (A4 half-fold)
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/JournalTopia

I love journals – all sorts of them – and I’ve been making journals for years now. So when I saw a zine about making journals, you can imagine I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, this didn’t really measure up.

I have probably said before that one of the beauties of zines is that there isn’t just one thing that they are. However, I do have certain expectations. I expect more than print outs with some font changes. That isn’t meant to be insulting; it is quite literally what this zine consists of.

That’s not to say a zine can’t be all typed out without any images. What I really missed with this zine was the personality behind the zine. This is very good information zine for anyone who is a beginner with journals. But it’s purely information.

I really shouldn’t hold that against it. I read zines to connect to other people, and that was something that wasn’t met here. Another person will have another view. I do think three double-sided A4 pages shouldn’t cost quite so much.

Fat-tastic 1
Sage
1/2 fold (US)
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/sage

Last week, I reviewed Fat-tastic 1, so click on that name if you’d like to check out that review.

The next best thing to reading a good zine is seeing a good zine evolve over multiple editions. While this is a transition from 1 to 2, it’s still a transition. The zine itself hasn’t grown a huge amount, but the content inside has expanded. There is an interview, more art and poetry, a letter… Fat-tastic 2 will appeal to many different crowds by embracing the different forms of expression.

Though I must say, something about the middle spread image makes it my favourite of the lot.

Sage doesn’t proclaim herself some body-positive guru or anything like that. She fully admits that she is still learning to accept her body, love herself, and treat herself well. To me, her admitting the vulnerability of ‘still learning’ (instead of ‘I’m an expert!’) is the number one reason I’m eager to dive into Fat-Tastic 3.

Fat-tastic 1
Sage
1/2 fold (US)
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/sage

Body image is a pretty complicated subject for me. I’ve struggled with those sorts of issues since I was a child. So I was a little scared when I ordered this zine. Scared of what, exactly, I’m not sure. Either way, there was no need.

Fat-tastic is, well, fat-tastic!

This is a compilation zine, which I think is the strongest format for the subject. When it comes to issues like body image, the best thing to know is that you are not alone. Fat-tastic takes full advantage of that by not only creating a zine of multiple voices but in multiple expressions of feelings. There are personal written pieces, pieces of art, poetry and even a DIY tutorial.

This was the first time I’ve read body-positive anything, and I am glad to have a great introduction. I’m looking forward to reading the next issues and seeing how the zine grows.

New Hearts, New Bones 16 : Evil Has Many Faces
Cheering and Waving Press
Touch smaller than A6
http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/CheeringandWavingPress

This little zine is marked as free zine, but I received it in a trade. (Such is the way when postage to your country stinks). It’s a ‘traditional’ zine in the sense of it being black and white, clearly cut and paste, and stapled together in a slightly askew way.

This zine is almost a call to revolution. At least, that’s how I read it. It starts off with a ‘tragic but true’ statement and then prods you into taking action. Into stopping the monotony of it all. While it didn’t inspire me to throw away the ‘shackles of the man’ (and I type that with no sarcasm intended), it was a short, sharp reminder that there is more to the world than the things I immerse myself in.

A bit deep for such a small zine? Perhaps. But I’m in the mood for some stirring of life beyond what it is now.