Month: March 2016

A Guide to Being Cool
Jane Cantwell
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/AdventuresinKindness
#luckyjarzines

I got this, A History of Abandoned Hobbies, A Guide to Letter Writing, and A Guide to Op Shopping as a lovely little bundle.*

A Guide to Being Cool is a full-colour, A7-sized zine that is a lot of fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect with zine given the title, but I quite like it. I think there is a cheeky undertone to the “guidance” inside – a message that isn’t stated outright but can easily be taken. I quite like that element to things.

Plus, as it turns out, I’m already pretty cool. Haha.

Another cute offering from Jane Cantwell.

*The links will only begin working as the other reviews are posted.

LP’s Lists: A 24 Hour Zine
Logpoes
https://yourfriendlp.wordpress.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LogPoesShop

I feel like it might say something bad about me how I derive pleasure from getting ‘limited run’ zines. I love list zines, I was ordering another zine from LogPoes anyway, but seeing this in the description on Etsy made getting it all the more pleasureable:

List zine written for the 24 hour zine thing challenge. 24 pages, A6, full colour, limited edition of 24 copies. I’m not reprinting this zine, so when they’re gone, they’re gone. 🙂

Anyway, list zine! It doesn’t take much to figure out what this zine has inside. I absolutely love lists (to the point where I had to get myself to stop making them for a while) and especially list zines. I find that list zines have this awesome way of showing so much personality with so few words. LP’s Lists is no exception. With excellent handwriting (a must for zines that are handwritten) and simple art, you get to know LPs desk, current reads, current music…

I love that, as the intro, LP gives a list of reasons why she decided to make a list zine. A little bit of cheekiness goes a long way.

My favourite list, though? “What I Order at the Sushi Restaurant” It’s always nice to find another sushi enthusiast. Yum!

It’s a quick-ish read, as you might imagine, but I enjoyed every minute.

Hey Ho Banjo
Mariah Calman
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/KeepCalmMariah

Sometimes you see a zine, and you just know that you have to grab a copy. That’s what happened to me, anyway.

I am the proud human to two dogs and one cat, so I have a soft spot in my heart for things cat and dog. The Etsy listing for this zine had a few peeks inside, and they reminded me so much of my dogs. Well…

To get to the technical bits, this zine is lovely in that it has a slightly stiffer card for the cover (I always appreciate that) and higher-than-standard GMS paper inside. I love the feel of higher GSM paper, and – while sometimes it doesn’t matter – I think it can really be of benefit when you have a zine with thick, black sections. I think if there had been and show-through on the pages, it would have taken a tiny bit of my enjoyment of this zine away. As it is, the pages are crisp and there is no show-through.

On the surface, this is a quick read, but I’ve gone back through it a few times to enjoy the humour and the art. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, the art in this one really fascinates me. I keep finding myself looking at the pictures, holding them really close to my face, and then holding them at normal distance again.

The to-do list is so cute and reminds me so much of my dogs.

Obviously if you don’t like(?!)/aren’t into dogs, then you might want to pass over this zine. But if you have/have had dogs, I think you’re really going to like this one. It’s definitely a keeper for me.