Category: International Zine Month

Happy International Zine Month, zine friends!

And so we begin. Today marks the start of celebrating and spreading the zine love and enthusiasm. Of course, I’m right here, ready and excited to get the ball rolling.

Today we buy, read, and/or share zines from Canada for Canada Day. Happy Canada Day to Canadian zine friends!

When I saw today’s prompt, one zinemaker immediately popped into my mind: Crash Reynolds.

Crash is a zinemaker, sticker maker, artist, and also the creator of the calendar that hangs on my Wall of Sunshine.

(And I’ve just now realised that I need to flip it over to July!)

So it is my pleasure today, at the end of a long day, to crash in my comfy chair with my warm blanket (it’s winter here in Oz), and read this zine from Crash:

https://www.instagram.com/indeliblecrash/
https://utopiabycrash.wixsite.com/hello

Want to know what I think of this zine? My review will come later in the month…

And there we have it, dear zine friends! A lovely start to the month – a month which is just barely starting for some in other time zones. Haha. My best wishes to you all for the month to come.

Until next time…

Others Joining In:

* https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
* https://www.instagram.com/phoebeszines/

Let me know if/where you are joining in!

Hello, dear zine friends!

How is it the end of June already? I’m not ready! Haha. Well, I’m not prepared, but I am very excited for this year’s International Zine Month. We have a fresh daily prompts list, plenty to do, and a lot of lovely people already gearing up for the month ahead.

As part of the fun, I’ve made a series of images for each day of the month. 🙂

You’ll find them after the ‘more’ tag on this post. You should be able to click on and then save each image if you’d like to use them.

(Credit would be cool if you do decide to use them.)

That being said, now it’s time for me to have a good sleep before things really get going!

Continue reading “International Zine Month Eve”

Ah, zine friends, here we come to my last post of the day, the last post of the month, and the last post for International Zine Month 2018.

Today’s prompt is:

Remember zines and zinesters that are no longer with us

I count myself as very fortunate every year that this prompt passes and zine friends new and old are still around making zines. While I know that there will be sad times to deal with, I try not to think about it.

When it comes to zines that are no longer with us, a few come to mind.

Cats Not Kids – a series recent to my eyes – ended on the third issue. These things happen, of course, but I had already found so much in common with the zinemaker that I was sad to see it end.

Comics and Beer also comes to mind as a series start that I really enjoyed… Alas, it remains (as far as I know) a one-off rather than a series.

The biggest zine series that is always on my mind, however, and makes me feel sad that I didn’t find zines during its run is Factsheet Five. I’ve only ever seen pictures of it online, and the few listings that pop up on ebay every now and then are out of my financial reach. So I sigh and pout, and then remember to feel grateful for all the wonderful zinemakers, zines, and zine series that are still going.

With that, zine friends, I bid you adieu for the month of July.

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Yesterday’s prompt:

Write a letter or post about your IZM2018

Oh, what a month it has been. I’m a bit stunned that we’re already to the end of it, to be honest.

This has been such a lovely IZM. We got a new prompts list from Alex Wrekk, and I felt a lot more prepared for it in general despite the fact that I had a lot more on than in previous years.

I didn’t quite do all the prompts, and I didn’t post all the days ON the days, but I’m still happy with how things went. I like how IZM incorporates so many facets of ‘zinedom’ from giving away and trading zines to zine libraries and distros. A hat tip to reviewers as well is quite nice. Haha.

The big highlight of the month for me definitely had to be the 24 hour zine. It was very last minute on my part but ended up being so much fun. I’m usually very, very competitive with myself, but I don’t even mind that I didn’t quite manage to do it in 24 hours simply because I enjoyed the process so much.

I enjoyed livestreaming, and I enjoyed taking page suggestions from whoever joined the livestream (who all get copies when they’re ready) because it turned it into a group project of sorts.

Part of me is a bit sad that it took me so long to finally make a 24 hour zine, but mostly I am glad that I was able to experience it during IZM but also share it with others.

I hope others have had a wonderful International Zine Month. I know it can mean a lot of emails coming into your inbox of blog posts, and it can feel like a lot to catch up on if you get behind. It’s all for the love of zines, however, and that is a wonderful thing.

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Hello, wonderful zine friends, and welcome to the end of International Zine Month. I will be wrapping up the last few prompts today and giving IZM 2018 a big hug. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself! On to the prompts!

Day 29’s prompt is:

Take a photo of you with your zines

The first thing I have to mention is that I forgot the ‘you’ part of this prompt. I’ve been going full steam ahead for days now with lots on, so when I realised my mistake, I figured I would just go ahead anyway.

The other thing to note is… well… You may recall that on day 26, I organised my zine collection. What I’m not sure I clarified is that I was organising my collection of zines that I have read already.

I have a few more zines that I haven’t read yet…

That is my full collection. Hehe. Or rather, that and the picture below which is my Xerography Debt collection that sits in the shelves behind me in my YouTube videos.

The zines in the black cube are the zines I’ve read. Going clockwise from that – the zines in the white basket with the red plaid material are the zines that are next up for reading and reviewing. The zines in the green box are zines that are next up for review but weren’t sent to me/bought with an expectation of review or specific review date. Finally, the zines in the black wire ‘basket’ are zines I have written review notes for that need to be typed up and put into reviews.

Oof! I haven’t counted how many zines I have in total. I’m a little scared to. Haha.

There we have it! More to come. ^_^

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Hello and happy weekend, zine friends! And happy Friday to those in other time zones. Today we have a bit of an interesting prompt…

Today’s prompt is:

Plan or attend a zine event. Big or tiny!

Zine events! Be them big or small, zine events can be an amazing, fun way to meet zinemakers you want to meet and discover new ones you may have never found otherwise.

There aren’t any zine events locally or even semi-locally, I’m sad to say. (Though there is a little something something happening in September that I will post about then.) And, being me, setting up a zine event this last minute… Yeah, I need to get better at the planning ahead side of things.

So I’ve decided to do something a little… in between. Not a zine event as such, but an event I am participating in.

The 24 Hour Zine Thing

Ta da! Haha. I remembered how, at the beginning of the month, I said that I would be doing my very first 24 hour zine thing this year. Lo and behold, it’s nearly the end of the month, and I haven’t don’t it yet! Eep!

Today’s prompt (when looked at at the right angle hehe) gave me the chance to go ahead and do it.

How I’m making it an ‘event’ is that I will be livestreaming off and on today throughout the making of the zine on Instagram. Some things will be pictures in ‘Stories’ and others will be shorter (maybe?) live videos. I should have planned this out a bit more, to be sure, but I’m also not really minding the playing it however it goes.

So if you’d like to join in and maybe make your own zine in the next 24 hours, follow me on Instagram. I’ll also be checking in when I can on the SGZ Facebook page.

Have fun! I’ll be starting with the videos side of things in about 30 minutes after this post goes up.

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Happy Friday, and happy catching up!

Today’s prompt is:

Post online about some of your favourite zines

Favourites? You want me to pick favourites?!

I love a lot of zines for a lot of different reasons. With that in mind aaaaaand a zine review yet to post today, I am going to be a little cheeky and point you to the 100th Zine Review Celebration and 200th Zine Review Celebration for some of my favourite zines.

Let me know about your favourite zines. I’m always looking for recommendations!

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Hello, zine friends! Today is the day that I take on the prompt that I knew I wouldn’t be able to take on last night. And I still underestimated the time and energy it would take to do it. Ooph!

Yesterday’s Prompt:

Organise your zine collection

I must admit that I’ve known this was coming for a while but was still avoiding it a bit. Haha. I knew I had a lot of zines, but it was easy to bliss over that with them all in the one box…

But then I spread them out on the table to start organising them.

Looking at the pictures, I wish I would have counted them. I felt a bit overwhelemed with the massive pile on the table. Where would I start? But then I started noticing zines I hadn’t looked at for a while that I loved and zines that reminded me of zine events. Soon enough I started putting them in the cello bags I picked up months and months ago (told you I was avoiding it!).

The first hiccup in my plan came with zines that were too big (usually too wide) to fit into the bags. They got their own separate pile.

The second hiccup came in the form that, while I got a lot of my zines organised, I didn’t get everything organised.

I ended up with quite a few zines that I had to pop right back into the box – but don’t get me wrong: I’m certainly not complaining about having a lot of zines! (Nevernevernevernever.) I’m happy to have organised what I could, but I was left feeling less than great because… I don’t actually like this way of organising zines. I have a lot of zines from some people, which made some bags bulk out quite a bit.

I’m also concerned about getting in and out of all the bags. I reference zines all the time. Making them easier to find is an obvious good thing. But the somewhat fragile looking cello bags has me concerned about ripping bags. Especially if I’m grabbing some of the heavier ones.

Alas, trying to figure out the best system for a big zine collection is a problem I certainly don’t mind having. It may just be a while before I find the ideal solution for me.

That being said – how do you organise your zines? I’d love to see pictures!

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

Hello, zine friends! After a run in with a Greenpeace ‘volunteer’ who didn’t want to take no for an answer, all plans for yesterday fell aside. I was shaken up and emotionally spent, so today I’m back to catching up. The best laid plans, eh?

At least today we get to talk a bit about something I know a thing or two about. 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt:

Send your zine out for review

I feel a little awkward talking about the importance of zine reviews when I review them. Still, I think reviews are important. In a world where entertainment is easy to access and there is always noise coming from multiple directions, it can be hard to get word out about your zine. Especially when zines have roots that go against the corporate, the mainstream, and the ‘easy sell’.

Whenever someone lets me know that they found a zine they enjoyed through my reviews or someone found their zine through my reviews, it makes me feel like I’m really putting some good out into the world.

I always say that to receive mail, you must send it, and I feel like it’s a fair thing to say that if I review zines, I should send mine out for review as well.

My zines have been reviewed a couple times here and there, but I do need to make an effort to send them out more often. With that in mind, I will be sending along a zine or two to Five O’Clock Zine Reviews

Craig reviews zines in short videos on Instagram. I admire how he reviews zines nearly every day as well as being able to sum up things in one or two videos! (A marvel to my long-winded self. Haha!)

Are you sending your zine/s out for review? Have you been reviewed? I have a few zine reviewers listed on the Resources page – am I missing any of your favourites?

Let me know in the comments!

The prompt for today is a bit of a big one, so I’m going to leave that one for tomorrow. Until then!

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?

I have zine skiiiiiiiiills, they’re multiplying. And I’m loooooooosing control.

I’ll blame being tired. Haha. On with catching up with IZM!

Today’s prompt is:

Teach yourself a new zine skill

To be honest, I was really at a loss of what to do for this. I know how to make various sizes of zines, how to sew various types of binding. Then I read Nina’s post for the day at Echo Publishing and realised I wasn’t thinking outside of the strictly literal.

Zine skills aren’t just about binding and printing. There are so many ways to make zines and so many things you can do in them, make for them, and more.

To be honest, I’m exhausted. But I will make a list of things I would like to try in zinemaking in the future:

*Origami zine (actually folding the zine into origami
*Create my own stamp/stamp carving
*Pretty much everything with watercolours
*Make a comic (eep!)
*Make a photography zine

What are you up to today? What are you trying out? I would love to know (and might add things to my list).

***

List of activities: http://www.stolensharpierevolution.org/international-zine-month/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/internationalzinemonth/

Others Joining In :

*Echo Publishing – https://echopublishing.wordpress.com
*Feral Publications – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-dA2HTUon0
*You?