Crazy about kākāpō? Curious about kauri? Amazed by animal poo? Wild about weka? If you are a nature fan, you can make a zine to share your passion.
Zine is short for 'fanzine' - these self-published creations started out as homemade books by fans about their favourite bands. But they can be on any topic that you are crazy about. I got inspired to try making zines when I met Murtle Chickpea and her
Zine Museum at the Wairarapa Book Bash. Here is one of the zines...
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| Zine - I love Nature Lots |
... you can see from the title why I was inspired to make my own zines! I joined a Zine-Along workshop in
Porirua Library's Long Hot Summer Story Festival to start making my zines and share ideas with the children who came along.
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| My first 3 zines |
My first zine, was made using paper that already had a photograph on it, which created an interesting background. The photograph reminded me of Rakiura Stewart Island, one of my favourite places to see nature, so I used collage to highlight some of the animals you can see there.
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| Pages from my Rakiura zine |
The beauty of this zine construction (see below for instructions) is that the booklet folds out flat, which makes it easy to photocopy and share. (see below for a note on sharing)
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| The Rakiura Zine folded out flat |
For my second zine, I was inspired by finding tūī chicks in the garden. I made a zine about Tūī using my own photos.
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| Some pages from my Tūī zine |
I wanted to try a different zine construction, so I decided to use a concertina style. I decided that the way this zine opens out suited a walk or journey. I used both sides to show the landmarks on my local coastal walkway along with information about what animals live there.
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| The first four pages of my coast zine |
And because I'm concerned about the safety of the penguins that live there, I put in things people can do to protect penguins.
I used a piece of handmade paper that I found and did this one by hand.
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| The reverse side |
The paper was so thick and springy, I needed a paper clip to keep the zine shut!
How to Make a Zine
To make a zine you need:
- A4 or A3 paper
- scissors
- pens or coloured pencils
- glue stick
- magazines, calendars, pamphlets, photos to cut up
- and lots of creativity and passion.
Decide how you want to fold your paper. You'll find lots of different folding ideas online. I practised mine on scrap paper until I got it right. There's a good
You Tube video on how to construct an 8-page zine like my Rakiura or Tūī zines. But I've also written some instructions here.
Sharing Zines: Zines are not sold, but given away. They are often copied in small numbers and swapped between zine makers. When you make a collage the images are often no longer recognisable and so the collage becomes your creation. But the bird photos I used for my Nature Coast collage are another adult's copyright, I knew it wouldn't be fair for me to make copies of this one without their permission, so I made it just for myself.
More on Zines:
Libraries sometimes hold zine workshops or events, ask at your local library.
For more ideas about zines: https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/about-zines/
