Posts Tagged ‘DIY’
How to Make a Zine
Zines are part of a long history of self-publishing, a way for people to get their thoughts, ideas, and manifestos out into the world. Essentially since the invention of the printing press, people have been finding ways to publish things that are outside of the mainstream. There are even zine libraries.
You might perhaps remember the feminist punk zine riot grrrl from the 1990s. Or maybe you’re a fan of the zines that indie publisher Microcosm Publishing is behind. Or maybe you’ve seen a stack of zines at your local coffee shop or bookstore.
Maybe you have never heard of zines at all, but are itching to tell a story or get a thought out into the world.
Then making a zine is for you.
The simplest way to make a zine is with a single piece of paper.
To help out with this project, I reached out to visual artist, journalist, and author Sarah Mirk. She spent the last year making a zine every single day! She was kind enough to share her top five tips for zine-making below, and she also has this easy-to-print free PDF that shows you how to make one.
Keep Making Art
Keep. Making. Art.
Art and creativity can help us through our darkest moments, and I hope that you will keep this mantra in your head. Now that many of us are at home because of quarantine and social distancing measures, it might be just be time to add a little art practice to your every day.
I started a campaign this week called Creative Fuel Challenge (you can sign up here) and I am so inspired by all of the artists who are sharing their creativity in a variety of ways.
Here are some (free) resources if you are looking for art challenges and prompts:
- Wendy Macnaughton is running a live drawing class every day at 10am PST.
- Carson Ellis is running a #quarantineartclub with a daily drawing prompt.
- Danielle Krysa is doing a 30 day art challenge called #30dayartquarantine
- Julia Turshen is hosting an online writing class with daily prompts and a chat, perfect if you want to work on your food writing.
- Becca Rea-Holloway aka the Sweet Feminist is hosting a virtual baking party
- Oliver Jeffers is doing daily readings of his books.
- Illustoria Magazine has a variety of DIYs on their website and is showcasing some of them on their Instagram feed.
- Mo Willems is hosting a daily video series called Lunch Doodles.
- Beam Paints regularly posts tutorials, like this one on how to paint a feather with two colors
- Downloadable coloring book from Taproot Magazine
- Rachel Ignotofsky has downloadable coloring pages (her illustrations are so great!)
- Jen Bloomer of Radici Studios is offering a free art class on Zoom on Wednesday March 18, 2pm PST
- The Sketchbook Project is offering a 28-day challenge, emailing you a creative prompt every single day
- Need general art inspiration? Lots of museums are offering ways to explore their collections digitally. The San Francisco Museum of Art has been doing a great job promoting the #MuseumFromHome hashtag, and here is a roundup of more helpful hashtags you can follow.
I will keep updating this list, so if you know of others please feel free to contact me so that I can add them!
DIY plastic bag
Finally a smart way to re-use plastic; make a new bag out of it! It entails taking a whole bunch of old plastic bags, ironing them into crazy forms, and sewing it all up into the above finished product. The instructions are all over at Plenty Magazine and I have to say I really feel like I need to make one… check back with me in a couple of weeks (I have to track down an iron first!). And for those in need of something more heavy duty, you can even go all out and make a messenger bag from recycled trash bags. You’ll immediately exude “green” and “resourceful” and be able to show-up all of your friends who are toting their old school purchased packs.
