Create a zine

The perfect way to share your creative soul

I began to create zines inspired by other folk doing the same and publishing them on Etsy. My first one was a homemade one using far too much glue but having the best time. This one was just for me! As a seasonal artist this type of publication suits me well.

So what is a zine?

It is a mini magazine that is self published often covering a niche area. Small printing/photocopying runs are the norm.

Wild Horses Weep

My first zine was about climate change and the devestation we are seeing in our favourite places. I visit Kintyre a great deal as it is just over the water from me. After one of their now frequent huge storms the rubbish that litters the shores is soul destroying as is the very evident coastal erosion. Of course, it is the wildlife that suffers immediately and although I gather up every plastic bag, that when floated woud resemble a jelly fish, and every bit of plastic rope I can process, I am only touching the surface. On my own wee Scottish island beach cleans are becoming more frequent and several village comunities are working incredibly hard to control the flooding. In Kintyre, there is a field of horses that overlook the shore. Have you ever looked into a horse’s eyes? I find that incredibly difficult to do. I feel those eyes see and understand everything. So, I am quite sure they weep when they see what humans are doing to the planet. I am weeping with them.

This zine shares this perspective through art work and found poetry and I am incredibly proud of this publication and the space it occupies. Do you have something you want to tell the world?

Beyond this zine the others I have created have all been about seasonal creativity and they have felt much more joyful. Like other creators I set myself a publication limit as I don’t want them hanging around for ever. I want to create new zines….

My winter zine proved my most popular and this came as no surprise to me. It is in winter that many of us reach for creative inspiration and my zines are packed with creative projects we can all try in our own homes and in our own time. I hope that my zines might hang about in creative spaces bringing joy.

My winter zine has now sold out but beyond that publication the other three seasonal creativity zines have also landed well with folks that support my work. They trace the seasons giving folk lots of ways to mark the tiny shifts they see and locate interesting ways to record and create with things they notice.

I still have spring and summer zines available in my Etsy store but I have archived the last autumn one so that I have a copy to keep. So where next? I am putting this question out to my various communities in case anyone has a suggestion of what they would find useful in a seasonal creativity zine? Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear them. I have just started my brainstorm on an oversized piece of paper with a large mug of tea so all ideas would be well timed.

If like me you would like to create your own zines I can share my process. I used Canva (pro) to create A5 pages before loading them online with Doxzoo who are specialist zine printers. If you don’t want them in a hurry you can also secure free postage. I don’t make a huge amount of money off my zines but I knew that before I started. If you did bigger print runs you could though. For me, it was a chance to share some seasonal creativity projects and nothing more than that and I was always delighted with the quality of the zines when they arrived. Last year I also made a spring ezine and that meant my work could travel further so that is another option for you. I hope that is helpful.

I am off to make another large cup of tea to continue brainstorming….until next time, Fiona x