Zine Workshop

People always ask me if there are zine workshops. Seeing as how July is International Zine Month, I'm doing one on (this) sunday (July 13th) at 1pm at the Chi Prc. Discussion, instruction, demo, then talk about selling it. Boom.

This workshop is in conjunction with Quimby's Bookstore teaming up with The Chicago Publishers Resource Center (CHIPRC) to bring you zine-y activity. CHIPRC will be hosting zine events during the month.

In this is a monthly hands-on workshop offered by CHIPRC, learn a bit about zines and the local self-publishing community. Discussion, instruction, demo, then talk about selling it.

$3 donation. All skill levels and ages welcome!

The Chicago Publishers Resource Center (CHIPRC), at 858 N. Ashland Avenue, strives to build community and foster creativity by providing access to the space, education, and resources necessary to create and self-publish literary and visual work. And of course, if you make a zine there, you can always come consign it at Quimby’s! Join and support the center, and as a member you will receive discounts for using equipment, workshop registration and more. Or become a CHIPRC volunteer and give back even more. Their summer calendar features drawing activities, discussion, open studio and more! More info at chiprc.org.

More info:

Event post on Facebook   and/or    http://www.quimbys.com/blog/store-events/

Also, I'll be leading a zine reading club at the ChiPRC on July 24th!

IZM Day 9: Write a Letter to a Zinester You Don't Know

July is International Zine Month! I'm doing a few of the ideas for selected days. Day 9 was to write a letter to a zinester you don't know. I was chuckling to myself while I did this example, standing in a towel with a toothbrush in my mouth. How hilarious would it be to receive this as a letter? There's something about this type of repurposing that gets to the heart of my sense of humor. It's like the slobs invading the snobs' party.

Internat'l Zine Month Day #7 Make envelopes for postal week

July is International Zine Month! I'm doing a few of the ideas for selected days. July 7th's suggested idea is to make some envelopes or postcards for international zine week. The very first edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution had some envelope templates, for different size envelopes. Well, being that I have a job where I can take home old magazines, I use those for making envelopes. Scissors and glue stick are my main friends in this endeavor, although I did photocopy the templates in different sizes, then put those templates on cardboard so that I have cardboard templates I can just traace around, then cut, then fold, then glue. Voila! It's a lot cheaper and more fun when you're sending zines in the mail. I've made them as gifts for people too. I found some cheapo blank white stickers at American Science and Surplus, which I can use for the labels for mailing address and return address. I also like to buy old records and repurpose the lyric sheets to make envelopes, while the record sleeve I use for mailing (or putting in frames and displaying on the wall). Then with the record I heat it for a minute or two in the oven and then mold onto the inside of a glass bowl. Then when the vinyl dries I have a record bowl. I knew Bob Seger was good for something. And it isn't music.

International Zine Month 2014!

July is International Zine Month! I'm picking some days and attempting to actually follow through on some of the suggested ideas for selected days.

We'll be blogging about it on the Quimby's Bookstore Quimblog too. We're going to do a window installation at Quimby's for July too. I'm looking forward to it!

July 1st's activity is "Make a Top 10 list of reasons why your love zines!"
Well OK then! In no particular order:
1. Zines are not usually done for financial profit, so there isn't a lot of advertising.
2. Since zines aren't published by big fancy magazine publishers, the writer is usually also the editor and publisher, so that means there is less interference from someone with a mainstreamy agenda.
3. Everything looks cool when laid out in scrappy black and white cut-and-paste style.
4. Zines are usually less expensive then magazines.
5. Zines can focus on charmingly specialized topics, like dishwashing, pirate radio, or how to make a haunted house.
6. When you meet other people who are into reading or publishing zines, they are usually really cool people.
7. As a zine publisher, you can publish as often or as little as you like, which I like to think of as the "I'll put out another issue when I'm damn good and ready" publishing schedule.
8. When you meet someone new you can school them in everything they need to know about you if you just hand them your zines and say, "Read these."
9. There is no intermediary editor! What you say goes!
10. If you publish a zine you can trade with other zine publishers for theirs, and it's a great way to make friends.

More about International Zine Month at stolensharpierevolution.org.