How To Make A Zine: No Staples, 1 Paper!

Have you heard of a Zine or wondered how to make a zine? No joke, this may be one of the most liberating, inclusive, accessible, and expressive art forms that we can have with limited supplies with unlimited topics and aesthetics, plus for all ages! And yet… zines aren’t in mainstream culture and are hardly known without having to look up what a zine is.

Perhaps that’s how the zine and zinesters prefer it, not being in the mainstream of consumerism and culture, but learning how to make a zine is so simple we can’t wait to show you. Not only will we tell you all about zines and walk you through each step of how to make a zine of your own, but we’ll even dive into some zine ideas!

The best way of going into this how to make a zine process and learning about the history of zines and zine ideas, is to know that there isn’t a right way or a wrong way to make a zine. Let your ideas and creativity flow, then slap it into your crafty lil zine. Really, it’s that cool and simple!

zine /zēn/

noun INFORMAL
a magazine, especially a fanzine

What Does Zine Mean In Slang?

The short answer is that Zine is short for Magazine. Pretty clever, huh? But there’s more to zines, zine ideas, and zinesters than its name. We’re going to show you a brief history of Zines and their awesomeness through the powerful words and views of the mini-zine documentary The ZINE Documentary by Paye Twin Productions.

Zines are mini self-published magazines that often take on the look/form of a booklet. The first known zine, The Comet, was created in the midst of the 1930s through the Science Correspondents Club located in Chicago. But the Zines really sprung into action around the 1940s when Russ Chauvenet coined the term Fanzine. This word combines Fan and Magazine to create the awesomeness of Fanzine. Chauvenet was one of the founders of the Science Fiction Fandom, which is thriving and jiving today and will be for light years to come.

These crafty and self-made zines were becoming so popular because they were encouraged to be expressive; the more creative and out-of-the-box, the better, and the big bonus was that anyone could make a zine. Zines would take over the Punk scene around the 70s at the height of Riot Grrrl and Feminist movements, as they continue to be a vital keystone in communities, ideas, and movements to this day.

What Is An Example Of A Zine?

Zines can come in any topic and media form; that’s the best thing about them! You can create zine ideas from any topic or inspiration that strikes your creative flint, and zines can be created in a variety of ways once you have the paper folded and ready to go (which we’ll show you down below!). You can use any media, like…

• Written
  • Diary
  • Poetry
  • Prose
  • Short Story
• Drawn
  • Comic
  • Doodles
  • Individual Pieces
• Painted
  • Acrylic
  • Water Color
  • Coffee Art
• Mixed Media/Collages
• Photography
• Pen
• Colored Pencils
• ANYTHING!

Below is a visual of what is an example of a zine. Myself, under my pen name B.A. McRae crafted a zine years ago to have on my book merch table during an Author signing.

I created these two characters, Gus and Spoons, and made a zine that illustrated their simple and pleasant lives together. It was super cute and fun to do! Better yet, they were a big hit with readers who came to check out my books. I created one hand copy of my zine and then copied them at a local printer, but you could use your own printer at home to photocopy your zines.

What Is The Difference Between A Magazine And A Zine?

The big factor in what is the difference between a magazine and a zine is how they are created, manufactured, and distributed. Magazines are typically longer in pages and written words and larger in size. Zines are shorter, are usually the size to easily fit in your hand or pocket, and are more likely to be artistically based.

While Magazines are mass distributed and are known for their cut-throat tactics (hey, not all magazines, but we’ve all seen those movies and read those stories about a journalist who will do whatever it takes to get the story. You’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada!) Zines have a bit more heart, intention, and a welcoming community.

Learning how to make a zine is the beginning of a beautiful, fun, and creative journey, and exploring the world of zine ideas and the zine community is just the beginning! Ready to become a Zinester? Let’s get to it!

How To Make A Zine

In 5 easy to follow steps with pictures along the way, we’ll show you how to make a zine!

First we’ll cover what supplies you’ll be needing when you learn how to make a zine, and after you know how, we’ll show you a TON of zine ideas!

Supplies for How To Make A Zine

The supplies that’s needed when you’re learning how to make a zine is incredibly simple. Which is one of the many reasons why we love zines; because ANYONE can make a zine! The aboslute bear minimum supplies you need to make your own zine is a piece of paper. Seriously! But here is a complete list just in case.

1. Piece of paper (printer paper)
2. Scissors
3. Tools/Supplies wanted for creating/decorating zine

There aren’t many crafts out there that require hardly anything, and basically free at that! And beyond the list of supplies needed to make your own zine, the possiblities of zine ideas and what your zine can grow to be are inspiringly endless.

Steps for How To Make A Zine

We learned how to make a zine from author and artist Austin Kleon! Below we’ve linked their easy-to-follow video on how to make a vine, the exact steps which we lay out down below in written/picture form. If you’re more of a video learner we suggest checking out the video first and then reading along with our steps for further how to make a zine guidence. And on that same vien, if you follow along with our steps but find you need some more visuals, check out Austin Kleon‘s video below!

Now, without further ado, let’s get grooving with some how to make a zine magic, you Zinester!

Step One: Fold Your Paper In Half (Horizontally)

Taking your piece of paper, typically printer paper works best for learning how to make a zine, fold it in half horizontally.

Take the right edge/side of the piece of paper and fold it over to meet the left edge/side.

Fold the crease down nice and crisp; using your finger nail or the handle of your scissors to get a hard edge.

Step Two: Turn Folded Paper Sideways & Fold In Half Again

Turning your folded paper the long way, just as you had it in the beginning before it was folded, fold your paper in half again just like you did in the first step.

You can see how using the handle of your scissors can help crease your paper, making it easier when you’re learning how to make a zine and for when you get to further steps.

Step Three: (Once Again) Turn Paper Sideays & Fold In Half

We promise the folding parts are almost over! Go ahead and repeat the second step that you previously did.

Step Four: Unfold Piece of Paper, Fold it Length Wise, & Cut/Tear (Read Details!)

After you’ve made your folds and your edges are nicely creased, unfold your piece of paper. It may seem backwards to unfold it after you’ve just done all that folding, but we promise it’ll make sense!

After you’ve unfolded your paper, just like you did in the first step, take the right edge/side and fold it over so that it meets the left edge/side.

Turn your paper around so that the folded crease side is facing you and the open side is facing up. Just like in the picture below!

Next, take your scissors and cut along the crease line that’s down the middle, but only cut up to the intersection. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY.

You can also choose to gently tear this crease instread of cutting it if you so choose.

Step Five: Unfold Paper & Refold into Zine Form

Last step, you’ve almost completed your how to make a zine training! Whoop whoop!

After you’ve made your cut/tear, go ahead and unfold your paper. I know, I know, but this is the last time!

Stand your paper up and fold it in half so that the cut/torn part you did in the previous step is popping out like the photo below.

Using both hands, take each end and push them in, you can see the paper begin to fold in on itself, creating a booklet– the zine!

Fold the now visiable pages over so that the crease is acting as the binding of your zine. For a better visual of this step, take a look at the short youtube video we linked above!

And there you have it! You’ve learned how to make a zine in 5 steps with one piece of paper and no staples, and you’re totally ready to explore some zine ideas!

Zine Ideas

Having the freedom to run wild with zine ideas is exhilarating and liberating, but it can also be overwhelming if you feel like you can’t catch those ideas fast enough. So, let’s take a breather and have some fun imagining and creating zine ideas. Because zines are meant to mean something to you and your heart, which is all the more hygge reason to take our time, be ourselves, and have fun with it.

We suggest breaking out a scrap piece of paper or your favorite notebook and jotting down a brainstorm of zine ideas. They can be about literally anything you want! That’s the creative beauty of learning how to make a zine, all of the fantastical and inspiring zine ideas you can create with it!

Zine Ideas for Inspiration

Are you looking for ways to become inspired by zine ideas and get those creative juices flowing? Here are some perfect ways to get your zine ideas moving and grooving!

• Check out a Zine Event near you
• Look through mixed media/art/poetry books at your library
• Take a look through Zines on Pinterest
• Discover Zines for sale on Etsy
• Shuffle through your favorite playlists
• Look through your old childhood pictures
• Scroll through #zinecommunity on Instagram/TikTok/YouTube
• Walk through an art gallery or check out Google Arts & Culture

Everyone works in different ways in how they become inspired and get zine ideas after learning how to make a zine. And no which way is wrong or right! What matters is finding your inspiration in the way that works for you.

Topics Zine Ideas

Alright Zinester, let’s get some zine ideas, topics, and purposes flowing so you can get to creating! Below, we’ve listed out a random bunch of zine ideas that will hopefully ignite some of your own zine ideas for your one-of-a-kind unique zine!

• Family Newsletter
• Mini Recipe Book
• Travel Log
• Vacation Itinerary
• Bucket List
• Pen Pal Zine
• Hobby Exploration
• ‘A Day in the Life’ Zine
• Wish List
• Favorite photography
• Fashion Journal
• Mixed media collage
• Family History Zine
• Poetry/Prose
• Friendship Zine
• Favorite characters
• Birthday Card in the form of a zine
• Favorite quotes
• Sweet surprise for a loved one
• Comic Zine
• Coffee Stain Art
• Wedding Gift Zine
• Book Log
  • Here are some zine ideas for bookworms and book lovers: create a zine for a book log for your books of the year or your favorite books of all time!
• Anniversary Zine
  • Ex: 10 of the 10000000 reasons why I love you, Zine
• Holiday Card in the form of a zine
• Instruction Manuels / DIY Guide
  • Whether it’s serious or a gag
• Fanfiction/Fanart
• Christmas Stocking Stuffer Zine
• Mini Diary
  • Here’s a fun zine ideas, you can create a zine for each month of the year and fill it with your favorite moments from that month. Then, at the end of the year, you can look back on it and create one big zine of your favorite moments from the whole year!
• Hygge Gratitude Book/Journal
• Valentine’s Day Card/Gift

We can’t express this enough: zine ideas and zines are meant to be totally your own; there’s no fear of indivduality or weirdness! Whatever you want to create a zine for, as long as you aren’t attempting to cause harm or slander toward someone else, it’s all perfectly clever and cool in the zine world.

Now that you know how to make a zine and you’ve got dozens of zine ideas buzzing around in your mind, what are you waiting for? Go become a Zinester and get out there and make your zine ideas come true! We hope you’ve had fun learning how to make a zine and that you and your zine ideas have a wonderful and imagainative time together.