Today, I’m starting the 24-hour zine thing. (Yes, that’s what it’s called.) This may be quite a challenge! What is a 24-hour zine? If you’re not familiar with it, here’s the basic idea: Go from concept to completed/printed-and-bound 24-page zine in 24 hours. My general plan is to start it around 1 p.m. today. I’m…
Category: Art in the Mail
Art in the mail – snail mail and email: Zines, artistamps, mailart, digital art, swaps, and more.
Swaps and Documentation
Some swaps say, “Documentation will be provided,” or something like that. Here’s what that means: The person organizing the swap will provide a list of everyone who participated in the swap, mailart call, or whatever. In some cases, that list may be just people’s names. In others, it’s each person’s name and address. (If you…
Swaps and Postage
When organizing an art swap of any kind, postage can be a Very Big Headache. Here are some tips to keep the postage problems to a minimum. Different people send items that are varying sizes and — more importantly — different weights. Even in a cloth doll swap, you never know who’ll embellish their dolls…
Art Swaps – How the Numbers Work
When you’re participating in an art swap through an online group or community, the numbers may confuse you. Here are some tips to help you understand them. There are three kinds of art swaps: Equal-for-equal, Number-for-number-minus-one, and Number-for-number-minus-X. Here’s how they work… EQUAL-FOR-EQUAL Art Swap When a swap is 3-for-3 or 10-for-10 or anything…
Art Swaps – How the Numbers Work
When you’re participating in art or crafts swaps through an online group or community, the numbers may confuse you. Here are some tips to help you understand how swaps work. (These tips apply to swaps exchanged through the postal mail. For a typical digital swap example, see my article, Artistamps – digital swaps.) EQUAL-FOR-EQUAL When…
Disneyland Tribute for My Mom (Fantasyland game)
Disneyland is celebrating its 55th anniversary. I’m commemorating it with an artistamp design featuring art by my mother, Muriel Joan Bernier (1919 – 2010). The artwork at left, which was also on the Fantasyland board game, was based on my mother’s art. She freelanced for Disney in the 1950s. I remember her drawing lots &…
How to Make a Simple, Single-Sheet Zine
There are as many ways to create, modify & embellish a single-sheet zine as there are artists. How to Create a Single-Sheet Zine Here’s a very simple way to create one: 1. Take any white sheet of paper. Pull one out of your desktop printer, or rip one out of a notebook. (Think of the…
Single-Sheet Zine Layout – Expanded
Single-sheet zines can be easy or complex. In my earlier article, Single-sheet Zine Design – Basics, I showed one of the simpler ways to create a zine. Now, let’s talk about a more complex approach… that still uses a single sheet of paper. But first, a little history: In 1977, I published my first zine….
The Return of the Zine
This is from my archives, when I sent “creative somethings” (including zines) to my subscribers. Recently, I’ve been thinking of restarting this project, perhaps through Patreon. If that sounds interesting to you, let me know. The zines are returning in 2010. They’ll be in three versions: 1. Paper copies (“old school” b&w) for previous subscribers….
Zine Layouts
I published my first zine in 1977. It was one piece of paper, printed on one or two sides, folded, stamped, and sent out with someone’s name & address written on the outside. In time, I graduated to two or three sheets of paper, and I started rubber stamping & glittering my zines. Yes, each…