How to Fold a Double-sided, One-Page Zine

 
 

Hand drawn zines are emotions captured in ink.

I discovered hand drawn, one-page zines via Austin Kleon and Malaka Gharib. I love the total not-at-all-artifical-ness of a hand drawn zine. The squiggly lines. The moments of hesitation visible in the pooling of ink. The way this format helps me structure big ideas in bite-size bits.

All the one-page zines I’ve seen use one side of the paper and create a book by folding and cutting and magic-ing a single sheet of paper into an 8-page mini booklet. I love them. And also, I hated that an entire side of a piece of paper was not printed on. What a waste! And the bended fold twisted my brain haphazardly.

There had to be a simple and easy way.

So I set about to find a way to print on both sides of the page and fold to make a booklet zine thingy. Naturally I googled (actually I Ecosia’d. I highly recommend Ecosia as the default search engine. They plant trees.)

And surprisingly found: absolutely nothing. Can you imagine? I couldn’t.

This is the part where I tell you: How to Fold a Double-sided, One-Page zine

First you’ll need to download a zine. You can start with the first one I ever shared online: on the Universal Tarot Card of the Year. (No email opt-in required for this one. And it is also the same one I use to demonstrate in the video below so that will hep with orienting your folds.)


In a nutshell:

 

  1. all you do is print out the zine.

  2. Find the cover page (it’s obvious).

  3. Then fold the page in half so the cover page and back page are on the top.

  4. Then fold in half again so the cover page is on top like a book cover and the back page is on the back like a back cover.

  5. Then slice open the top seam so you can open the pages and read.

  6. If you don’t have a long-arm stapler (mine always reminds me of my dad’s printing shop in the 70’s and 80’s :) then don’t slice the whole way through, especially on the back page. That creates a little tab that functions as a stapler to hold it all together.

  7. Print. Read. Add to your library. Now you go make & do something cool.

 

This is the part where I show you a video on: How to Fold a Double-sided, One-page zine.

How to fold a double-sided, one-page zine.

This is the part where you go do it.

Enjoy!

Share with your friends.

Christine Gerber-Rutt