LISTEN UP! It’s the 90s this week on Sneer Campaign and we’re bringing you this delightful craft project. So grab some paper and pens and some literal garbage. Cut out some magazine shit and I don’t know… stamps? Whatever you have.

If you didn’t love zine culture or you just don’t know, they are generally self-published booklets that you distribute on your own. People basically made their own publications about everything from niche weirdo topics to full-on non-profit businesses sharing information. A lot of zines were made with radical ideas and feminist intent, as they should.

Junior Sneerfriends Team, lets’ make a zine!

 

The Zine

Okay so go get some copy paper. Just pull it out of the printer you never use or steal it from work (I won’t tell). Grab at least 3 sheets of paper. Don’t go too crazy, because each sheet of paper will be four pages of your glorious zine. Fold all these pages in half. Pro-tip, fold them separately and push down the crease with a pen or something. (A bone folder if you have bookmakin’ tools.)

Scribble all over the cover! Or draw, write, etc. Whatever your specialty is. Don’t forget to crudely write the title of your zine across the front in big bold letters. Try using a Sharpie for that part. Make the cover as crazy or simple as you’d like. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the inside, theme, or title. Go nuts.

 

The Theme

Try to match all, most, or some of the content in your zine to a theme. Whatever theme you want! Once you’ve decided on one, fill the inside with lots of art, writing, photography, or anything else you can crank out. Arrange it beautifully, or as if you’re throwing it all in the garbage. Like everything else about zines, it’s up to you.

Once you’ve got it all set up, open it back up. Take all the separate pages and photocopy them at your nearest FedEx Kinko’s (or at work, again). Collate them all back together sloppily, then staple the folded edge of each with as much enthusiasm as you can muster while playing some Crass.

 

The Name

Okay so hopefully you thought of the name first, as if you were starting a band! If you can’t think of one you love, just choose a cuss word and a noun related to your theme. It’s fun that way. Ex: FUCK PAINT, POETRY SHIT, PISS TOILET

 

The Help

Okay so unless you want to do all that hard work yourself, you’ll have to recruit your friends, whether they realize it or not. Tell them about your great new idea and ask if they’d like to contribute. Call it a Collective if that helps.

When they help you out, or whoever agrees to help, get one work from each of them. Thank them in the first page because what else are you gonna do for them, amirite? Give them each some copies to distribute or to hoard in their room once they forget they were supposed to.

As for yourself, distribute to nearby angry punx, lesbian bookshops, art galleries, or back alleys.

All done!