My latest zine: Phases of the Moon
Behind the many months of making + Zine Lab is back for the summer!
As a little girl in the backseat of my family car I would stare out the window at night, searching for the moon’s bright glow. I imagined the cratered orb guiding me all the way home. The moon is always there to guide our naked eye, slowly shapeshifting its visible surface as a reminder that we are also waxing and waning with the flow of life.
I’ve been working on a zine to honor my appreciation for the moon phases, and I’m finally ready to share it with you today! Phases of the Moon is a three color risograph zine with each spread devoted to one of the eight moon phases. Follow the moon’s story as she moves through the month, offering a piece of herself to the stars before drawing inward once again.
Phases of the Moon is now available in my online shop for $25, with only twenty copies left for sale. Each one is a true labor of love ready to be hung for display, like a paper mobile, with the attached thread.
Making Phases of the Moon
I started the first version of this zine in February, initially imagining it would be a standard pamphlet zine in a comic style. Here are some of my sketches:
I’m somewhat mourning that this version of the zine doesn’t exist—she’s cute! But once I started my risograph printing class, I got inspired to change direction. My teacher Sarula Bao challenged us to think about the following choices to further our zine concepts:
The physical object of the zine
The colors you print with
The paper you choose
The binding technique
I quickly got obsessed with the idea of making a zine with circular pages to match the shape of the moon. Because of its unique shape, I also wanted the book to become a physical object that one could use as a hanging art piece.
So, I went back to the drawing board (aka Procreate) to create the eight pages that would make up this book.
Creating the illustrated pages is just the beginning! Here are the many steps that came after:
Imposing and color separating the pages in Photoshop
Individually risograph printing each color layer (blue, yellow, and black) on double-sided pages
Printing sheets to trim into belly bands for the final folded book
Folding the pages in half
Trimming individual pages into a circle using a circle cutter
Binding the pages into a book with pamphlet stitch, leaving a loop in the thread for hanging
Wrapping a belly band around the final folded book
Want to see the full assembly process of Phases of the Moon? I put together a visual walkthrough and tutorial in my latest YouTube video below:
It took me five months to fully complete this project, especially after traveling in between and losing momentum. Risograph printing is a long game of trial and error, and trimming each printed page into circles was a manual, laborious process. But I’m so proud of the final result—the books are truly special to hold, and I hope they help you remember to connect with the moon! 🌝
Make zines with me this summer!
Now that I’ve wrapped up my latest zine, I’d like to help you make your own! My four week workshop Zine Lab: From Idea to Publication is back this summer so you can create a publication of your very own.
The spring session of Zine Lab was a blast, with participants saying they “love having a physical object that exists now” and “can't wait to keep making more zines.” If you’d like to check out some student work, I direct you to Delaney Gibbons’ delightful This Way to the Garden and Nicole Ditaranto’s fascinatingly informative Nature is Queer!
There are only 12 spots available for Zine Lab so we can keep the group intimate, with plenty of space to share, connect, and problem-solve together. I likely won’t be running Zine Lab again until next year, so if you’ve been on the fence and need a boost of accountability to make your zine, this is your chance. :)
Dates: Mondays on July 21, July 28, August 4, August 11, 7:30-9 PM EDT / 4:30-6 PM PDT
Where: Zoom (all sessions are recorded!)
Cost: $180 (10% discount for paid subscribers—see email footer for promo code)
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She’s so gorgeous! So inspiring to see irregularly shaped zines <3