A zine about making your own zine

a zine about...

MAKING MAKING YOUR YOUR OWN OWN ZINE ZINE

Back Chat - what's it all about?

Some people say the pandemic is over. Some people say we are still in the pandemic, others think the effects of the pandemic will be with all of us for a long time...

Back Chat aims to find out what life is like for children and how this might be the same or different from life before the pandemic and life during lockdown.

logo by Belinda Walsh and Katie

CONTENTS

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Making your zine

CONTENTS

Drawing and writing

Writing a table of contents at the front of your zine can help the person reading it to find out what's inside Maybe you will want to add page numbers to your zine too.

about this zine

This is a zine about how to make your own zine! On the next pages you'll find some different ideas you might want to try out, but you can make your zine any way you want. You can use the art materials we sent you, or anything else you can think of!

Remember not to write anyone’s first or last name. If you want to include photos of yourself or people you know try taking them so you they don’t identify the person – like this ….

You can take your time adding content to the pages of your zine every so often or do more than one page in one day! You can do this on your own or with a friend (including other children on the project) These are the questions we'd like you to think about when you're making your zine. You can answer all of these questions or just the ones you think are more important.

1. Where can you go? (places, indoors, outdoors, online, imagination , other?)

2. Where can’t you go?

3. What can you do? (school, clubs, holidays, activities, online, outdoors, other?)

4. What can’t you do?

5. Who can you see? (family, friends, animals, nature, other?)

6. Who can’t you see?

7. What things make life good for you?

8. What things could make life better for you?

9. What is important for the future?

10. Is there something else you think is important?

WHAT IS A ZINE ANYWAY?

Zines are small booklets or magazines where you can express your ideas, opinions, and feelings.

They can be about anything and can be made by just about anyone!

Zines often share ideas you wouldn't find in other places like newspapers or magazines. They are often made by people who don't see the things that are important to them being talked about in the media.

Some people make zines digitally - maybe you'd like to do that too. You could use Powerpoint, or Word, or paint or make an animation! I made this zine using free online software called Canva. Check with a parent or carer before signing up for an account.

Making your zine There are lots of ways to start making your zine. Here are two ideas

A booklet zine made of several sheets of A4 paper 1. Take some sheets of A4 paper and fold them in half. You could staple them together if you have a stapler.

2. That's it! Start creating your answers to the questions in the pages

An 8-page mini zine out of one sheet of A4 paper This can be a bit tricky so we have included a pre-folded mini zine for you to use in your materials! Here is how we made it - you might want to try it out yourself, or unfold the one we made to see how it works.

1. Take one sheet of A4 paper 2. Follow these instructions (if viewing this on a laptop/Ipad click the text that is underlined) OR Watch this video(if viewing this on a laptop/Ipad/computer click the text that is underlined) OR follow the instructions below

1. start with a sheet of A4 paper 2. fold it in half (the long side)

5. unfold and you should have 4 columns about the same size

8. fold the paper over like it's a book

11. This bit can be quite tricky!

Try to fold the paper so all of the pages are flat against each other

3. unfold it so it looks like this

6. fold the paper over like this so now you can see 4 smaller rectangles

9. cut along the middle line from he side of the paper that has the fold - but stop half way!

11. Squash the zine flat - it doesn't matter if it isn't all lined up perfectly!

4. fold both edges in so they meet in the middle where the first folded line is

7. unfold the paper and you should have 8 rectangles of about the same size

10. turn your paper so it looks like this

11. Fold it in half once more and you should have a booklet with 8 pages

drawing

You could draw pictures in your zine. I drew some pictures of people and animals I've been able to see. I love animals but don't have a pet just now - there is a pom dog who lives on my street that I love to see when I'm out for a walk!

If you look closely - I used an old piece of paper and glued a plain piece of paper over it to make this page.

you could use some washi tape to make a border

writing You could write a list in your zine. I started writing a list of things I can do

You can draw pictures, write, or you could cut out letters or pictures from old leaflets, newspapers or magazines to answer the questions . This is sometimes called collage.

I looked through some old magazines and cut out pictures that made me think about some places I haven't been able to go during the pandemic - the library, some places with nature, and on a plane

I made another page using colours and patterns that reminded me of nature

Poetry Making a blackout poem

The words that are left make a poem change last summer make decisions prioritsing helping

1. I cut a piece of text out of an old newspaper, leaflet or magazine

2. then I circled some works I found interesting and blacked out all the other words using my pen. Then I stuck in in my zine

Blacking out some words and leaving the ones I chose made this piece of text say something different. Maybe you'd like to try it out

Making an acrostic poem An acrostic poem uses the letters of a word to make the first letter of each line of a poem. I made one about PLACES I haven't been able to go this year. You could try this out using one of the words in the questions on page 3.

nking i h t l l ti I'm s - I'll s i h t t r abou othe n a t i finish ay d

Colours, pop-ups, pockets, and pull outs! s or r u o col e h t t e bou a u ar how o k s y n i o s t h T ern em h t py, patt e p s a u h you they n a e ited, r c C A x . e g ? lm, usin feelings a c , nny u your f , lse? y e r g g n n a ethi sad, m o s

pocket

Maybe you want to include an object with your zine. You could make a pocket inside your zine.

Or you could find an old envelope or box to keep your zine and the objects in together.

If you want to make more space in your zine you could make a flap. You can stick on an extra piece of paper and fold it over - like a lift the flap book!

pull out

pop up

To make a pop up cut out a rectangle piece of paper and fold it back and forth into a zig zag. Then glue the last square at each end of the zig zag - stick one end on your zine, and the piece your want to pop-up on the other!

To make a pocket glue along the two short sides of a triangle shaped piece of paper and stick it in your zine. Wait for it to dry before putting anything in it!

We can't wait to see what you make!

Back Chat project created by Helen Lomax, Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society and Kate Smith, Centre for Applied Childhood, Youth and Family Research at the University of Huddersfield.

Zine created by Amanda Ptolomey, University of Glasgow

'Back Chat: Developing arts-based methods of knowledge generation and exchange with children during times of global crisis' is funded by the British Academy (grant number SRG202\211308)