I've been working on a new way to create Zines. The current version that I've used for previous zines such at the Lever Zine, here, is based on a single sheet of paper folded and cut. It works well but has some limitations. Firstly as it is to be printed out onto a single sheet, the individual pages are small. Secondly, each zine is restricted to exactly eight pages, no more, no less.

The new layout I have come up with is not restricted in the number of pages in each zine. Also, the page size can be up to almost half of a sheet of standard printer paper though I have used a quarter page size for this prototype. It still maintains the advantage of being easy to print out, printing is required only on one side of the paper. The new design also has the advantage of being make-able with scissors only. No knife is needed.

Each leaf of the zine, two pages, front and back, is made from a single shape, shown above. The dimensions are shown here, if you are a member you can download a blank template with two of these on a single sheet for you to try out.

The main page units fold up like this…

… and are joined together by gluing the long tab to the back of the next page.

I used a single rub from a glue stick on the back of the sheet…

…then glued the edge down to the tab.

With four (or however many you want) of these units glued together the final zine spine is made by folding the last remaining long tab over the edges of the book centre (1) The sheet which will be the back cover of the book is then folded down and glued to the long tab.

And there you have it. Eight page zine, ten page zine, twenty page, whatever you like. Easy to use, easy to make.

Expect to see a finished zine in this new format soon!