Colorful, whimsical zines exploring an amalgamation of the following: love, relationships, mental health, politics, and more. "Letters to my (Ex) Lovers" explores love and relationships in hindsight, adding humor into the mix and a dash of hope for the future. "Tailor-Made Care" is an interactive, guided zine to help you discover the various ways in which you can show care for a specific loved one in your life. Fill out the zine and swap with your partner, friend, parent, or other loved one. Check out more zines on IG at wildflowerzinefest.
- Handwritten/drawn
- Cut-and-paste
- Photocopying
- Digital
- Folded
- Stapled
- Saddlestitched
This is probably unusual, but I took a self-publishing class in college where all we did was make zines. It was one of my favorite classes, but the professor surprised me by verbally attacking me about being depressed and not working hard enough in her class. I was shocked, since I had poured in countless hours into that class. In retrospect, I think she assumed I didn't put in much effort because my zines were so plain. I hadn't found my voice yet, and wasn't very experimental. Still, that negative (and inappropriate) confrontation scared me off from making zines for a while. It wasn't until over a year later that I made my first post-grad zine. Now I make them because I have a lot to say and I love how versatile they can be.
The biggest challenge is making zines fast enough to keep up with my ideas. In addition, I can imagine each zine in various forms (digital, mixed media, collage) and have a hard time deciding in which direction to go. Lastly, I worry about choosing between what I like and what I think will appeal to others. In other words, I worry about what people will think and like.
I've noticed I like to add an educational component to my zines. I guess I like to give advice. Haha. Ideas for future zines include ones on how to choose the best yoga teacher/class for you, how to choose the right therapist for you, how the Wildflower Zine Fest came about, one on Chinese medicine, one on my musings regarding different art forms and the art world at large, plus a collage zine listing songs not (exclusively) about love.
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