After 10 years of hating zines, a thrift store pile changed my mind

I've always thought zines were just messy notebooks people photocopied. Then last month at a thrift store in Portland I grabbed a stack for $2 because the covers had this weird hand-stamped pattern. Turns out one was a bike mechanic's guide from 2003 drawn entirely with markers. Another was someone's collection of grocery list doodles. The printing was terrible, the paper was cheap, but the ideas were way more honest than half the polished posters I see. Now I'm thinking about making my own. Has anyone else flipped on a whole format after seeing the right example?

2 comments

2 Comments

briannguyen3d ago

Found a handmade cookbook at a garage sale that changed how I felt about messy recipes too.

finley_walker573d ago

Found a 1970s spiral-bound church cookbook once that had a recipe for 'depression cake' that saved my birthday.