Zine Making From Scratch

Learn to fold, cut, and publish your own one-page zine in under 90 minutes using the classic 8-fold method.

Zines are the original self-publishing format—raw, unfiltered, and completely yours. The beauty of a one-page zine is that it requires almost nothing: one sheet of standard printer paper, scissors, and something to write with. Fold it the right way and you've got 8 panels to fill however you want. No editorial board, no algorithm deciding what people see. The 8-fold technique dates back to punk zine culture in the 70s, but it works for anything—poetry, comics, photography collages, rant manifestos, recipe collections, neighborhood field guides. You'll spend the first 20 minutes figuring out the fold pattern (it's counterintuitive until it clicks), then the rest filling your panels. The constraints actually help: knowing you have exactly 8 small spaces forces you to edit ruthlessly and think visually. Once your master copy is done, hit a copy shop or library printer and run off 20-50 copies for under $5. Leave them in coffee shops, trade with other zine makers, or hand them to strangers. There's something satisfying about holding a physical object you made from scratch that morning, watching someone actually read the thing while waiting for their latte.