My favorite cidery posted a notification of an upcoming event. “Crafternoon + Zine Workshop” invited me to “Come out with (my) sketchbook” for an afternoon of “art and zines.” Cider, sketchbook and art, I thought. A good way to pass a Sunday afternoon. And to learn what a “zine” was. I arrived at the cidery 20 minutes past the advertised 2 p.m. start time, and a group of ladies were already gathered around tables, bent over tiny pieces of paper that they were decorating with various art materials. I got my cider from Dohwan, and he directed me to the crafting table, where I met Jane.
Jane Mills was hovering over a table of art supplies, and told me to set settled, saying that she would be with me as soon as I needed her. When I was ready, she brought me white, 8 ½ by 11 sheets of paper. She showed me how to fold the paper in order to make a small booklet, demonstrating the techniques while using my youngest daughter’s towel-folding terms: “hot dog” (horizontal and vertical) and “hamburger” (fold in half). One of the three women at a table near me invited me to use their art supplies, which included a box of Crayola crayons. I sat down to sketch out the design for my little booklet, and when I availed myself of the proffered crayons, a woman asked me what I was working on.
“My granddaughter called me last week and told me that she wanted to work on an art project with me.” I told the ladies that 10-year-old Imani was going to send a project to me, and I was to do the same for her. The opportunity to work on a “zine” was the perfect occasion for the creation of art for her. So, I tinkered, tailored, soldiered on and spied on my neighbors as I worked on the tiny book to share with my Imani. When the winding down time came (the event was advertised as happening between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.) I spoke to Jane again. I wanted to get some first-hand information from the event organizer.
S. Jane Mills is an artist who has produced many zines, many of which reflect her interest in space, as in the moon and the stars and the planets. After an affiliation with another zine-producing organization, Jane got involved in starting Indianapolis Zinefest. The inaugural event will be held on August 31st at the Liter House in Broad Ripple. The event is free, and open to all, but there will be 33 vendors selling their zines. “Crafternoon” at the cidery was one of several interest-generating events that, leading up the Zinefest, will be held at other venues about the city. While we worked on our zines, the crafters and artists were stalked by “the official photographer,” Claude Bell, who herself, was a zine-producer at another organization. Her “Pure Blues” was a record collector’s fanzine, focused on bands such as The Yardbirds, and Led Zeppelin.
I left the cidery with Imani’s zine and a small crop of zines which had been gifted to me by Jane. After reading “A.S.T.R.O. girl,” and “UKIAH #2,” I polished off “Ad Astra Issue 1,” and “Rebel Doll Zine #11; Passion.” I also finished Imani’s zine, and sent her pictures of “coming events.”
My blunt, no-nonsense Oxford English Dictionary defines “zine” in this way: “A magazine, esp. a fanzine.” The Merriam-Webster online dictionary adds that the magazine is “noncommercial, (an) often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter.” That’s my zine scene.
cjon3acd@att.net