DIY feminist zines since 2001
I didn’t just want to create things from scratch for my “Februstitchery” challenge but also mend, upcycle, and repurpose. So I gathered some old socks with holes in them and my sewing needle…
Continue reading “Februstitchery – mending, upcycling, and repurposing”
Tis the season to celebrate love and friendship! Of course that doesn’t need to result in buying mass-produced Valentine-themed gifts. I’m all in favour of consuming less and creating and reusing more. So to support that ideal, you can find some tutorials on this blog for how to make your own zines and spell bags for example.
If you do want to support an independent artist and DIY zine maker this season, you can check out my webshop or email me to place an order. I have zines, postcards, spell bags, music, buttons, and embroideries available. Here are some examples:
Continue reading “ValenZines and other gifts for friends and lovers”
Here is another piece of Echo Zines herstory, probably the final post in this 20th zine anniversary series (well, we’ll see, the year isn’t over yet). Because I’ve been making zines for 20 years now, I wanted to take a look at what I’ve made and published throughout this time and share some origin stories of my zine project with you. Previously I blogged about Punk Feminist Mini Zine, the first zine I ever made, and about the zine series Flapper Gathering. Now I’d like to talk about another – still ongoing – zine series called Same Heartbeats…
The pre-order for the new issues of Confined launched today! Scroll down for all the zines and DIY merch that’s available…
Confined is the title of the ongoing zine series of my lockdown diary comics in which I document my daily life and reflections during the covid-19 pandemic. They are a mix of a quaranzine, perzine, and comic zine. I started drawing the first issue in April 2020 and am releasing two new issues on September 14th. Today I’m launching the pre-order of issues #3 and #4 of Confined. These two the diary comic zines continue telling the story from August 2020 until July 2021. Issue #3 has some collages as well and #4 contains interviews with two amazing creative friends: Shei of God Save the Queer and Clémentine of MandApunk and Judith Judah.
The Confined series is one of the biggest zine projects I’ve ever done. If you count all the pages of the zines of this series that I’ve made so far together, it can become one big comic BOOK! I’ve never drawn that many comics / comic pages in such a short time but I feel an urgency to document everything that’s happening at the moment. This also means that this zine series is not done yet and there will be at least one more (5th) issue that I’m already working on, and maybe more.
The pre-order helps me to print the two new issues of Confined and to re-print the first issues. To fund this big project I’ve also created some extra surprises: one-of-a-kind hand-made pieces of embroidery and a zine-themed button set, and you can even acquire a test print of Confined #3 and #4 (for the real collectors among you)!
So… how can you get ahold of the zines and merch?
HOW TO PRE-ORDER:
You can pre-order in my Bandcamp webshop. When you order any Confined zines or merch on Bandcamp you will receive a download of my Lost Luna EP “Shadow Play” as well! The home-recording process of this EP is mentioned in the zines.
(You can also mail me if you prefer to order from me directly – each issue separately costs 3 euros + postage. This will not include the Lost Luna EP.)
The release date for the zines and merch is planned for September 14th!
BANDCAMP OPTIONS:
Quaranzine Bundle:
Bundle of all the zines I made and released since March 2020 until August 2021. This bundle contains the diary comic zine series Confined (#1-4, each zine A5 size, between 44 and 32 pages), the second issue of the diary comic zine Scissors & Chainsaws (36 pages A5 size) the perzine Same Heartbeats #18 (a 24-hour issue of my feminist perzine, 32 pages A6 size), Do it Yourself Care #3 (mini-zine about self-care during winter holidays and family gatherings), Witches’ Brew #1 (mini-zine about herbs), and all three issues of Lost Luna Zine (mini-zines that accompany the “Shadow Play” EP). Plenty of reading fun! This bundle also includes a digital download of the Lost Luna EP “Shadow Play” to which I refer in the new issues of Confined.
More info about each zine at: https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/zines/
The two new Confined zines only:
This bundle contains Confined #3 + 4, the newest issues of my lockdown diary comic zine series. This bundle also includes a digital download of the Lost Luna EP “Shadow Play”.
Each zine: A5, hand-tied, 32 pages on recycled paper with cover on coloured paper
More info about each zine at: https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/zines/
Test print of the two new Confined issues:
Test print of Confined #3 and #4 (only 1 available!)
I did three test prints of both issues of Confined, one for myself, one for a dear friend, and one for… you? This test print contains some things that were changed in the official release (from typos to a slightly embarrassing mistake) so it’s really unique! You could also get the test print AND the official print and play spot the difference. 🙂
Each zine: A5, 32 pages
More info about my zines at: https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/zines/
Embroidery:
I’ve made a few unique hand-sewn pieces of embroidery inspired by themes that appear in my Confined zines such as zine culture, self-care, the pandemic, and Chainsaw Bunny.
Available designs:
(I may be adding more soon)
They are hand-embroidered and one of a kind! This embroidered art can hopefully offer some comfort and beauty in these difficult times.
Materials used: cotton fabric, cotton embroidery thread, polyester sewing thread (and felt in some designs)
Zine-themed button set:
Button set that includes buttons/badges with the following designs:
❤
All pre-orders support me in getting the zines printed so they are greately appreciated! Thank you!
Hi there! This weekend it’s Queer Zest Zine Fest: a virtual zine fest with queer zinesters showing their creations, workshops, and online meet-ups. Find all info here and also check my little participation announcement poster.
I love to read AND make queer zines. There probably exist queerious vibes in all of my zines but they are most clear and obvious in the zines I’ve listed below. In those zines I write and draw about non-conforming gender expression (and feeling pressure to conform), trying to understand (my) gender, lesbophobia in feminist spaces, queer subculture/events, LGBTQIA+ musicians, hating TERFs and fighting transphobia, exploring and relating to queerness in 80s rock stars… Often these writings are a mix of personal reflections and fandom while trying to find some political meaning in between.
Scroll down to the end of this post to find my ideas for future queer zines… 🙂
Continue reading “Discover my queerest zines! (for Queer Zest Zine Fest)”
A few days ago, I decided to invent a new International Zine Month prompt to encourage myself and others to delve into the relationship between zines and music. The idea of this prompt is that you can do or make (and/or share online) anything relating to music and zines. This can include making a playlist about zine-related songs, researching the herstory of zines in music subcultures, marveling over your favourite music fanzines, or making a zine about your favourite band. I invite you to participate and post about it online before the end of July (and let me know about it)!
Read on to find out what I did for this prompt…
Hi there! As you may have heard if you’re a regular reader of this blog, this summer I’m celebrating my 20th zine anniversary or “zineversary“. For this occasion I’d like to offer some special zine/merch bundles and surprise zine bags. The first one on offer is the “Summer Solstice Bundle”!
Special Summer Solstice Zineversary Bundle:
This anniversary zine bundle includes:
Price with postage included to Belgium: 5,50 euro*
Price with postage included to Europe: 6,30 euro*
Price with postage included to worldwide: 6,50 euro*
*Only valid until June 30th 2021
Mail me to place an order or if you have any questions.
As you could already read in my announcement post, Same Heartbeats #18 was made during the 24 Hour Zine Challenge of Virtual Swansea Zine Fest in May.
I approached the making of this 24 hour zine in a completely hand-made fashion, with a lot of cut & pasting as you can see here: (read on under the photo)
(Don’t) stop the presses! New zine alert!
Same Heartbeats #18 – a new 24-hour-zine
This new issue of Same Heartbeats was created during the 24 hour zine challenge organised by Virtual Swansea Zine Fest 2021 which took place on May 8th. It was an amazing virtual zine weekend and I was very happy to participate and connect with zinesters while we were all working on our publications at home.
(More info about the contents and ordering under the photo)
So Valentines is coming up and in my opinion that’s an excellent moment to make a zine for someone you love, write a zine about your crush, and/or publish a zine about love, friendship, or relationships.
I have a few zines in stock that could make excellent gifts too:
(Not that I want to contribute to the overcommercialisation of February 14th and I mostly encourage you to make your own gifts but I’m quite proud of these zines)
Continue reading “ValenZines: zines to give to friends or lovers”
Echo Zines 