TIL a folding trick at the Durham zine fest that cut my assembly time in half.

I watched a creator use a bone folder on a single sheet of paper to make an 8-page mini-zine in under 30 seconds, which made me stop stapling my perzines and start using this faster method instead, so has anyone else picked up a simple trick at a fest that changed their process?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahs712mo ago

I was a die-hard stapler fan until I saw that demo. Watching someone fold a whole zine that fast made my old method look silly. I haven't touched my long-reach stapler since.

holly_young3520d ago

That line about watching someone fold a whole zine that fast really stuck with me. My friend Carla said the exact same thing after she saw a video of a person doing that accordion fold and staple trick in like ten seconds. She tried it at home with an old copy of her neighborhood newsletter and ended up with a crooked mess that wouldn't even lie flat. Then her cat sat on it and the whole thing just kind of collapsed. She went right back to her long-reach stapler the next day.

keithward2mo ago

Nah, staplers still have their place for sure. That folding trick is neat for a quick one-off, but try making fifty copies for a small event. My long-reach stapler is way faster for batch work, and the binding is more durable. A folded zine can come apart in a bag. Sometimes the old method is just more solid.