Hand Printing a Zine

Hey everyone. For the holidays I'm working on hand printing a zine for some of my friends and family. I've got the layout and I'm gonna start printing things soon, but I've never attached two prints back to back. With the way I've got things laid out, I'll need to successfully find a way to make that work.

I've never dry-mounted anything before, but that was the first thing that came to mind when brainstorming. I'm printing on color RC paper, so I'm not sure that's the best strategy. The other thing that I thought of was some kind of spray adhesive, followed by a roller of some sort to flatten the prints and make sure there are no air bubbles. My main concern with this method is that extra adhesive will get on top of the prints. There are definitely ways around that, but I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

If anyone has other ideas, let me know! I'm looking forward to trying this out.

There are (or at least used to be) a number of different types and strengths of spray adhesive. Photo Mount is (was--I haven't bought any of that stuff for years) designed specifically for photo paper. Unless you don't let the adhesive set a bit before positioning the prints or you spray a ton of it on the prints, there shouldn't be any excess at the edges. Put a piece of scrap paper (not photo, but ordinary bond) over the print assembly and use a hard roller or plastic ruler to smoothly flatten the assembled prints. How are you binding the zine?

check out YES Stickflat Glue
might be the ticket for you....

Pieter12 said:

How are you binding the zine?

Click to expand...

It's a little complicated, but essentially it's four 10x16 pieces of paper folder in half, with the back of the right half of the first sheet pasted to the back of the left half of the second sheer, and so on for all four pages. Then inside each of those, there will be only one page, which is the print pasted to the print. I can try and far a diagram if that would help

Peter Schrager said:

check out YES Stickflat Glue
might be the ticket for you....

Click to expand...

This stuff is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

A few comments from a fellow who makes a lot of chapbooks... that's what you call a zine, if you are as old as I am!

First and foremost... have you actually tried folding the paper you are planning on using? I have yet to find a glossy or semi-gloss paper that can be folded without cracking the coating. If you have found such a beast, I would be glad to hear about it. Even some matte papers coated for inkjet printing have this problem.

As far as folding goes... use a bone folder or a substitute such as the handle of a teaspoon to score the paper before you fold. You will get much nicer creases that way.

As for duplexing paper (that is the technical term for gluing two sheets of paper together)...I try to avoid this if possible it adds complication. I much prefer to use double sided paper.

If you do want to duplex sheets, the YES glue mentioned above is definitely a good choice. Another good choice is the Daige Rollataq 300 applicator if you can find one, (I just did a quick search and it might be discontinued). This handheld little brother to some pro machines is designed to easily lay down an even thin layer of glue and works well for duplexing.

Whatever you do, expect a bit of a learning curve... you need to be prepared to make a few mistakes as you assemble the book. Plan ahead and print some extra copies. This is the voice of experience talking!

I did not quite grasp how you are planning to bind the pages, so I can't give any advice there. I will say that the traditional pamphlet stitch is very easy to learn and does not require much equipment for a simple book. You really need only a few Ideal clamps, an awl, a needle and some strong thread.

Have fun!

Griffin Miller said:

It's a little complicated, but essentially it's four 10x16 pieces of paper folder in half, with the back of the right half of the first sheet pasted to the back of the left half of the second sheer, and so on for all four pages. Then inside each of those, there will be only one page, which is the print pasted to the print. I can try and far a diagram if that would help

Click to expand...

Sounds like it will be saddle-stitched. Simple. Get yourself a scoring "bone" from an art supply or book-making store. In a pinch, you can use a dry ball-point pen, just not a fine-point one. Use a straight-edge and the bone to score the pages down the middle before folding. It will make everything easier and neater.

fgorga said:

A few comments from a fellow who makes a lot of chapbooks... that's what you call a zine, if you are as old as I am!

First and foremost... have you actually tried folding the paper you are planning on using? I have yet to find a glossy or semi-gloss paper that can be folded without cracking the coating. If you have found such a beast, I would be glad to hear about it. Even some matte papers coated for inkjet printing have this problem.
Have fun!

Click to expand...

I appreciate all of the advice! I'm definitely expecting a learning curve but that's part of the reason I'm doing it this way. To learn! I haven't tried to fold the paper yet, however, I've got some matte Fuji Crystal Archive on the way. From what I've heard it's a pretty thin paper, so thin in fact most people don't like printing on it but that makes it perfect for duplexing. I do have a folding bone so that will definitely aid along the way. As for that applicator... It does appear to be discontinued, but with the YES glue and maybe some water, I bet I can apply it with some sort of roller brush for a pretty even coat.

I've tried my way of binding with a few smaller black and white prints I had lying around and it seems like it should be fine. I think it is pretty similar to the saddle-stitch method that Pieter12 mentioned, just with a few so-called "units" attached together via the duplex method. I might end up posting updates on here assuming all goes well!

Griffin Miller said:

I appreciate all of the advice! I'm definitely expecting a learning curve but that's part of the reason I'm doing it this way. To learn! I haven't tried to fold the paper yet, however, I've got some matte Fuji Crystal Archive on the way. From what I've heard it's a pretty thin paper, so thin in fact most people don't like printing on it but that makes it perfect for duplexing. I do have a folding bone so that will definitely aid along the way. As for that applicator... It does appear to be discontinued, but with the YES glue and maybe some water, I bet I can apply it with some sort of roller brush for a pretty even coat.

I've tried my way of binding with a few smaller black and white prints I had lying around and it seems like it should be fine. I think it is pretty similar to the saddle-stitch method that Pieter12 mentioned, just with a few so-called "units" attached together via the duplex method. I might end up posting updates on here assuming all goes well!

Click to expand...

Yup... learning (figuring out) new things is all part of the fun!

If you can't fold the photographic paper you can consider gluing the photographs to a paper that can be be folded and using those as your pages. It adds steps to the process, but is often done.

The saddle stitch that Pieter12 mentions and the pamphlet stitch I mentioned are essentially the same thing.

fgorga said:

If you can't fold the photographic paper you can consider gluing the photographs to a paper that can be be folded and using those as your pages.

Click to expand...

This was my backup plan, so I'll definitely do that if folding the paper causes some unexpected ugliness.

Griffin Miller said:

It's a little complicated, but essentially it's four 10x16 pieces of paper folder in half, with the back of the right half of the first sheet pasted to the back of the left half of the second sheer, and so on for all four pages. Then inside each of those, there will be only one page, which is the print pasted to the print. I can try and far a diagram if that would help

Click to expand...

It's a little abstract to me; a diagram would indeed help. One thing to look out for is if you're going to bind pages consisting of two sheets pasted together, it may result in problems with the book not staying closed; the backside of each set of pages will 'pull' the book open as it lays down. For this reason, but also to make binding a little easier altogether, I'd consider making the pages from an appropriate paper stock and then simply pasting the photos to both sides of each page. The pages will be much thicker across most of the surface area and much thinner along the center fold, which you can accommodate in the binding (you could glue thin strips of paper along the center fold of the pages to get the same thickness as on the rest of the page).

Anyway, you'll figure it out I'm sure; the important thing is that it's a fun project - binding your own book(let) is lots of fun and with a little care and experimentation, you can get really nice results. I've done a few a couple of years back and I was very pleased with the result, even though I started out with 0 experience. It sure wasn't a professional job, but it's really satisfying to hold an entirely self-made book!