ZMACS: APR: Cloth Minizine/ Minibook

(Before the non-sewing population runs away in fear, see suggestions at end of swap description :)

Yes, cloth! Fabric! Textile! Why fear it? After all, it is possible for paper to be woven and cloth to be created in the same manner as paper, ne c'est pas? (That's Inspector Hercule Poirot for "is it not?")

I recently checked out the amazing book "How to Make Books," by Esther K. Smith, from the library, and lo and behold! One of the first projects was a cloth minizine, created in the same manner as a typical one-page-of paper, folded and slit to make 8 pages minizine!

Starting with a cloth rectangle, the example in the book was folded, ironed, and a slit cut in the same way as a paper minizine.

After the minizine is created, it could be reinforced with an inner layer of paper minizine (using stitching, glue, or decoupage medium/ gloss medium), fusible interfacing (ask at the fabric store, this is a NO SEW option), or merely gesso'ed/ painted on/ medium'ed/ glued to create a stiffer surface to work on. Examples of decoration included painting, collage, stitching, and simply drawing with a suitable art marker/ pen and ink.

Of course, if anyone would like to make a hexaminizine or other type of minizine from fabric, this is also to be celebrated (I am so fond of the hexaminizine, and need to get a blog post up on them.)!

Open to all ZMACS members in good standing. Sense of adventure recommended, as with all our more experimental swaps -- we expect mistakes and strangeness, and sometimes find serendipity :)

I was looking for online examples, and found this one from Mandy Kay, via cocoa daisy, this one from a dog's life, this one from beads, buttons, & birds, this one from balzer designs, and this one from Plum Quilts. Although these ones are stitched on/ heavily embellished/ painted, the simple ink pen or collage techniques should not be underestimated, and will likely ship flatter and less expensively than the more heavy embellishments.

Have fun!! Image is from Sally Darlison at FUSION -- Fabric, Paper, Stitch. and was created with a brochure, gesso, watercolor pastels and watercolors -- how cool is this Italian scene?!