Crafts and Hobbies #64 Zine!

I tried creating my own zine. It is harder than it looks. I have to admit that I messed up the page order when I put it together on the computer, but I was able to cut it and hand piece it together on other paper. Though that was a physical challenge I had to overcome, the worst was the nontangible decisions like what was I going to focus on. I decided that it would just be anything that interested me, including some of the short fiction and poems I've done, what I've been reading and the places I've been. But, the absolute hardest thing, is what do I call it????

I like the idea of zines in libraries. Being able to recognize local talent, and, yes, it takes talent to get a zine together, is a major plus for any library and writer. It opens the world up to students and other members of the community by allowing them to express their own experiences and opinions. I am looking forward to trying out a branch zine...maybe.

I do also see controversy in zines. I imagine that there would be some people who would be offended by some zines and some who would use their zine to hurt others. Zines could be a wondersul lesson in responsibility and ethics. There would also be issues of copyright and other legal issues that could arise.

Overall, though, I thik zines could be beneficial to libraries because they do encourage thinking and writing and expressing oneself which is something that is getting lost in today's easy-access, no thought information glut.

Crafts & Hobbies #62: Decoupage

I have actually decoupaged before and I was really nervous about it. It all began with a garage sale. My Aunt Janet, the garage sale queen, had recently found a small white table with a little bit of water damage on the corner. One edge had begun to layer and rise and thus warped the lines of the table. "That'll never sell," I thought. I had once picked up an apothecary end table that had had a little water damage on the top that I had camo'ed with a sponged layer of hunter green paint. I thought that I might be able to do the same thing with this table so I took it home with me. I bought some scrapbooking paper with those gaudy overblown pink shabby chic roses on it and a pink and white check ribbon about an inch and a quarter wide. I decoupaged the top of the table with the paper. (I don't mind saying that if you look really closely, you can see one spot where I had a little trouble. It was my first attempt after all.) I sprayed it with lacquer once the modgepodge dried so that it would be a little more protected. Finally, I hot glued the ribbon around the edge of the table to disguise the layered corner.

I like decoupage because you can apply it just about anything, with just about anything. I haven't found my next project yet, but I do have some modgepodge left over, so anything's still fair game.