july

the inflatable zine

i started thinking up inflatables zines almost immediately after starting The Inflatable Moment

  • a book on inflatables.
    • i was lucky to find it secondhand in the really good secondhand bookshop downtown. initially it was kind of a coffee table book to me, something neat to flip through but the store clerk offhandedly asked me to provide a review. so i had to close read it to be sure i could provide a good review. and i loved it. it was a bit dense at times but it was a fascinating read. i really loved seeing the images and blueprints of different inflatables. there was also a lot of ideas about the struggles of living in a city, the same boring buildings been built over and over, and the politics of air. all things that have been in my mind constantly lately.

    i used the zine to vent about my climate fears, and also left some room for hope. because i really do truly hope things will change in my lifetime. once the idea for an inflatable zine hit i started research inflatables i could alter into a zine. the cover was a red inflatable chair which made me think of this green inflatable chair i had for my barbies growing up. i absolutely knew i wanted to use a similar green inflatable for my zine. i also wanted to use blue for a little contrast. it took searching online, multiple stores and finally hitting exactly what i wanted at the dollarama downtown for 20$ total. it was in the form of two pool lounger matts.

    i made up the bulk of the covers cutting the head rests into an approximate 8.5x11 shape and then started researching ways to seal inflatables. in the end i used an iron on a low setting with brown packing paper between the hot surface and the plastic. after a lot of waiting the edges sealed up as i wanted them.

    if it wouldve been possible i would have made every single page inflatable but that wouldve made A LOT of waste and i didn't want to do that. i cut pieces of 8.5x11 plastic out of the overall loungers but there's still a lot of lounger left. instead it's just flat pages, except for two pages that are different types of bubbly wrap.

    im pretty proud of this one. i had a lot of fun and i learned some new methods. it'll be neat to figured out how to make a mastercopy.

  • the inflatable zine

    • june

    the condo map zine

    this was the zine i was feeling a bit insecure about, i was worried it might not be that interesting or fun or something. basically after a conversation with lealend on my balcony one night i thought about making a zine of the condo behind my aparment that folds out like a map. i was thinking about mapmaking a lot because we were headed to montreal the next day and my last trip there i had met Tricia Enns and learned about her approach to paper making and countermapping. she does incredible work you can find it

  • over here.
    • i spent a month very closely watching the building for little signs of life, things i could see through windows. i know it's weird to watch through windows but seriously this condo is the only thing you can see. it's right there. so i watched and just tracked little things like someone in a window, the colour of a chair, which ones had plants. it was fun but i kept it pretty simple, just long strip of cardstock with the condo windows drawn on one side and on the back my observations.

    i guess i get caught up in wanting to always be trying different things that i forget that sometimes zines can be simple and those are good zines too. im proud of all the zines ive done so far this year for one reason or another and this is just another different idea of not overdoing it for once!!

  • the condo map zine

    • year of zines

    im making a zine a month for a year

    this year i have been making one zine a month, that's inspired by whatever happened that month. you can see most of the on ig. i think im going to be doing longer updates here about the process going forward bc i think ill want to be able to expand on some of my thoughts. im about 6 months in, im wrapping up my june zine and the shell of the july zine is set. june just needs some final touches, the july zine needs it's content.

    this site is actually my august zine, i told myself that i would work really hard to avoid using digital methods for this year of zines but this is something different i think. im viewing this more as an e-zine, and these initial pages and the process of learning to make the site will make a zine. my first exploration into coding and making something weird online in this way.

    ive always wanted to play with site design in this way but ive been intimidated. i did little pieces here and there growing up, sparkly words and fun fonts on whatever website i had a profile on. but this is a bit of a bigger undertaking. so far it's fun.