Ever wondered how a zine gets made? No. I’m not surprised. It’s not rocket science or any kind of science actually, but It does take a lot of manual dexterity (see what I did there) to complete one.
First: Get yourself a stack of zines!
At this point the zines are already printed and trimmed to bleed. Manual Dexterity is designed on a standard 11” x 8.5” sheet of paper and then .25” is cut off each side to allow bleed.
Second: Start folding…by hand.
Most issues can be folded all at once, but since this issue was a little bit thicker at 68 pages (or 17 sheets of paper), it was easier to fold the first 8 sheets, then the remaining 9 sheets and combining them.
Third: Stapling!
The type of binding we use is called saddle binding. It’s basically 2 staples applied the spine of the zine. Saddle binding used to be the most popular binding among publications before perfect binding (glued spine) took over. Perfect binding may look more professional, but it costs way more.
We use a Salco Rapid 106 Electric Stapler (below). This is some professional type shit right here. This may be a little excessive, but I got a good deal on it when the print shop I was working for closed in 2003. Most zinesters use a long arm stapler, a regular stapler, or another binding technique altogether.
Fourth: Done!
Fold is tight, staples all aligned, time to distribute.
