Thursday, February 24, 2011

Happy Zine Day -- Kara Klein

Kara Klein recently took a vacation to Japan, and invites us to join her in her zine she calls Japan Dreams. The color-copied pages are brilliant with color, and cut in various widths for added interest. The cover is shades of orange and pink on cardstock, using tape strips with rubber stamped letters for the title.


This zine is a travel journal with memories of her trip as well as tutorials for little projects. Each page is loaded with background colors and scraps that she picked up in Japan. She uses postage stamps, stickers, photos, Japanese writing, origami, and includes a little packet of scraps for the reader to use.


Kara has stitched together a folder to hold the zine, that is probably made from a brown paper bag. a fabric scrap gives it a nice edge, and it is closed with a button and thread.


I've seen rubber stamps that people have carved, but she describes how to make one from a photo. She's used a photo of a lotus pod that she took in Tokyo. Using photo editing software, she has altered the image to use as a guide for carving a stamp. I never would have thought to do that. I think the idea of carving a stamp free-form is intimidating. This technique takes the stress of where to begin out of the equation.


Kara has adapted a technique called laminated collage to make her cover. She describes it at the end of the zine. Her description makes it sound so simple -- I'm definitely going to try it. If her zine doesn't make you want to visit Japan, you will at least be inspired to record your next trip in words, and scraps, and colors.


You can see my reviews of all ten zines I received in the zine swap here.
Carol Henley -- Wrandom Writings (1/6/11)
Irene Prior -- How to Use Markers to Create Colorful Works of Art (1/19/11)
Cris Peacock -- Words & Art Zine: Making Poems (1/24/11)
Lori Garver -- Brown Paper Bag Art (1/29/11)
Barb Nelis -- Left-Brain Heart (2/4/11)
Heather Simpson-Bluhn -- Journal Play (2/15/11)
Kara Klein -- Japan Dreams (2/24/11)
Pam Crawford -- The Dollar Store Zine (2/28/11)
Deborah Boschert -- Inspired by ... Architecture (3/4/11)
Judy Merrill-Smith -- Something Extra Number 3: The Invitation (to be posted on 3/12/11)

You can read about the zine that I created here or you can purchase extra copies of my zine in my Etsy shop here.

No comments: