printing and binding a zine?

[Marmalade Whale]

OK so im working on my first art book/zine, but im having trouble figuring out what to do next. Ive got most of the pages together, but i would like to make it an A4 book, with all (well pretty much all) colour pages, and also to make things even more awkward for myself i want to print it on some really nice watercolour paper. main problem is i dont have an A3 printer.

so what would people say would be the best (not just the cheapest) way to do this? i want it to be a nice quality so i dont mind spending a tad more than just photocopying, or is there not that much difference?

or is there some way to put it together instead of folding A3 pages in half is there any other way to put A4 pages together?

please excuse my zine ignorance, any thoughts or ideas, big or small would be such a great help!

thanks
ed

[TimT]

I've seen people bind their zines with anything from paperclips through to sewing, and, of course, the good ol' stapler.

I have one zine, A6(?) in size (I think it's A6 - that's one quarter the size of A4, right?) that I made thusly:
1) Photocopied onto A4 paper
2) Cut the page into two halves (top and bottom)
3) Folded both halves and put them together
4) Repeat steps 1-3 until all the pages are made, put them together.
5) Bind the whole lot with a narrow strip of paper that has both ends glued/stuck together with Blu Tac or scotch tape.

I think that's my most original method of binding so far, and you might be able to work a variation on it for larger pages, but for your project I doubt it.

Maybe you could procure some A5 pages elsewhere though and just stick the colour A4 pages onto the A5 sheets?

[ciaraxyerra]

if you're willing to shell out for printing on watercolor paper, which seems unnecessarily extravagant, why not shell out for a nice stapler? you'll get a lot more use out of it in the long run. it's an investment.

[Marmalade Whale]

well i was thinking of watercolour paper or medium cartridge paper because it really adds a nice feel and quality to it. im being more and more drawn to A3 now, not just because of practicality of printing but also for the viewer, its easier to hold and store. im also getting very drawn into binding it more like a book rather than just folding it in half and using a stapler, and also possibly screen printing the cover. i think cause its going to be more of an art book/zine i want it to have a real nice finish.

thanks for your messages, it would be great to hear other peoples opinions, thoughts or ideas on other ways to bind a zine.

thanks again
ed

[Wai Au]

Hi Ed,

Are you looking for ways to bind the A4 sheets?
Since you're doing an art zine, Japanese binding may be good for it?
Japanese binding: http://www.sff.net/people/Brook.West/bind/bindit.html
Perfect binding: http://www.diybookbinding.com/do-it-yourself-book-binding/
Wikipedia has a lot of links to various bookbinding methods, so you may want to check it out to see which one suits your purpose best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding

Have fun on figuring it out!