iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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unsolicited nic pics➕🕶 @greased-axel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

i was asked for some zine assembly tips so i put together a little guide for how i put mine together at home with the supplies i have! tutorial text is also in alt text, supplies listed at the end. couple other notes below

1. Order and fold all of the pages. I do this one page at a time because I try to be as careful as possible when folding along page seams so things align well when bound.

My printer is usually off-center by a millimeter or two so the centerfold of art is never exactly aligned to a perfectly
folded-in-half page.....

Images show folded, unstapled zine pages. Zine pages with a crease laid flat and open, spine up. Zine pages held together with bulldog clips at top and bottom of spine.

4. I use a long arm stapler that I got from my mom when she was clearing
out some scrapbooking supplies lol. But you can get it from Staples :)

I have also been working through a pack of fun colored staples, but they are just standard size. I would need a different stapler to use extra long staples, and honestly, if I added any more pages, the books wouldn’t close well.

It has a red sliding guide, but I don’t use it since I’m usually trying to align down to the millimeter......

Images show TruRed long arm staple listing. Close up of stapler with red marked dot aligned over the spine to show placement.

7. I always check the center to make sure the staples went through and things are reasonably aligned.

I also try to flip through to make sure there are no glaring gaps in the gutters from me doing a bad folding job somewhere along the way. I show an example of a large gutter gap that shows the page on the opposite end of the booklet.

8. Give everything a good squish down and onto the next one!

Happy folding :)

SUPPLIES:
-Xerox Phaser 3260 - monochrome laser printer
-Astrobrights 24lb paper
-TruRed long arm 20 page capacity stapler
-A wandering brushbug to protect Olruggio’s modesty for this tutorial
-The burning spirit to keep physical media alive

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unsolicited nic pics➕🕶 @greased-axel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

other people who are smarter than me could give you a tutorial on file setup and layout...but i mostly wholeheartedly recommend deciding on reading order and then making a scribbled mini cut and folded booklet with numbered pages just so you can easily reference what halves go with what

small cut paper booklet to help me understand what art goes on what half page to assemble my zine in the correct order

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RCrisu | Commissions open @rcrisu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I did this too!!! It's also honestly just fun to make.

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unsolicited nic pics➕🕶 @greased-axel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

since my printer does not print double sided i also have to flip every other image upside down for when i print the reverse sides of my page batches lol...i dont use indsgn for this or anything fancy, just a file sized to my page with a guide down the middle for the split

screenshot of my page files showing page number order and every other image flipped upside down to account for my printer not printing double sided paper

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