zines art | ♀ Riot Grrrl ♀ בישראל

The Monthly Zine Project prompts are up and I’m all a-tingle. But not as much as I had hoped to be. There are some prompts that do not appeal to me so these will either have to be deleted from my list or replaced with others.

So here are my plans:

January: Trees
I was hoping this prompt will be a little later in the year so I can write a bit more about the new lemon tree in our backyard. It’s still small and young and has yet to bear fruit. But it’s actually really fitting that Tu Bishvat (the Jewish Arbor Day) is in January! So I can definitely write about that.

February: No-One Is Illegal
No, I don’t really want to write about that. Instead of that, I’m thinking of writing a zine about triangle families and maybe busting a few of the myths associated with having an only-child. It’s a difficult topic for me to write about but I’m willing to give it a shot.

March: Mirror
I think I want to tackle the magical aspect associated with mirrors. Why does it feature in horror movies, fairy tales, songs, etc.? What is it that makes the mirror such a mystical object?

April: Pets
I’ll write about all the pets I’ve had in the past and today, and also which ones I would have liked to have but never did.

May: Protection
Umm, no. I can’t think of anything related to this prompt that I actually want to write about. I’m replacing it with the topic of drawing. Since I’m hoping to sign up to a drawing course soon, I might have enough material for a zine about it by May. And I’ll definitely include some of the drawings I manage to make.

June: Celebration
We celebrate Shavuot in June so I’ll write about that.

July: Clothes
July is International Zine Month and I’m usually too busy working on a full-length zine to be doing much of anything else… but why don’t I work on a full-length zine about clothes? I’m sure I can fill a whole zine with pieces related to this topic. I just need to brainstorm and I’m set.

August: Tools
I think I’ll write a bit about my muscular condition and how I really can’t use any fucking tools because my hands are too weak. Yes, this prompt makes me angry, and I can put this anger to good use.

September: Dreams
As literal as it gets. I’m going to write about dreams I have at night, including nightmares, flying dreams, sexy dreams, and everything. And also why I love sleep so much.

October: Things I’ve Read
Yet another opportunity to brag about my addiction to Stephen King. Don’t mind if I do!

November: BLM
November is ZineWriMo, and I honestly have nothing to say about BLM. This movement does not exist in Israel (though it probably should because there are Ethiopian Jews living in Israel and racism exists here too). I was thinking about writing another issue of Raise Your Horns for a while now, so why don’t I do that? Write a bit more about metal and my utter desperate love for this genre of music.

December: Magic
Well, Hanukkah is in December. Maybe I should talk a bit about the magic of Hanukkah or something… I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

So there you have it. My plans for MoZiPro are set and I’m quite pleased with them. How about you? Are you also participating in MoZiPro? How do you feel about the prompts?

Peace, love and *changing Rose Madder’s ink ribbon*

Day 22 – Work on Picabook Photo Album:
Original prompt: Creative Spaces – share pics and writing (moved to Day 24)
It’s my daughter’s birthday today, so the prompt I set for today was to continue working on my kid’s Picabook photo album for the year.
It’s like so me to forget to bring my camera to work so that I can do the prompt. But luckily, I still had enough material to work with because of the photos I shoot with my phone and those I get via Whatsapp from my kid’s gan. So I uploaded all of those to the Picabook photo album and organized them as best as I could. I had such a good time, I literally forgot to eat! I had lunch just 20 minutes before my shift ended. I’m planning to complete the photo album on Day 28. Tonight, I will be taking some photos of my creative space and post them tomorrow along with photos of tools of the zine and bake trade.

Day 23 – Tools of the Bake Trade and Space
Original prompt: Tools of the Zine Trade (moved to Day 24)
Today, I baked my daughter’s birthday cake for her party at kindergarten tomorrow. I decided it would be a perfect time to take a picture of my bake space and tools! Tomorrow, work-in-progress Wednesday, I hope to finish up my zine and take a picture of my zine space and tools then.

My cosy little kitchen on the left; and the tools and ingredients, on the right, ready to make magic!

Day 24 – Work in Progress Wednesday plus Creative Zine Spaces and Tools
After I got home from work today, I tried my best to finalize the zine. I corrected all typos and spelling mistakes but I still need to go over it one more time just to make sure it’s all good. I had zero time to do that and had to go pick up my kid from gan. She had her party today and probably had tons of sugar because when she got back home, she was all hyperactive and throwing shit around. LOL! I did get a chance to take a picture of my creative space. As you can see, it’s just the dining table. That’s right. I have no working station so whenever I want to make a zine, I need to take out my material and lay it out on the dining table. My favorite creative tool is obviously my typewriter. Isn’t she a total drop-dead-gorgeous bombshell?

Messy dining table on the left with my box of tools; Rose Madder, my typewriter, on the right.

Day 25 – ZineWiki
Original prompt: write to a friend
This morning, I did the first few steps of the rainbow cake. Thank the Goddess I didn’t leave the entire process to tomorrow because damn, it took me SO LONG! There are six layers to this cake, and I should have known it’s basically like making six separate cakes and every single step I needed to do, times six! Mix the coloring, times six; mix it with the batter, times six; oil up six separate platters; spill the batter in platter, times six; bake, times six; set to cool, times six; set in fridge until I can continue the motherfucker tomorrow morning, times six. Phew!
When I got to the office, I checked out the ZineWiki website. I go on there every once in a while to check on my edits and see if my pages are still up. They are. I also checked to see if I added the zine I made during International Zine Month 2021, “More than Default-Male”. I did. And it’s still up. That’s basically it for today.

Day 26 – Friday Baking
Original prompt: Set your zine free (moved to Day 28)
I had a hard time with the rainbow unicorn cake but I so owned it! Also, I let my daughter put the finishing decorations on it and she totally owned it too! I sent my parents a picture of it and my dad says “Now I know for sure that you’re in the wrong line of work.” And once again, I reiterated my belief that if I were to do this shit for money, it would never come out as good as it did. It also tasted great, which was a huge plus. I am so proud of my baking achievements for this month. I wish I could say the same for ZineWriMo, but alas, I only have two hands and not much time on them, so I’ll just have to be happy with what I got.

Day 27 – White Sabbath
Original prompt: Make a zine for a friend
Since my daughter got so many amazing gifts for her birthday, I spent the Sabbath playing with her and organizing some of her new clothes. She got a pretty elaborate Lego set and I fucking love building Lego. I tried to get my kid to help me find the right pieces and she did for a while, but then she got bored and moved on to another very original gift she got – a box of surprises – while I went on building the whole set. Such a blast! Now she likes playing with the completed thing.

Day 28 – Baking Thought Garden for Hanukkah and Zine Reveal
This evening is the lighting of the first candle of Hanukkah and I got the day off work. I spent my day working on my daughter’s Picabook photo album before having to pick her up from Kindergarten which closed early today because of the Hanukkah party they had this evening. I kept getting interrupted by Whatsapp notifications from the parents’ group of my kid’s gan. There was this whole issue with the Hanukkah day camp that the municipality decided to not open because there weren’t enough kids that signed up or whatever shit. The parents were stressed and got the rest of the parents stressed and the whole shitshow got me stressed as well and gave me a pounding headache for the rest of the day. There was no chance for a thought garden with such a fucking headache, so it’s a good thing that last week I was smart enough to set out a schedule for the whole of December. We got a fuckload of plans for that month so I needed to have it laid out in front of me so that I don’t forget anything.
The Hanukkah party at gan was a lot of fun and my daughter was a sweetheart, but I was glad when it was over because my facemask could barely conceal my endless yawns.
I still didn’t print my zine but I promised you a reveal so a reveal you shall have! I give you the cover page of the 18th issue of my perzine, Purple Moon Spawn – A PMS Perzine, special issue about baking!