~2 years ago, my sister moved away to California. She loves taking long walks and sent me photos of little nooks from around her new area not long after.

Since I couldn't visit anytime soon and was feeling a lil sentimental, I decided to draw some of the photos, add some cats for extra coziness of course).

Looking back on the illustrations a year later, I had a vague feeling all of them were linked. so I planned out an idea for a zine, since I love turning things into little stories!

The original title was "Black Cat the Poet" but after sitting on it a bit, I felt the little blurbs were more just little passing thoughts. So I changed the title to "An Illustrated Collection of Black Cats' Musings" and it feels more fitting :)

So exactly how they're made! -

I ordered a bunch of double-sided prints. Each 8.5x11 sheet = 1 zine once cut up. I actually included EXTREMELY faint cut lines on the prints, if you look superduper close you might see them lol.

After cutting them into individual 2.5x5" pages, I use a hole punch to make two holes on each mini page. I use the holes to tie some white waxed thread through to bind them all together.

And there!

TBH a large part of the idea for this format stemmed from my desire to make zines that are simple and affordable to ship-- basically things that can fit in a lil' rigid envelope ($2 domestic / $4 international cost) rather than a package ($6 domestic / $21 international cost......).

Also, it's much less expensive for me to order 40 unbound/uncut 8.5x11 prints, than to order 40 14-page zines. It all works out quite nicely, and all the extra handmade touches, while leaving each one a bit imperfect, also makes them more special than if it was mass-bound i think. I still like the convenience of ordering things pre-bound sometimes, but this one was a fun change.