How to Fold an 8-Page Zine
Make the classic eight-page booklet from one sheet, with a single cut through the middle.
This method makes eight pages from one sheet of paper. You print or decorate only one side. The front and back covers count as two of the eight pages.
Use ordinary paper for your first attempt. You will also need scissors. Practise on a blank sheet before folding finished artwork.
1. Make a grid of eight panels
Lay the sheet in landscape orientation, with its longer edges at the top and bottom.
Bring the bottom long edge up to the top long edge. Crease, then open the sheet. You now have a horizontal line across the middle.
Next, bring the left short edge across to the right short edge. Crease and reopen. Fold each short edge to that central vertical crease, then open everything.
The sheet should now have two rows and four columns: eight equal rectangles.
2. Cut the middle two panels
Fold the left half of the sheet over the right half again, along the central vertical crease.
Starting at the folded edge, cut along the horizontal crease until you reach the first vertical crease inside the folded sheet. Stop there. You are cutting through both layers.
Unfold the sheet. The slit should run along the horizontal centre line across the middle two columns only. It should not reach either outside edge.
3. Open the slit into a diamond
Fold along the horizontal centre line again, making a long narrow strip. If the sheet has artwork, keep the printed side outside.
Hold the short ends of the strip and gently push them towards one another. The slit in the middle will open into a diamond.
Keep pushing until the diamond closes into a cross when viewed from above. You will have four doubled sections meeting in the middle.
4. Close it into a booklet
Fold the sections around one another to make a small book. If you used a numbered template, arrange it so page one is the front cover and page eight is the back.
Press the folds and turn through the pages. On a blank practice copy, number the pages in reading order and add an arrow pointing to the top of each page. When you unfold it, you will have a layout reference for your artwork.
If something looks wrong
If the sheet falls into separate pieces, the cut went too far. Start another practice copy.
If the middle will not open, check that the slit crosses both central panels and that you refolded along the long horizontal crease.
If some artwork is upside down, compare the unfolded sheet with your numbered practice copy. The top row and bottom row do not share the same orientation.
Paula Beardell Krieg's illustrated folding tutorial provides another view of this structure.
Next: How to Lay Out Pages Before Folding.
Sources and layout notes
The panel maps follow Maigz's sheet diagram.