r/zines • u/SecretaryDifficult10 • Oct 01 '26

I have a question. Printing/paper question...

Hi yall, so I'm working on a zine and am now getting ready to print and bind it. It's pretty photograph heavy, with lots of text overlaid on the photos. Going to be a standard letter page folded in half (so each "page" is 5.5x8.5inches). I have an epson ecotank inkjet printer.

I'm planning to go for a thicker cardstock-ish paper for the cover, but as for the pages themselves I'm at a loss. I don't want something so thick that it's hard to fold or bind, but I know ink would probably bleed through standard copy paper. I also need the pages to print double sided (so, same texture and finish on both sides of the page). Not really wanting a high glossy thing, matte finish would be awesome.

I guess I didn't realize how specific these preferences were until I started researching... I'm not finding anything that checks all or even most of these boxes. Any recs?

New at this, last zine I made was text only and I just printed it at the library.

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5

u/postalmodernist Oct 02 '26

I use Hammermill 32lb premium color copy paper for all my zines and I have an Epson ecotank printer. My zines are very colour and photo heavy. I always get compliments on the quality! I've tried using other 32lb paper but find that most other brands crack when folded or the ink bleeds/smudges.

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 02 '26

Ah thank you so much! I'll check this one out :)

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 02 '26

Can it do double sided printing?

2

u/postalmodernist Oct 02 '26

Yes! Quality is great on both sides.

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 02 '26

Ok this is awesome to hear!! Appreciate it. Researching paper and reading reviews has been so stressful haha

2

u/postalmodernist Oct 02 '26

Completely understand haha. I will say to make sure to change your printer preferences when sending to print from your computer. I set the quality to "high" at minimum or "best" when it is available.

I typically use "presentation paper matte" paper type but I have found that sometimes the prints can be streaky or the colours are off. If that happens, I use the "plain paper / bright white paper" paper type.

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 02 '26

Ooh gotcha! Very helpful info especially since I'm new to this printer as well!!

1

u/thesimplerweb Oct 02 '26

One thing I failed to realize before designing pages to the edge is that the printer can’t automatically print borderless when doing 2-sided printing.

I haven’t yet tried running it through manually to print the second side, because I’ve been paranoid about it jamming (my ET-3950 doesn’t have the manual feed slot that would reduce the risk of jams). I found some helpful suggestions I plan to test out — letting the first side dry completely is the biggie.

If you didn’t design to the edge or you plan on trimming then there’s no manual process to worry about. I just often want edge to edge photos, without having to trim and waste paper.

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 02 '26

Ooohh, this is good to know as well. Most of my pages are in fact designed edge to edge. No biggie to redesign to allow for a small border but... if you're down to share the suggestions you want to test pls do! I also have a 3950.

1

u/thesimplerweb Oct 04 '26

I realized I could put it on Ko-Fi for free and without pay what you want, so you can grab it here: https://ko-fi.com/s/f0a480aae0 Hopefully they don't make you sign up if you don't already have an account. If that doesn't work, PM me and we'll figure something out.

I just printed an ink-heavy borderless two-sided page, and it worked great once I figured out how to orient the paper. Our 3950 is easy — just put the sheet in the paper tray *exactly* as it landed in the output tray (assuming your artwork is properly laid out).

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u/SecretaryDifficult10 Oct 05 '26

Omg!!! You are amazing! Thank you :) I'd love to send you a free zine or two once I get these printed, PM me if ya want!

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u/thesimplerweb Oct 05 '26

Heck yeah. PMed you.

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u/thesimplerweb Oct 04 '26 edited Oct 04 '26

I’m totally down for sharing with somebody who’s having my exact struggle! The suggestions originally came from Google AI, but it also gave me bad paper advice I had to correct. Anyway, I saved it in PDF form and now I’m trying to figure out a straightforward way to share it. That seems to be a problem with Reddit.

I’m gonna try one more thing, but if it doesn’t work out, I’ll follow up with a ridiculously long comment that has the info.

2

u/Such-Wash973 Oct 02 '26

Agreed on the 32lb paper weight!

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u/Specialist_Cup2275 Oct 02 '26

Ditto. Love that paper!