"mostly full of beautiful collages with accompanying phrases and words, turku's first 24 hour zine also includes a letter to a friend who's party was missed, memories of gigs attended with one of her oldest friends and three pages of "things i like" (don't you just love those pages?!). this zine is art heavy, which i don't normally go for, but i think turku's style is just lovely."

- lizzy, marching stars distro

"this scrappy cut & paste personal zine was clearly written in real time, page by page, & cobbled together when tukru decided she had enough pages. but don't let that fool you into thinking that it was just thrown together aimlessly. i really enjoyed this zine, & the palpable sense that it was worked on bit by bit when tukru had some downtime lends it an air of a journey that the reader is on along with the zinester. tukru is finnish & moved to england to attend college. now she is graduated, but has fallen in love & is struggling to find the means to stay in england, find a job, find a house, etc. the whole zine hinges on this theme, as she explains how she & her boyfriend got together, & that she is sharing his room right now & trying to make the relationship work even though they are living right on top of eac other all the time, & tukru is applying for an endless series of dreary dead end jobs & meeting with various governmental figures responsible for helping people find housing. i am always interested in stories from people trying to make ends meet, since that is what i do so much of the time. something about this zine really resonated with me--just the little stories like, "i don't have much money, but maybe i'll make some soup." & all of the covers were hand-colored! each one is completely unique!"

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"i'm a little stuck as to how to describe this zine. if you like part typewriter, part handwritten perzines with the perfect mix of writing and collage style art, you're going to love this. so what does turku actually write about? well… mostly about her life, and how she is living with her boyfriend at his parents house, and how their bed is dying, and how she misses cooking, and how she's looking for a job, and how she misses finland, and so much more. she also includes some vegan recipes, zine recommendations and a page of "things that i thinks is good & nice". it's just all lovely and perziney. i was left smiling on the inside (and probably the outside too)."

- lizzy, marching stars distro

"whether airing frustrations, searching for jobs, or embracing nostalgia, tukru creates an artistically appealing zine about these moments in her life. she also includes recipes, drawings, and photographs in this document that makes you root for her success."

- lb, stranger danger distro

"this zine is mainly about a person who used to make a lot of zines in finland, but then moved to england and got sucked into the education system and then stopped making zines for three years, and then started up again. this issue grapples a lot with unemployment: being on the dole, looking for a job, having trouble getting anything done, some vegetarian recipes, homesickness, etc…. it's a slice of life, to put it briefly."

- hallongrottan webshop

"let me try to explain tukru's zines & why they appeal to me: they feel like the person who put them together really enjoyed the zine-making process & really lavished their attention on what they were doing. which isn't to say that the layout is the most spectacularly ornate & beautiful thing i have ever seen, or that the writing is like a polished jewel. there is a feeling in these zines, like you are sharing something special & intimate with tukru--sometimes goofy, yes, & sometimes it reads like a blog or something, but translated into this photocopied paper medium, there is something special that shines through. it's like going to a friend's house, & maybe the house is kind of messy & there are dishes in the sink & they forgot to take out the recycling, but it feels like home, like someone lives there & loves living there. that's what these zines are like. so issue #3 is more handwritten/typewritten pasted together photocopy art about moving into a new apartment & trying to get adjusted, feeling bored & unmotivated at her job, getting ready for her boyfriend to move in with her, trying to make time to pursue photography, wanting to move to glasgow but staying in england for her boyfriend, putting together a photo exhibit (which includes the photos she took for a project called "chubby princess," which is self-portraits of tukru in too-small clothes, accompanied by thoughts on body image & weight), several pasges of tasty-sounding recipes (apple & walnut risotto!), & more. if you like completely unpretentious personal zines, this is the one for you."

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"tukru lets us into her personal world. there's a diary-like feel to 'your pretty face...' where tukru writes intimately about her life - this issue it's about surviving on part time wages, finally landing a council flat to live in, putting on an art exhibition, her passion for photography... she also includes articles on issues such as women and weight, sizes in clothes shops, relationships, commitment... and there are some really lovely sweet and savoury recipes too. it's all in a dinky pocket-sized a6 format, lovingly hand-written, and adorned with photography, collage, drawings, cartoons, and typewritten faces."

- fcollreviews

"tukru finally solves her homeless and unemployment woes by landing a job at a toy shop and finding some subsidized housing. my favorite parts of this zine were the photos from tukru's art exhibit entitled, "chubby princess", and her drunken type-writing about frustrations within the art world and attempting to maintain her own creative output. and, of course, there are great recipes at the end of the issue as always. treats for all!"

- lb, stranger danger distro

"beautifully crafted a6 zine from tukru who has her fingers in quite a few zinepies. it charts her moving into a council house, life with her boyfriend carl, jobs, money, gigs, work, recipes, life in general. really nicely put together and personal. ace ace ace."

- pete, dead trees & dye distro

"issue three of 'your pretty face...' is about what is going on in tukru's life. we read about how she survives on her part time job, having carl, her boyfriend move in with her, finally finding somewhere to live that's affordable, she also talks about an exhibition she held with her friends and shows us her photo set called "chubby princess" and it's about reclaiming the female body despite the self-hate that the media puts girls through. tukru also writes about the days where things aren't going so well but she also writes about things to do on your day off and things that make her happy. like most of her other zines, this zine is well designed, like you're reading a diary with lots of images, typewritten and hand written pieces, photos- very good read!"

- mae undead, gimme brains!!! distro

"ever wanted to know everything - everything - about someone's life? then your pretty face is going straight to hell is the zine for you.

from her love-life, to her ikea shopping sprees, to her unhealthy bowel movements, tukru lets the reader in on her most private moments in minute, almost excruciatingly picayune detail. and you will lap up every item, every word (my personal favorite: squatly), and leave feeling closer than you probably should to a perfect stranger.

there is something intensely endearing about tukru's unabashed exhibitionism. her unusual frankness is utterly refreshing in a world gone cold from technological saturation. while you pretend to be someone you clearly shouldn't be for the sake of making virtual pretend-friends, tukru is putting her soul to bare on paper, without ever expecting a single other person to read, much less care, what she's written. indeed, the zine is at it's most profound in a short, meandering clip which finds tukru drunk off her ass, typing at the whim of her subconscious, poignantly concluding with "i'm afraid of reading this. now, sober or ever."

your pretty face is far too honest and heartfelt. and that's precisely what makes it such a great zine."

- kvick, man with crisis blog

"tukru decided to make this issue themed--specifically, "the past. my past with other people, love, 'love,' mistakes, being crap with people & such things." & holy cow, she doesn't hold back. i don't think ver have the guts to write a zine this remorselessly personal, but it's a lot of fun to read. she says she was inspired to put this issue together on the eve of her long-term boyfriend, carl, moving in with her. this is kind of a way to purge the ghosts of relationships/crushes/hook-ups gone by & start fresh. tukru's layout style is a mix of cut zinester handwriting (print, cursive, capital letters, all lower-case, all jumbled together for effect), & pieces banged out on a cranky manual typewriter, pasted together with drawings, photographs, & clip art, so you have the feeling you are reading someone's secret multi-media diary or something. she writes about first kisses; going to shows & making out with friends, strangers, & band members; how she met & got involved with carl; anxiety over the possibility of being a rotten girlfriend; general crushing habits; & a lot more. plus book/zine recommendations & a few recipes ("lemmenleipa," or finnish love bread; alas, i don't know how to code an umulat, which should be over the a). all the covers are hand-colored, & each one is unique. this is a fun but honest personal zine, & despite the subject matter, it doesn't feel like tukru is bragging or whining. she is just sharing some stories, both good & bad, & some stories make her look good & others make her seem like a jerk, which is exactly what love, "love," crushes, & relationships do to people."

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"tukru empties out the skeletons from her sexual closet(uhh that sounds weird) and shares all of her past loves with us in this zine! from fourth grade crushes, to long distance internet loves, to cheating with an unnamed semi-famous rockstar, and on preparing to move in with her boyfriend, tukru unabashedly tells us all within one of the best looking zines around."

- lb, stranger danger distro

"this issue is much different than tukru's other issues. there is a focus on the past, tukru's "herstory" of crushes, love, being in a relationship with carl and how she explains this is a sort of purging out of her system, documenting the stuff that's been plaguing her mind so it wouldn't invade her mind anymore to start off a new when moving in with carl. she talks about first kisses and falling in love with a friend, going to shows, making out with friends, strangers, dancing and dancing, drinking, writing in notebooks, meeting friends from livejournal and potentially falling in love with them, explaining how she isn't a very sexual person and was more for cuddling and kissing. the stories that tukru shares are honest and sincere and when you're reading this zine, i feel as though you are reading her journal because it so personal."

- mae undead, gimme brains!!! distro

"this one is a pretty brave issue on the part of tukru. as she describes it in the intro, it's all about, "the past, love, "love", mistakes, being crap with people and other such things." a lot of her stories seem to revolve around drunken gigs and makeout sessions and she is brutally honest about things like childhood crushes, falling in love with girls, and cheating on her boyfriend. it's a very exciting, very personal read and will probably have you dwelling on your own past a little. plus, it includes a delicous recipe for lemmenleipa (finnish love bread). i made it for dinner tonight and it was sugary and delectable! put together in her classic cut and paste style with her own (totally legible!) handwriting, typewritten text and hand-coloured coveres, this zine is a real treat to hold in your hands."

- amber, hello amber!

"tukru's contribution to the 24 hour zine thing 2008. she writes about how she would spend a day with her friend lori's birthday if she was in glasgow, disappointing weeks, the feeling of wanting to get out of your town, even for a second and a story about the police waking knocking at her apartment again. i know this zine seems full of woe but it is all goodness in tukru diarylike zines. i still feel like i'm sneaking into her room and grabbing her diary for the latest gossip in her life. it's why i continue to distro her zines!"

- mae undead, gimme brains!!! distro

"this is tukru's contribution to 2008's 24-hour zine thing. she begins by saying that if everything had gone according to plan, she'd be off galavanting in glasgow with a girlfriend, rather than curled up in bed, hungover, making a zine.the bulk of this zine revolves around her fantasies of all the awesome times she'd be having in glasgow if she could afford it, but alas, she is held back by boring things like rent, council taxt, student loans and food. it's about wishing to hibernate through the bitter english winter and making vows to step outside her comfort zone, go out for more adventures once the summer comes. it's a little bit gloomy at time, but captivating and fun as always."

- amber, hello amber!

"tukru delivers again with a new visually stunning issue of her zine! she writes about how she and her boyfriend finally moved in together and the money and bureaucratic struggles they face. she also reflects back on the friends she had when she first moved from finland to england and how these days good friends are hard to come by. as someone forced into adulthood, i can relate to the difficulties of maintaining friendships and even discovering what to do for fun that is no longer completely destructive or potentially harmful. and this issue all wraps up with some sweet ass chili recipes!"

- lb, stranger danger distro

"i really, really love this issue of your pretty face. this issue was written as tukru's boyfriend was moving into her apartment, which means lots of worries about monies, but also ikea shopping sprees and being in love! i can relate most to the parts about living far away from all of her friends (perhaps because i'm one of her faraway friends!), and wishing she could just drop in for a cup of tea. you know, without having to book a flight first. zines and the internet have enabled us to meet people we never would have known otherwise, to connect with people we truly get along with. but it means that they are often hours, or even oceans away, leaving us feeling isolated. life is hard when you can't have your best friends by your side. as always, this zine has an amazing cut and paste layout with a combination of handwritten and typewritten text, and hand-coloured covers. truly a work of art! it's also got a tempting recipe for veggie-stuffed baked potatoes that i will probably try fo dinner sometime this week. yum yum!"

- amber, hello amber!

"the house on the front cover of this zine is the villa villekula, pippi longstocking's house, as depicted by a different illustrator than the one behind my beloved penguin copies. the villa villekula is a pretty good choice for cover art, as this issue is all about tukru's boyfriend, carl, moving into her little apartment & their attempts at adjusting to living together in their own space. anyone who has ever lived alone with a partner knows it's not all fun & games, & it's not like just having a roommate. it's having a roommate who probably sleeps in the same bed as you, whom you have to consider during most meals that you cook, with whom you share toothpaste, who might ask you to do their laundry sometimes. all of these issues can create tension, as can the fact that you can't necessarily just flip & lose your temper one day without possibly jeopardizing the entire relationship. it really is a big step! this little zine is pretty much entirely handwritten, some of it culled from diaries, as carl prepares to move in to the apartment, a trip to IKEA (i went there yesterday--always a little sensory overload), dealing with carl's lack of financial stability & confusing government benefits information, remembering other apartments & other roommates & the adventures that ensued there, adjusting to english weather (tukru is originally from finland), & more. this is a sweet little zine about growing up into a serious relationship, & the diary format gives the writing a sense of intimacy. you really feel like you are reading a letter written just for you."

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"tukru and her boyfriend head to finland to reconnect with family. she hangs out with her mom and brother, soon realizing that finland is no longer her home. this is a straight up documentation of her travels in the glorious artistic style of all of tukru's zines. nice to look at and, of course, nice to read."

- lb, stranger danger distro

"issue #7 is all about tukru's trip home to finland, visiting her family and friends after a few years away (back story: she attended uni in england and stayed after graduation because she fell in love with a boy named carl). she writes about the things she misses, like the beautiful winters, knitting shops with lotsa variety, rye bread and fresh milk and rare ice cream flavours like pear and cappuccino and candy cane. if you haven't read tukru's zines yet, you are totally missing out. each issue features great cut and paste art along with typewritten text, cutsie handwriting, her own drawings and photos, and a myriad of recipes to keep you busy in the kitchen. i recently baked the lemmenleipan (finnish love bread) featured in another issue and it was so sugary and delicious."

- amber, hello amber!

"in issue 7 of this awesome zine, miss tukru talks about her trip to finland, her home country. it's a tale of second hand shops, rubbish falafel, finding her favourite wool, swedish scrabble and rye bread sandwiches. it also includes a recipe for rhubarb curd tart (yummy) and lists of things she misses about finland."

- bettie, anatomical heart

"tukru is a very prolific zinester. perhaps it has something to do with her zining style: big chunks of her zine are handwritten (& she has that classic zinester tidy-but-totally-stylized handwriting) or typewritten, cut & pasted together with an immediacy that makes the reader feel as though she has stumbled across someone's lushly illustrated diary. this issue follow the theme sylistically, but switches gears thematically, as tukru writes about going to finland (her country of origin) to visit her parents for two weeks. so it's kind of like a travel zine, as tukru recounts the adventures of being on an airplane, playing scrabble in the cafe where she used to hang out as a disaffected alterna-teen, overdosing on all the finnish-specific treats she doesn't get to enjoy living in england, & heading out to far eastern finland to see her parents' new house for the first time. lots of stories about cold weather, moomin books, & plenty of food. she includes a recipe for rhubarb curd tart & a long list of things she misses about finland. but in the outro, she explains that england is her home now. the zine is illustrated all over with great photographs, drawings, & images from children's books. a treat for those who really enjoy well-executed lo-fi layout!"

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"Another lovely zine from Tukru! As usual, she's done some amazing cut and paste work with comics, movie stills, clippings and drawings, as well as hand-rendered and typewritten text. And glorious hand-coloured covers! I'm always excited to get her latest in the mail. This one's a bit of a downer with Tukru writing about her evil boss who makes the ladies cry and her boyfriend recently losing his charity shop job, but she balances it out with yummy recipes, tales of Harry Potter fandom and a list of things that have been keeping her sane - including goat's cheese and The Long Blondes - two things that I love, too. She also included a tiny mini-zine held together by a pink staple. Delightful! I feel inspired every time I flip through a zine from her collection."

- amber, hello amber!

"tukru wrote this zine during the summertime when she missed out on the 24-hour zine project. the alternative press fair in london was approaching & she wanted to have a new zine availeble for people, so she wrote this issue. it's a little shorter than average, but is in the same style: stream-of-consciousness stories about what is happening at tukru's life in the moment, written diary style & laid out in handwriting or typewritten, interpsersed with drawings, moomin clip art, & found artwork from children's books. this issue is mostly about tukru's job in the internet division of a discount toy store. she writes about how much she hates her boss, who is the son og the big main boss. she writes about he has become meaner & meaner as time has progressed, going so far as to make tukru wear awful baggy black polo shirts to work, instead of the brightly-colored eclectic outfits she puts together on her own. she writes about how shocking it is to be a grown up suddenly, who complains about work & worries about rent & taxes & bills. but she also writes about her all-consuming love of harry potter, mostly based on the audio books read by stephen fry. she writes an entire piece about how much she relates to luna lovegood. i too am obsessed with harry potter, so i really enjoyed this aspect of the zine. there is also a recipe for vanilla panna cotta & strawberry compote, & an illustrated list of what has been keeping tukru sane recently, from cigarette breaks to her blythe doll to goat cheese. every color is hand-colored, & every issue of tukru's zine is like peeking into an uncommonly frenetic journal."

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"this is the much-anticipated split zine from two of my favourite people: overseas pen pal tukru and my sister maranda. although the original intention of the zine was to discuss loneliness and long-distance friendships, the stories strayed a little but are all the better for it. maranda was inspired to write when people kept asking her how she managed to ride such a ridiculously colourful streamer-clad bicycle and dress up in strange outfits when she is often attacked by loneliness and anxiety. her half is all about her bicycle jolene and the things she has learned through riding her small town's streets and learning how to repair the bike. she includes tales of graffiti nights, the local lilac festival and the time she was hit by a car while riding her bike (on the very same street where i was hit on my bike only a year earlier. lindsay, ontario residents: be careful on kent street. drivers care much more about the mcdonald's drive-thru than they do about traffic or basic courtesy). she read excerpts from this during the zine reading at tzl a few weeks back and i thought it was quite moving. tukru uses her half to write about visits from long-distance friends, her new blythe doll, harry potter fangirldom, agreeing to take medication to deal with depression and a disastrous week with her brother. all cut and paste with typewritten and handwritten text, this issue is a totally epic seventy pages."

- amber, hello amber!

"maranda has collaborated on another split zine, this time with her pen pal across the pond, tukru. initially the plan was a zine themed around meeting friends from the world of zines in real life, but both kind of drifted away from this topic as their writing progressed. tukru has compiled another issue that is not dissimilar to peeking inside someone's diary. in her stream-of-consciousness style, she describes an unpleasant visit from her brother, trying to have a nice birthday despite being broke, & wanting to make friends with a girl riding a cute scooter (i can relate--i want to make friends with someone on the basis of her amazing hair clips). tukru stuck to theme in a few stories, about traveling to brighton to meet a zine pen pal & attending a zine social (brilliant idea), going to london to visit platform 9 & 3/4 with another zine pen pal, hanging out with a long-standing finnish pen pal on vacation in england, & hitting the pub with an american zine friend traveling through europe. she also writes about starting anti-depressants & talking to her mom about it. maranda's side is mostly about her relationship with her bicycle, & how she feels about being perceived as a weird girl in a small town. she writes about feeling uncomfortable going out at night (again, i relate), the positive & negative comments she gets about her bicycle & her personal style, & how her bike enables her to get out & interact with the world when she's struggling with depression & anxiety. she writes about biking barefoot, going on picnics, her anxiety about having her bike stolen or vandalized, & connecting with the weather through self-propelled transportation. i really liked the layout of maranda's half of the split--tidy text pasted over a patterned background, sprinkled with schoolbook-style clip art pertaining to the subject matter. cute, simple, & clever."

- ciara, learning to leave a papertrail distro

"this is the 'zine tukru did before 'your pretty face is going straight to hell'. it's a snug but deceptively bursting-with-fullness read complemented with lots of visual artiness. arrays of mini fictions written with different atmospheres and poignancies each time. it's romantic, it's sad, it's wry, it's nostalgic, it's hopeful, it's poetic, it's yearning, it's etheriel, it's haunting, it's other-worldly, it's really rather pretty."

- fcollreviews

"i like the format of the chunky kersax # 3 (£1; 100mm x 105mm approx; 84pp) very much - tukru's double-sided-copied seven sheets of a4 each divided into three, giving - when folded - something square-ish, pleasing to handle. i've had a soft spot for this size/shape since bypass's ex-editor peter pavement's fine mid-'nineties microzine monthly series. on the cover, there's a pic of elvis, who's also allocated the centrefold of this red rubber band-bound 'zine. some of the photos inside are by kersax's photography-student creator; others are of icons like bardot, the manics, debbie harry, pete doherty, warhol, and edie sedgwick.

as with the collaborative 'zine fragile (reviewed for bypasszine on 10th november), tukru's come up with some engaging double-page spreads. he's used a variety of approaches for the text - handwritten, manual typewritten, word-processed. sometimes the handwriting's in upper case, other times in lower, and drawn lines help to make reading of it easy - particularly good when you're required to do so across two pages. the crossings-out give kersax a welcome immediacy.

a few quotes from this (autobiographical ? fictional ? somewhere between the two ?) tale of crushes and relationships, vodka-drinking, cigarette-smoking, mixtape-listening and rock and roll glamour, to give a general impression :

- "the most gorgeous chill down his spine when james touched him... an accidental kiss on his stick out bony collar bone"

- "pink lipstick around those eyes. a shocking sight to the teachers at first ever sight"

- "that scrawny boy with a haircut straight from that francois truffaut film, slick and naive..."

- "rocknroll will always be more important to me than any living person. at least her"

- "her hipbones all bruised from bouncing into the edge of the stage filled with rockunroll spirit..."

- "we are modern day edies, princesses of rockunroll""

- bypasszine

"fragile # 1 (£1.50 with cassette, £1 without) is a sixty-page, b&w, rubber band-bound a5-er made by carl and tukru, and comes with an amazingly blue-hued mitsubishi c60 mix (the newbeats' bread and butter, talulah gosh's my best friend; beat happening, the adverts, billy childish, bow wow wow...). title's typed on the 'zine's cover using red ribbon - a pleasingly personal intervention. cut 'n' paste collage/montage stuff, plus outline hand-lettering and biro handwriting. photocopied are striped fabric, lengths of masking, "fragile" and black tape, love hearts, guitar chord shapes, a yeah yeah yeahs badge, some stitching, a map of finland, and lined paper and perforated notebook pages. a fly's blown up b-i-g, and there's everywhereman pete doherty - plus a vintage joey ramone and debbie harry snap, scratched-up contact prints and some billy childish text.

apparently chaotic, fragile is revealed by close scrutiny to be more organised an affair than a cursory glance might suggest. care and attention's been paid in the pre-copying preparation to ensure that pagination works a treat : the 'zine's chock-a-block with winning double-page spreads. in no way is this just slung together. controlled spontaneity, if you like.

a william burroughs quote sums up the energy fragile's creators aim to put across : "rock and roll adolescents storm into the streets they... throw acid in the mona lisa's face... open zoos, insane asylums, prisons..." . looks like carl and tukru had heaps of fun playing around with materials and machines. near the back are the (crossed-through) words, "we made this so that you will say "i can do better than that" and then you will." appreciate fragile, but give it a go yourself."

bypasszine