The Many Lessons Learned From the Making of "Home for Snails"...

    "Home for Snails" was my first real attempt at constructing a book. I had made many a crude pamphlets and zines throughout my life, but attempting to make an honest to God book was out of my skill set. I am a woman who holds high expectations for my handmade creations. I have always been perhaps too confident in my ability to pick up a new creative skill quickly and begin producing high quality work, this project was a stark reality check on that front. This begs the question, what went wrong?

    It starts with what would seem the simplest of tasks, to measure and cut the paper. I believe my largest issue was the need to bind together several sheets of thick, unpliable paper. While excellent to draw and paint on, its another thing entirely to manipulate the sheets how I would have liked. While trying my best to hold the paper in place as I sliced it up, I subconsciously thanked myself for not buying the $18 sheets of paper from the bookstore (which I had highly considered due to the paper's beauty). My measurements were not as precise as I had assumed, as all my cuts left sheets of paper far more crooked than expected. I then had to attempt to remedy the issue by cutting more from the edges, reducing the size of the book by more than I care to admit. Due to the issue of crooked and inconsistent cuts, the folding of the paper was no simpler. The edges of the book are horribly warped, though I suppose in the end I could explain this as elaborate theming in line with the messily stitched title on the cover (perhaps a bad excuse for my poor craftsmanship). 

    The worst factor however was my complete inexperience with the medium of screen printing. I am terribly unfamiliar with the world of printing, most of my experience before hand could be lent to horrid hacking at slabs of rubbery linoleum in high school. I must point out that I am grateful to my classmates and their assistance in the silkscreen studio, rather than allowing me to unsuccessfully recall all that Mary-Anne had told us (I could only write so fast as she flung information at us for two hours). While the creation of the screen itself had been successful, the printing was a struggle. While I knew about flood coats between prints- and I was sure to perform them- I must not have had enough ink on the screen in the first place, as not even the flood coats could stop the ink from drying on the screen. I had been overly nervous about printing on my poorly cut and bound paper, to the point of producing countless test prints. By the time I felt ready to finally print my image (for real that time), the ink was dried and my pulls were underwhelming. It was too late to attempt to fix it, I hadn't the time left. I had to swallow my pride and hand in something I wasn't proud of (my worst fear). 

    It wasn't a total loss. I had made mistakes, sure, but not in vain. I had learned much of what I struggled with (numbers and measuring) and how I can remedy these mistakes later on (acquiring a cork-backed ruler). As for the printing, I have gained a sense for the angle, the pressure needed to pull a crisp image. I hope that my next screen printing project will be more successful. Mainly, I needed to trust myself. If I had not done countless test prints, perhaps my final product would not have turned out so blotchy and miserable to behold (to me, the woman of high expectations as previously stated). In the end, "Home for Snails" is still valuable to me. In many years I will be able to use it as comparison, to observe how my work as improved. I look forward to that day.