The Task
I chose the potato task since it was different from the usual assignments. I have not done this type of activity in quite a long time, so I thought it would be interesting. The word “beast” came as a result of asking my husband for a 5-letter word. In preparation for this task, I borrowed some tools from my classroom. I needed some paint and a paintbrush. I also borrowed a scalpel from my science lab, which turned out to be the most useful tool.
Was there something particularly challenging in the process?
The most challenging part of this activity was creating the stamp for the letter “S.” I had trouble visualizing it backwards. I ended up having to write it on paper so I had a visual to follow. I also used a marker to draw out the letter on the potato so I had a line to follow when I was cutting. I didn’t do this for any of the other letters, they were done free-hand. It was also somewhat difficult to cut out the middle of the letters “B” and “A.” This is where the scalpel was particularly useful. In order to get all of the letters somewhat uniform in size, I used a ruler to mark boundaries on the potato for my letters to fit within. When making the actual print, it was difficult to line up the letters, as I could not see their actual edges.
My potato stamps and the tools used to create them.
How much time did it take for you to create the stamps?
I got so caught up in the task that I didn’t actually time myself, but I think I spent about an hour in total creating the stamps and making the prints. The creation of the stamps definitely took the most time. Creating the prints took less time, until I dropped a stamp and had to make a second attempt at the second print.
Print #2, need to start this one again!
Have you noticed anything particular about the letters that you have chosen to reproduce?
I chose to use all capital letters and a basic font for my stamps. This was intentional due to my lack of experience with the process. It also turned out that this made it much easier to create stamps for most of the letters. For the “B” and the “E”, the letters look the same backward and upside down, so I just needed to cut them out the normal direction, then turn them upside down to get the proper stamp. For the letters “A” and “T”, there is no difference between normal and backwards. No matter how you look at the “S”, it has to be crafted backwards for the stamp.
Final prints.
Considering the time and effort that you took to create a 5-letter word, how do you feel about the mechanization of writing?
This task has given me a new appreciation of the mechanization of writing. The process of creating a print one letter at a time is time-consuming and tedious. Most of the text I interact with on a daily basis is in digital format and when I need a print on paper, it is usually as easy as pressing the “print” button. I rarely think of all of the processes that have led us to this point.