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Jaidyn Smith-ernet
JADE
When I was making a poster for the Main Library’s
zine cart at Skeuomorph Press which is in the Fab Lab.
Weird how life intersects.
Casual Class Fit...
For Fall 2025, I’ll be
For Summer 2025, I’ll be
For Spring 2025, My Positions are
Outside of work I love
My introduction to Skeuomorph was my first day officially as a student at the iSchool. Ryan Cordell was speaking at our orientation and very briefly mentioned his press. In what was honestly a boring session, him mentioning art was the only spark I felt. After taking Skeuomorph’s in-house “Booklab” class and serving a semester as secretary for the Skeuomorphics club, I felt that serving in a Practicum would be the natural next step.
My Major Work in The Practicum
My exact role at the press for the practicum was a bit amorphous. I was already pretty involved at Skeuomorph before I started the practicum and wasn’t sure how exactly I would change. What I did uniquely appreciate about the opportunity is it forced me to become a lot more confident in instructing others. Previously at the press, I had strayed away from helping others because I was worried about messing up their work. I think I forgot that the educational, experimental portion is the important part of our work – not perfection. What did make a major difference was coming in and practicing skills with my personal work. Due to being a Fablab GA, I have 24/h access to the press unlike the other practicum students. The more I was able to practice alone, the more confident I felt in my teaching abilities. The more confident I felt in instruction, the bigger an asset I was to the team at Open Hours and Public Events
Overview
This semester, I participated in almost every public Skeuomorph event and almost every Open Hours. Since I have a speciality in Outreach, Engagement, and Instruction, I was excited about the opportunity to plan out events for my favorite events. The event I had the largest amount of control over was Skeuomorph’s Small Press Fest tabling. I was able to design an original Skeuomorph informational zine, my own folio zine to fundraise for Skeuomorph, and Risograph buttons. The buttons themselves were pretty popular and we ran out of them. I was also able to raise quite a bit of money with my zine. I think if I learned anything from SPF, it would be take more time to think about logistics. Specifically, with live printing, we have to transport a very heavy steel demo press. Its very hard to transport so I couldn’t do it myself in any capacity. I ended up having to get assistance from others to get it to/ from. I try to be as independent as possible so it was quite difficult to feel so helpless. However, all programming requires collaboration in some form. The faster I accept it, the better work I can produce.
Another unexpected role I had at the press was serving as a liaison both between the club and the FabLab. On the club’s executive board, I was the only one who was a Skeuomorph staff member. On Skeuomorph’s staff, I knew the most about the FabLabs daily changes due to my GAship. At the FabLab, people usually turned to me for press updates. I was able to share important information between all the parties in a way that made me feel uniquely useful.
Growing Pains
My largest struggle in the Practicum was how invested I was in it. Its well known that I take a lot of pride in being involved at Skeuomorph. I happily walk around campus in a self-made Skeuomorph Press merch. Having unlimited access to the press, however, meant neglecting other facets of my life. There were many nights I would leave at 2am just to come back to the FabLab 6 hours later for work. I have often had panic attacks about projects I was working on. Now that all of my work is creative, I think it's hard to really take care of myself now that I’m invested in the final product. I’m not sure if I found an actual solution. Towards the end of the semester I went out of my way to not visit the Press. It was difficult suddenly having so much free time. However, it was good for trying to form a life outside of the press.
In the End
In the end, I am so thankful for this experience. I believe it made me grow in all facets of my career goals. Next semester I’m returning to Skeuomorph on an Independent Study.
Craft Update 2 -- September 29th, 2025
I didn’t mean to wait exactly two months between these updates but this may or may not be a theme. A lot has changed weirdly enough. I’m still making stuff at the Fab Lab sort of. No more felt crowns really... One of the last crowns I made was my one for Skeuomorph Press which is one of my favorites.
I think I really took for granted the amount of free time I had over the Summer. I just kind of assumed that I would continue to just be able to make stuff all day, every day. Alas, I have like class and actual responsibilities and whatever.
I’ve been really busy at Skeuomorph lately. I think I really appreciate the sort of structure that the Practicum gives and a common goal. The biggest thing I’ve done so far is the fully Riso, 24 page, four(ish) color zine I made. It features a Ernie Bushmiller fanpage interview (I did like a year ago lol), a collage for Wednesday (great new album btw), and a little article of me talking about secondhand shopping. Like in hindsight, maybe I could have gone about the content I combined differently. But I’m proud of my work. Ive been able to raise a good amount of money with it so far. I hate making money off of my art (it goes against my beliefs) but being able to make money for good is cool.
I was talking to someone yesterday about how my life here isn’t really giving someone serious about being a librarian after graduation. I think I long for the structure that having 5 seperate jobs DOES NOT give. But I also know I need to make stuff to feel fufilled... Makes you think...
Also been doing a lot of social media over at Ricker. I feel like Ive had a lot of weirdly successful posts. I think its kind of cool beacuase I usually feature my personal interests and it comes with the bonus that its for a larger audience. Like Yay! I did a post last night dedicated to the zines of Liz Mason. She’s quitting Quimbys which is so crazy that my head like exploded 50 billion times over. She’s been there longer than Ive been alive.
Whats coming in the future? Idek. More cool Skeuomorph Press events. More zines. More pen pal stuff.
See you in 2 (or less) months!
Craft Update 1 -- July 29th, 2025
Its my first art update on my website (#yay)! Ever since I started working at the Fab Lab in June, I’ve been making a lot more. I think its a more of a thing where all the barriers to making were kind of removed. Its Summer so I have a bunch of free time. I can use all the equipment here for free. We’re expected to be making stuff during our shifts. It also helps that most of my coworkers are makers. They’re all super creative and driven people.
Anyways, lately, I’ve been using most of that energy for felt crafting. I’m not really sure how I landed on it. One of my favorite things I’ve made is my “hashtag heart” felt fridge magnet (which I later made into a hair clip). I kept seeing felt crowns on Tiktok and thought “I can do this!” Now I’m like 4.5 felt crowns in. I think the one I feel proudest of is my “#NYC LOVES YOU/ME/PUNK” one. It had pepperoni of 1/2/3 trains. It also has removable patches. I only have the “you,” “me,” and “punk,” patches done but I plan to make more later.
Since that crown is a gift, I also made a reusuable envelope for it out of felt. I love how colorful I made it and cant wait to make more in the future. The one downside of it is it took literally forever to make. I’m praying that it only takes a couple of hours next time.
My dream projects with felt right now are making some sort of tapestry/ poster for Skeuomorph out of felt and a felt book. I think also doing one dedicated to Crass, the punk band, would be cool.
Haven’t been making a lot of zines lately. I guess I don’t feel the need to right now. I’ve been able to express my desires pretty well through my other crafts. I will say that the main zine I want to publish soon is one dedicated to like reducing consumption of new items. I have the text done for it. I just need to format it. I don’t usually do informational zines but I just really hate buying stuff new, ya’ know ?