Directionally Challenged

I admit that I don’t follow directions very well. In fact, I often skim the directions to get the gist of the thing and then dive right in. This is not always a good idea in crafting. Some may disagree with me here saying that is how “happy accidents” occur and new craft techniques are discovered. Maybe for some – but not for me. Take, for example, my recent foray into making liquid polymer clay transfers. I heard about this technique on HGTV’s Carol Duval Show. I went to the HGTV website and accessed all the directions for the project. Although I did thoroughly read and follow the directions for the project, I found that sometimes my transfers came out perfectly and sometimes they did not come out at all. I kept plugging away at it and kept experiencing the same inconsistency of results. Finally, I realized that while I had followed the directions for the project to the letter, I did not read the directions for the matte photo paper I was using. Who knew that there was a right and a wrong side for printing on this paper (probably most people who make a habit of reading directions)? The difference between the two sides is subtle with the matte photo paper (it is not like the glossy paper where even directionally challenged people like me can’t go wrong). Printing on the wrong side of the matte photo paper caused my transfers to fail. The transfers that did come out well were the ones that I serendipitously printed on the right side of the paper. Now when I make the transfers I always make sure to print on the correct side of the photo paper.

I still like to skim the directions for most things, but now I skim a little more carefully!