Finding your capacity for adaptation can be a challenging experience. Our group faced many obstacles these past few days, but we overcame them in an admirable way.
On Thursday, we were tasked with designing our own two-day challenge, with little to no help from our facilitating staff member. Beginning with a decision about the decision making process, we unanimously chose consensus. With a process in place, we began to brainstorm possibilities for our challenge. We realized that there was a need for program t-shirts. Learning that Blake usually outsources the screen-printing jobs, we became excited on the idea of both saving Unschool Adventures some money, but also having a challenge idea locked in so early. There was a little bit of concern about the quality of the t-shirts originally, but we soon came to an agreement after some clarification.
With the challenge idea decided, we headed into town to get in contact with business and artists that could help us. Phone calls were made and meetings were set up and eventually, we split into two groups: one for art design and one for logistical issues. We soon found that acquiring the t-shirts in the amount we need on time was going to be a problem. Improvising, we asked to look in the back for extra bulk shirts. We ended up getting mixed colors in the right size. I was very impressed with the group dynamic so far and our ability to “bend with the wind” got us very far.
With the t-shirts in hand, it was time to pick up the actual screen-printing supplies. We stopped by Elsewhere studios, who had agreed to give us a quick tutorial and lend us supplies to get the ball rolling. There was another man that was getting the tutorial with us. He needed some of the supplies first and we still needed to get some things in order, so we sent a couple people up the hill with most of the supplies and left the rest in town to pick up the remaining supplies later.
Fast forward to after dinner. The screen had been made and was stored at the barn. All that was left was to put the photo emulsion on. Upon arrival at the barn, we learned that we had forgotten the photo emulsion back at Elsewhere. After some frantic phone calls, we acquired all the supplies we needed. All the major problems we had run into were, with much willpower, averted.
In the morning, we planned to burn the design into the screen and begin printing. However, we accidentally put photo emulsion remover on the screen and ruined the whole six hour setting process we had worked towards the night before. The next day was spent setting the screen all over again. Even though we didn’t provide the deliverables we said we would, we provided the t-shirts a day late and in fact, succeeded in many other aspects of the challenge.