That's Seth on the left, and that's me on the right. Notice the looks of dejection present on both of our faces? It was a bad bad day for Yo Rodeo!

We were supposed to print the sleeves for Contrived's new ep today. It was supposed to be easy, and we were looking forward to it. We'd mixed a really nice navy blue, and gotten our hands on some seriously hot silver ink. We'd even finished printing Kary's cd's two days before, which we thought had served as excellent practice for printing on surfaces that were kind of new to us, since they were the same type of case.

I'll spare you a long drawn out story, and in it's place, enjoy a point-form summary:

- new silver ink is too coarse to go through our fine screens. Three screens burned in before one is found coarse enough to allow the beautiful ink to pass. (No big deal, that happens.)
- coarse screen, will print silver just fine, but cannot reproduce detail, thereby rendering half of the design unprintable in silver. So we decide that the main graphic will remain silver, and the rest of the text will just stay white.
- once screens all set up, and sleeves unpacked, ready to print, best news ever: Sleeves are smaller than we thought, and artwork is now too big for them! Some
- Artwork reworked, rebuilt in roughly 15minutes, and printed in Greg's room. Greg's printer feed tray busted right off by yours truly, while I suffer from a panic attack.
- new artwork completed. new screen burned.
- we notice that the new sleeves are not only smaller than we thought, their shinier too. Suspicious from previous glossy experience, Seth quickly checks it out. tests prove what we feared the most: inks will not bond to the new glossy cases. Hearts breaking.
- Seth's band has to play a show tonight, Contrived needs cd sleeves by tomorrow.


Result: We Are Screwed.

But fear not, for even in the face of adversity, Yo Rodeo was able to make it out alive:

Luckily, through some brilliant resourcefulness, and the help of one diligent and miracle roommate, Greg Boone, we were able to finish the cases by screening onto sticker paper, and then sticking that on the cases. Not quite as smooth, or pro, but it turned out pretty damned good.

And Greg Boone: Thank you. A thousand thank yous. You saved our lives.