dear -new- Impractical Laborers, Welcome! As the festival may be news to you folks, we wanted to give you a little more info. Hope this helps -- and if you have any further questions, ask away! cheers, the co-ops -- We don't know yet how many participants there will be this year. 2009 was 55, 2010 was 40, so for convenience sake we'll use the number 40 below. -- "BUT WHAT SHOULD I MAKE?" Some of you have asked us, "what should I MAKE?!" We encourage you to rephrase that question as, "what should I PRACTICE?" Think of a skill you want to get better at. Or maybe there's something you want to learn how to do altogether. And then think of how practicing that particular thing could result in 40 small artifacts. Here's several possible ways: 1) You are a knitter who wants to learn a tricky stitch. Practice this new stitch by making 2x2" swatches. Your first swatch will be messy; the 40th will no doubt be pro. 2) You are a bookbinder who always punches holes slightly off the gutter. Fold 40 pieces of 4x2" paper in half, and then practice punching 3 holes in all 40 folios. 3) You want to practice large-format sign painting. Take your large proofs and cut them down to 2x2". Or fold large sheets down to 2x2". Or cut the large sheets into long strips and accordion fold them down to 2x2". Your practice evidence doesn't need to start small as long as it ends small! 4) What if your practice is immaterial? Like, say, you want to memorize a series of color-coded circuits. You can write out 40 small flash cards until the information has been fixed in your brain. -- AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES ILSSA Operator operator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.impractical-labor.org