Screen me from it!

Funny. I'm a digital artist, as you all know. And there's a neato plastic "screen saver" called Paperlike that isn't actually for screen protection but rather to make the super slick and glassy surface of an iPad feel more like paper. I've used them in the past and needed a new one for my big iPad.

They come two in a pack and the inventor has a detailed video on applying them. He recommends doing it in a bathroom after running a hot shower to cut down on dust and that's what I did last time. Still got a dust mote under it. Grrr.

So this time I decided to just do it in my dining area. There's a whole rigamarole involved. Little adhesive pieces, peel off the bottom layer, lay it flat, remove the bubbles and then peel off the top layer.  I did all the prep, applied it and ... a tiny piece of something underneath. Clearly visible as a black spot on the screen. So - not ignorable like a bubble would be. 

Well, they come two to a pack, eh? So I figured I'd just take off the first try and do it right with the second. I worked faster and confidently and boom, a pretty good job.

Until ... I noticed after turning it on that the cutout of the plastic was on the bottom. Wasn't that supposed to be on the top? Isn't that where the itsy bitsy camera is? Let's turn on the camera and check. DOH! In my confident 2nd try I installed the stupid thing spun around 180 degrees from what it should have been.

ARGH!!! Why didn't I leave well enough along with the first application. Of course, I'd thrown away all the application sheets and what-not. But I decided that it's time for the caveman engineer to appear. Forget all that fancy stickers, and hinges, and dust cloths. 

I just picked at the Paperlike cover with my fingernail, got it up a bit, whipped it off and then reapplied the right way. And lifted it again and reapplied, and again (almost there) and again and ... it's on but with bubbles. LOTS of bubbles!

No problem. Old plastic sheets out of the trash and my plastic. cast iron scraper to the rescue. Long story short (wait, it's already long, isn't it?) is that it's now not aligned perfectly (so OCD folks look away) but free of bubbles and 100% ready for art.

Ahhhh. Old fashioned engineering. Doesn't get any better.