Clover's Crafty Day: A book born from the Jasper Farmers' Market

If you write a book about snails delivering crafty packages, you are required to have a reference to snail mail, according to author and illustrator Katie Eubank.

With the Christmas season behind us, slow mail may not seem that fun (Anyone else delivering delayed gifts this week?), but in this case, Katie’s story, “Clover’s Crafty Day,” points out the fun of being creative in your own way.

Clover, Katie’s snail protagonist, isn’t sure about creativity. “Scissors are sharp, and glue gets everywhere,” writes Katie in the description of the book on Amazon. But as Clover accompanies Poppy through the day of deliveries, they both come to appreciate creativity, which is unique to each individual and comes in many forms and skill levels.

“The story just introduces the various arts and crafts,” Katie explained.

But more than that, it helps teach that it is okay not to be good at something and get messy while learning.

“You can still get joy out of it, even if you’re not good at it yet,” Katie said. “In the book, they make mistakes on every page because that’s just the process of learning.”

*Sage, in the chef’s hat, happens to be one of Katie’s favorite characters she created in the book.*

Clover’s adventure has been percolating in Katie’s imagination for several years. It began when 14-year-old Katie showed up at the Jasper Farmers Market with her mom to sell the handcrafted jewelry she made from polymer clay. Sitting there with her necklaces and bracelets on display one day, a passing customer mentioned she could make little clay animals.

“So I did a penguin, a swan and a snail, and people bought the snails,” Katie said. “And then more and more people started buying snails. Eventually, it was more and more snails and less and less necklaces.”

The little snails with the marble shells began filling the market table. She also opened an Etsy shop, MiscellanyEtsy, filled with unique handmade figurines from which she has sold 1,599–“I’m just waiting for one more,” she laughed.

Katie loves considering ideas for each unique snail. Many are based on fun hats she either finds or dreams up. Some designs that began as custom orders have become part of the collection available for order. She even sells special surprise boxes with a mystery clay figurine inside.

*Katie explained that many people collect the unique polymer figures and display them in their homes.*

If you peruse the selections on the site, you will see many of the characters in “Clover’s Crafty Day.”

According to Katie, while the story idea had been there for a while, the skills to illustrate it were still under development. Homeschooled here in Jasper, Katie enrolled in Cedarville University to major in industrial and innovative design after finishing high school.

“Once I got through all the drawing classes, I started drawing the illustrations,” she explained.

Similar to Clover in the story, Katie wasn’t sure if she was ready to start bringing her snail adventure to life. But over a year, she took time to create the illustrations for the story she had in her mind.

“As I practiced by doing them, I got better,” she said.

She even had to go back to her original drawings and redo them because, through the process, her style developed and matured to such a degree that the original drawings no longer matched.

Abigail Ryan, a classmate from Cedarville, helped lay the book out to be printed, and on November 4, 2023, Katie published her book through Amazon’s self-publishing services. Besides Amazon, several copies are available at the Jasper Arts Center in the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center.

“The farmers’ market is the reason I am where I am now,” Katie said. “It brought me out of my shell, taught me how to talk to people, and grew my business. The support that grew from the farmers’ market is, in part, why I thought there would be an audience for the book–because people had already fallen in love with the snails.”

“I just wanted to make a good story that was happy and encouraging that anyone can like,” she added.

Katie needs individuals to provide reviews to help more people see the book on Amazon. She has sold about 50 books so far through the service, and it takes about 60 reviews for the book to be more readily found. If you pick up a copy and enjoy it, take a moment to provide a review to share the joy.

Katie is set to graduate from Cedarville in May and will be looking for a job, but she would love to come back to Dubois County if she can find one close to home.