before and after milkpaint

 As you see in the photos I made some progress yesterday in my demonstration model cigar box guitar. My students will be given the choice of whether to make their guitars with or without frets, and with a box of their own design. This guitar, I have named my rustic wonder. The body is nailed together spruce sawn from 2 x 4 lumber. The front and back are basswood, and the neck is cherry. In the lower image, I've applied two layers of milk paint, brown then blue, and then a bit of green and red around the sound hole. When sanded one color slightly reveals the color beneath for a more mottled and interesting effect.

Below you can see the guitar with the body painted using milk paints. A final coat of waterbased urethane will complete the finish and enrich the colors used. With the tailpiece made, and the tuning peg holes drilled, all that remains will be sanding  and oiling the neck  and adding the bridge, nut and strings.

One of the great things about teaching is the opportunity to explore, learn  and prepare. If we want our children to be creative, teachers must model creativity and be given the opportunity to be creative, whether in the form of lesson plans designed with their very special kids in mind or in making tangible and intangible useful and lasting beauty.

John G. sent a link to an article by a teacher who was required to give her 8 year-old students iPads. I have an iPad, and I know how useful they can be. But for children who already spend too much time watching screens and avoiding actual social interaction, schools should  provide shelter from too much engagement in digital media.

The OECD in their study of the application of digital media in schools learned that: "even countries which have invested heavily in information and communication technologies (ICT) for education have seen no noticeable improvement in their performances in PISA results for reading, mathematics or science." In other words, its not working folks.

On the other hand, we do know that making things of lasting beauty, through which mind and hands are harnessed in service to each other, works. We need to bring back wood shops, music, the arts and laboratory science to our nation's schools.

I will remind my readers that we now have 16 shopping days until Xmas, and plenty of time for me to ship orders from my Etsy store. 

Make, fix, create, and insist that others learn likewise.