a marvel and a joy

Today I will be finishing inlaying lids for an order of boxes for corporate gifts. I can't tell where they are going, as they will be a surprise for the recipients. I got over 50 done yesterday, and will inlay an equal number today. After sanding, the lids will be ready for the laser engraver to put text on the underside so that it can be viewed when the box is open.

I am also proceeding to chapter 3 of my book on making Froebel's gifts. Edward Weibé wrote in his discussion of gift number 2:

"In using the same form to represent different things in a play, do not fear that there will be any incongruity, provided the suggestion comes from the children, and the objects symbolized are closely related in thought, for the child's imagination is so free that he can clothe and re-clothe the same form with new life. The sense impressions which come from tracing resemblances and differences, experimenting and handling, will give a familiarity with the forms and their relation to each other, which no abstract lesson on surfaces, edges and corners could afford."

A couple days ago, in "play" with gift number 2, I inadvertently stacked the parts in a manner I had not done before, and discovered hidden in it a shape one might take as symbolic of man. Perhaps the real magic of Froebel was that he chose not to make a parade of the obvious to his children, but chose instead to offer a realm in which discoveries were made by them. When I stacked these three simple blocks in their new form, out of the order in which they have become associated with Froebel, I felt a sense of discovery.... a moment of pleasing but visceral response. Eureka. Not enough to launch me running naked through the streets, but enough to feel as though I had discovered something important, and enough to help me to better understand the use of symbols and symbolism in Kindergarten.

Make, fix and create...