Cardboard Luthier

Ever since I started playing violin at age 11, I’ve been fascinated with the art of constructing string instruments. We’ve all seen the old video “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” right? I always liked the scenes where the master fixes up the old violin best. All symbolism aside, making a violin is such a beautiful art! I’ve always thought that it would be fun to BE a luthier and build violins all day. But then I think about how I can’t quite manage the attention to detail necessary to bake a cake from scratch, and that makes me think I’m ok just squeaking around on my pre-made student violin a few times a week instead of building fancy instruments myself.

Today, however, I decided to live the dream just a little…in cardboard! Last year I made Jay a play violin out of cardboard but it got crumpled and floppy so I tossed it in the trash when we moved. He has been asking me to make him another one ever since. So, today I finally did it. This year’s cardboard violin model turned out MUCH better than last year’s (the old one looked more like a guitar than a violin).

I used a black Sharpie marker and an old silver gel pen to fancy the violin up a bit. Side note—what happened to gel pens, anyways? They used to be all the rage, but I haven’t seen them anywhere for years! I still think they’re pretty awesome.

Check out that fancy scrollwork.

The silver gel pen shines metallically—perfect for the strings and fine-tuners at the bottom. If only I could draw straight lines…

The bow was fun.

I’m trying to teach Jay how to hold the bow right, but it’s pretty hard for his young, clumsy fingers.

He looks like a little Mozart, don’t you think?

We’ll be playing duets in no time!