G WIDE*2010
Do It Yourself
Build a guitar with your kids or scout group, be amused
and entertained and find a glimpse of the meaning of life.
Lynne Konstantin I
Special to the Jewish News
Ann Arbor
avid Erik Nelson has always liked
taking things apart. As a toddler,
his parents had to hide the screw-
driver after he so completely disassembled
an expensive blender that his father couldn't
begin to reconstruct it.
But he does not consider himself an exces-
sively mechanical person: "Most people vast-
ly underestimate what they can build or fix
on their own, especially as products become
more seamless and seemingly complex',' says
Nelson.
In his new book, Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred:
Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids
(No Starch Press; $24.95), Nelson, 33, aims
to prove the point that anybody can build
something, if they want to.
Born and bred in Farmington Hills,
Nelson attended Cranbrook Schools in
Bloomfield Hills and Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township (his mom was direc-
tor of the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery
in the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield from 1993- 2005; his dad is a real
estate developer) before moving on to the
University of Michigan.
Since his 4-year-old son Otto Sam, with
wife Cara, was born, the Ann Arbor resident
has become a full-time freelance writer/
editor, working on reference, commercial
and educational materials while selling the
occasional sd-fi story. But before his son was
born, in the late 1990s, Nelson was a teacher
at a small, "innovative" private school in
Ann Arbor (which he prefers not to name).
It was during his time at this school that he
developed most of the projects in Snip and
realized how beneficial doing-it-yourself
could be.
When Nelson arrived at the "Hippie
School for Troubled Youths," as he calls it, he
was completely unprepared for its egalitarian
ethos. Hired as a part-time English teacher,
his position morphed to include theater,
songwriting, government, sex education,
physics, home-school adviser and chauffeur
(for which he earned his chauffeur's license).
"Many of the kids I worked with had drug
or psychological problems, or had been out
of conventional school for months, even
years, because of anxiety, bullying or other
issues',' says Nelson. "The school wasn't spe-
cifically designed for such families; it just
Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred offers
so happened that our core values, which
24 do-it-yourself craft and
stressed student and family participation
toy-making projects.
and mutual respect between staff and stu-
dents, were therapeutic to many"troubled"
kids." He also noted that many of these kids
went on to attend universities or to enter the
workforce.
Nelson, himself an avid reader since grade
school and a born book-learner who gradu-
ated cum laude from U-M, was exactly the
kind of person who excelled in the pressure-
cooker schools that kids like these hated, he
says. "The projects in this book represent the
places where our interests intersected: musi-
cal instruments, electrical shocks, ancient
games and goofy sock animals."
And so in Snip, Nelson has compiled 24
do-it-yourself craft and toy-making projects,
many of which he built with his former stu-
dents, and all written with effortless instruc-
tions and Nelson's highly entertaining wit.
Each project in the book, Nelson writes,
has three key qualities: "You will make a
wicked awesome Thing. You will do it for
cheap (or free!). In making this Thing, you
"Goofy Sock Animal"
will pick up a transferable skill or funda-
mental understanding of the Thing and
Of all the projects in the book, among
thus be able to modify or make new Wicked
them a PVC Tepee, Fed-Ex Kites, a
Awesome Things:'
Marshmallow Muzzleloader, Quick-n-Easy
Organized by the projects' level of chal-
Water Rocket and mess-free screen-printed
lenge and suitability by age range, the book
t-shirts, Nelson's favorite to build was the
stresses that there is truly something for
Fast-Catch Boomerang.
everyone in the DIY world. "Every project is
"Boomerangs — in their flight pattern
written with the beginner in mind — this
and behavior — are just really beautiful and
can be the first time you've ever threaded
exciting, in and of themselves; even a toddler
a needle or warmed up a soldering iron','
gets that. But slightly older folks — from
Nelson writes, but also stresses a few safety
about elementary age on up to retirees —
tips and life lessons he picked up while
are just thrilled when they see you make
teaching at the "Hippie School."
a working boomerang out of a piece of
Among them: "In order to learn about the
scrounged poster board because by the time
real world, you need to use real tools; noth-
you hit first grade, you've probably already
ing in this book is dumbed down or baby-
grown jaded about the boomerang.
fied. Show caution, heed the warnings and
"You've gotten a cheap foam one as a
wear goggles, masks and work gloves when
party favor or a little present from an uncle,
advised to do so: Sawdust and PVC chips can and it never worked, and you assumed that
wreck up your eyes; soldering irons, torches
boomerangs were either really hard to throw,
and fire can burn you; saws and knives can
or really hard to build, or just sort of an over-
cut you; pins and needles can poke you;
blown cultural myth to begin with.
electricity can zap you. And don't let these
"So, take a room full of people who are
warnings dissuade you from making these
savvy and jaded and know enough not to
projects! Drug-addled teens were able to
believe the hype, give them a ruler and a
complete them without injury or mishap."
marker and a pair of scissors, and in 10 min-
utes they've
made a work-
ing boomerang
out of some-
thing they were $10 Electric Guitar
going to cram
in the recycle bin; they become luminous
because they've made something awesome
out of trash, and it dearly dawns on them
that there are a whole lot of other things
they could make, too. They could remake the
world.
"Everyone walks away from making a
boomerang understanding that they can
make more things. I love that; ifs my favorite
thing."
And, of course, he adds, everyone loves the
$10 Electric Guitar. ❑
Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously
Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids
(No Starch Press; $24.95) hit book-
shelves this month. Find it at most
Borders and Barnes & Noble loca-
tions and online at nostarch.com .
"'‘
November 18 • 2010
GG43