TheKennyMasters

Might give that clear a shot... I've been looking for a thick, hard clear for a bit now for a few stupid ideas of mine, and it's somewhat hard to wade through the miles and miles of talk about ultra-thin Nitro/Lacquer finishes that really keep the wood resonant... I need less luthier, more decoupage! Picked up a can of the blackboard paint today (and some bright colored chalk... yay!) and I'm gonna experiment on some scrap today if I can peel myself away from watching football long enough. I'm really torn between a black chalkboard backing with colored chalk designs, or a traditional green with a bunch of white chalk to give it more of the old schoolhouse feel. Hmm! Maybe one this season, one next season. Pros: I keep finding hairspray suggested online as a fixative, but as you said I'm worried it wouldn't play nice with the clear (or maybe the paint underneath!) Might give it a shot though. I honestly feel my biggest hurdle will be to stop the kids from covering too much of the body and not smear the everloving heck out of everybody else's designs before I can get it home and spray the fixative. Thanks everybody for the ideas, I really appreciate it. Updates to follow... hopefully positive updates!

Pretty sure your blackboard idea is even better than mine! I know they make 'fixatives' for helping preserve chalk, pastel, charcoal, etc. art stuff. Sooo... maybe a fixative over the top, let it dry, then a clear over it? Who knows if it'll work, I'm a bit worried I'd end up accidentally just blowing all the chalk away! But, it seems definitely worth a shot. Thanks for the idea! Seriously I'm even more excited now. This weekend I'm gonna buy some chalkboard paint, some colored chalk, some clear, and see if I can possibly figure out a method to make this work! Now the important question: Chalkboard-caster? Chalk-o-caster? Chalk Paul? Chalxplorer? Hmm! If I can get something that works on scrap, I'll definitely take some pics and share the progress with ya'll. Figure out of all the kids, only about five of them will try to write/draw something obscene, so that's good.

Hey there, newbie here. Been playing for eight million years but I'm just starting to get into the building/creating aspect of the instrument. Long story short, I teach a lot, and our school does shows with different groups of kids every few months. I had the idea this show season to pick up a cheaper electric, bastardize it (well, strip/sand it and prime it) then let the kids go to town with markers/pens/what-have-you to sign it, draw on it, etc.. then clear over it and have a cool unique instrument with lots of memories/stories behind it. I know the basic idea will "work," but I've never done anything like this before, so I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions... primarily about the markers/paints, and maybe the clear. Here's the biggie: My idea was a dark, gray/black sort of primer/base coat, and then to let the students go nuts with bright, bold colors on top of it. First: for the base: would a dark primer be the best option, or would more or less any spray job work underneath markers/paint pens/etc? For the marker type things... I know there's a lot of options... Sharpie, Elmer's, etc. make some 'paint pens' or 'paint markers' ... so many options! but I'm really just not sure what the best bet would be, and I wouldn't want something that won't play nice with clear over the top. Oil-Based or Water-Based? Anybody have any insight? I *imagine* it's not a gigantic deal either way but I'm deathly afraid of having the kids design their hearts out and then spraying a clear that completely jacks up the paint underneath! Also, it seems like from what I've read (though, I've never tried any of this!) that just about any poly type clear over the top will work as long as I'm careful and do some very light coats on top of the marker first before I really pile it on... has anybody ever done anything like this before? I tried searching but really couldn't find anything about this idea specifically. Thanks a bunch, and once I get a better idea I'm going to throw some attempts on some scrap, and hopefully a few months from now I'll have a sweet first project to post on here. Thanks!