Friday, October 17, 2008

When educators mess up...

Did the title get your attention? Hope so...because THIS is a funny story. I was all excited about our upcoming event...all about harvest and fall schtuff. I came across a fantastic recipe for butternut squash ink. What could be more perfect! It's fall...there are butternut squashes EVERYWHERE...and what kid (or adult) wouldn't enjoy practicing their letters with butternut squash ink!

Except that the recipe is for butternut ink. No squash. Just nut hulls. Like walnut hulls. Color (or rather "un"color) me embarrassed.

Wanting to save face and to test the plausibility of actually creating butternut squash ink, I tried this project yesterday. It was not successful. You all saw that one coming, didn't you? I did, however, succeed in making a beautiful butternut squash dye--about 2 tablespoons worth.

The moral of the story? READ CAREFULLY...and have fun with your mistakes...

Enjoy a slideshow of the experiment! You can click on the slideshow for larger images and to control the speed...

Hope to see you here tomorrow! Sorry...no ink. :)

1 comment:

C HC said...

I know this is an old post, but, interestingly enough, you CAN make a pretty nice "ink" from butternut squash. I don't know how professional it is, bt it worked fine for me, writing with a piece of plastic carved into a nib shape. Just roast/bake the squash quite well, as you might for dinner. (In halves or whatever... skin included) The burnt juices stuck to the pan (and some gooey stuff too) make a very pretty brown when you add some water.

I don't know whether this officially qualifies as ink, and it could attract bugs, but I thought it was worth sharing. A fun project after having squash for dinner!