He made up his own rules for making letters and punctuation marks. We can read what he writes if we learn the rules, too
The painting above by Chaz Bojórquez looks looks strange and
intriguing. If you study it carefully you can find the names of
Chaz's friends. Bojórquez disguised the names by using a
We can decode the names in this painting if we know the rules that
Chaz used. Chaz made an "M" by putting an "X" on top of
three"I"'s, and a "Y" by drawing a triange on top of a dot.
How about trying it yourself! Click on the painting and see if you can you find the names "Tony" and "Tommy"? How about:
"Kelly" "Fernando" "Dawn" "Enrique" and "Connie"?
Try spelling these names out by clicking on each letter of the name
in order. If you find three, you can use a secret typewriter that
types with Bojórquez's alphabet. If you find all seven, Cappy will
tell you a secret. There are more names, but you're on your own for
When you're done, here's some secret writing you can do!
1. Get out these supplies:
2. Plan your message.
- scrap paper
- colored construction paper
- clear-drying glue (A bottle
with a pointed tip will make "writing" easier.)
- colored chalk or pastels
3. Practice making lines with glue.
- Choose one or two short words.
- Think about what the letters of the alphabet look like. There are lots of different ways to make them. With your scrap paper, draw some bubble letters, or some fancy cursive ones.
- What direction will your letters go? They can go in a circle, or in a diagonal line across the page. They can even be upside down!
- Make your letters big!
4. "Hide" your message.
- Use a piece of scrap paper.
- Pull the glue bottle away from the lines you're making. If you push the tip back through the glue, your lines will smear!
- Squeeze the bottle just a little if you want thin lines. Squeeze harder for thick ones.
5. Give your message to your friend.
- Now you're ready for your real message.
- Use the colored paper, and write your message in glue.
- Keep your letters big!
- Don't worry if you make mistakes or if the glue lines don't look like your pencil lines. Mistakes will help hide your message even more!
- Let the glue dry.
6. Help your friend find the hidden message!
- Your message will still be a secret. It will look like a blank piece of paper with some old glue dripped on it.
- Color the whole paper with chalk or pastels.
- Your glue lines made different shapes. You can use a different color for each one, or you can put different colors inside the same shape.
- Color right up toor even overthe glue lines!
- Rub the chalk with tissue to help blend the colors.
- Use the tissue to clean the chalk off the glue lines, so you can see the colored paper through them.
- Can your friend read your secret writing?