You will probably remember when I read The Reader for the first time back in May and I pretty much lost my mind (See Review & Discussion Here). Well guess what?! The Speaker, the next book in the series, comes out in just over 2 weeks!! In preparation for the next book, there is a reread blog tour going on and I jumped at the opportunity to participate. Since I relatively recently read The Reader instead of posting another review I thought I would do something a little different. Normally I use Sunday posts for crafty things and I thought it would be a fun way to integrate my love for this book and get a little creative.
Before we get started, for those of you who haven't read The Reader yet, here is a little tidbit about it and Traci Chee to hopefully entice you to pick up this amazing book.
Synopsis: "Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book--a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and discover what really happened the day her father was killed--and punish the people responsible."
Traci Chee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Reader. An All-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts. She studied literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned a master of arts degree from San Francisco State University. Traci grew up in a small town with more cows than people, and now feels most at home in the mountains, scaling switchbacks and happening upon hidden highland lakes. She lives in California with her fast-fast dog.
Sounds good right?! Go pick it up!
In the mean time, how about some crafts? I have a super simple and inexpensive way to make your own art for The Reader.
Supplies:
Tray
shaving cream (needs to be foam)
food coloring
watercolor paper (I used Canson XL available at Walmart)
something to stir with (I used kabob sticks but you could use a pencil or paint brush too)
lots of paper towels
something with a flat edge (I used a ruler for quilting because that is what I had on hand)
some paint and pens (optional) - for details & writing
your inspiration (mine of course was The Reader)
Instructions:
1. Coat bottom of tray with shaving cream. It doesn't need to be filled just cover the bottom.
2. Drip in food coloring. I used a couple of shades of blue and a touch of green and black.
3. Swirl the colors together (not mix) to your liking.
4. Gently press paper into shaving cream (doesn't need to be completely coated, white space is good). Do not wiggle around. Perfectly demonstrated by my assistant (see even kids can do this - and they love it).
5. Carefully peel up paper and lay on paper towels. Use flat edge of ruler to scrape excess shaving cream off paper. Try to use one swipe in one direction, sometimes the color will move if you scrape to much. It doesn't take much pressure either. Leave to dry.
6. Repeat as many times as you like (or until you run out of shaving cream). You can add more color if you want and swirl between each card. You get more and more color and intricate patterns the more you make. See how many we made!
7. Once everything is dry it is time to add the details. I wanted to add subtle gold details to mimic the cover. I used water color paints, but you could use pens, markers, acrylic paint, whatever you have around.
I then sketched out my designs (with a test run too). You can do whatever you feel comfortable with, I have horrible handwriting but I really had some quotes I wanted to use, so went with it. I also really wanted the book and once I took my time it came out nicely.
8. You can finish it up however you like. You can mat it on another piece of paper, laminate it to protect it, frame it, make it into a bookmark, the ideas are endless! Here are my final 3. I have a bunch of left over marble paper so can make more in the future if I want.
I would love to hear if you try this out some time, let me know so I can see all of your creations. And don't forget to pick up The Reader and The Speaker comes out on November 7th! I would love to chat with you about both so feel free to contact me!
Also, make sure to visit the other stops on this blog tour to find some reviews, mood boards, interviews with Traci Chee and much more fun for The Reader!
October 16 – Bette’s Pages – Review with photos
October 17 – AEROU – Review
October 18 – YA Wednesdays – Moodboard
October 19 – Boricuan Bookworms – Booktube Video
October 20 – The Blonde Bookworm – Review
October 21 – Across the Words – Playlist
October 22 – Eastern Sunset Reads – Creative (You are HERE)
October 23 – FlyLeaf Chronicles – Review
October 24 – ButtermyBooks – Review
October 25 – Ex Libris – Review
October 26 – Good Choice Reading – Promo Post
October 27 – Love Is Not a Triangle – Review
October 28 – A Page with a View – 5 favorite things about that world
October 29 – Dazzled by Books – Review with Bookish Candle
(another piece of fan art I made for The Reader a few months ago)
No comments:
Post a Comment