Three Day Drogon

On Monday morning I realised I hadn’t started work on my dragon for the St George’s Day celebrations (the next Saturday) at the bookshop day job.  Luckily I had three days off in a row…

Having not really done this before I had no idea whether I’d be able to finish him in time, so I opted to make baby Drogon from Game of Thrones, as then if I missed the deadline at least he’d be useful for a Game of Thrones display when the next book comes out. Admittedly he’s still very rough around the edges (I’d wanted to cover him in scales, but that would have been a massive extra job), but still- he dried out in time which has to be some kind of miracle!

I even managed to take photos while making him, so here’s a little ‘How to make a paper mache dragon in three days’ tutorial.

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Bookish

I realised I’ve not posted any of my book-related designs so far, which seems a bit silly seeing as most of my time is spent in the company of books! A couple of new bookish designs this week:

And a few favourites from the oldies:

World Book Night 2012

April 23^rd is establishing itself as quite a date in the book-lovers calendar.  Not only is it both the birth and death day of William Shakespeare, but in the last couple of years it has also been the chosen date for World Book Night.  WBN is a fantastic opportunity to spread a love of books and reading around the world: those who sign up to be ‘givers’ receive 24 copies of their chosen book to distribute as they wish, with an emphasis on aiming for people who don’t regularly read, have never read for pleasure, or hardly ever set foot in a bookshop.  It’s all about passing on that love for books that some of us take for granted: I was amazed when a friend once told me they didn’t read, and when I asked why they simply said that they hadn’t really thought about it.  I lent them a few of my favourites and, a few weeks later, was rewarded with a request for more recommendations!  That’s the spirit WBN is encouraging, but on an international scale: opening up to everyone the world of books, and all the worlds, ideas and possibilities there are to discover through them.

In celebration of WBN, Waterstones in Ipswich decided to hold a guided walk through the streets of the town, distributing books to likely-looking candidates as we went.  For that extra eye-catching element we also decided to dress up in Shakespearian costumes!

Photo: two faeries and Bottom the ass from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ready to spread the magic of reading to an unsuspecting public.  I was Bottom, armed with 24 copies of Pratchett and Gaiman’s Good Omens, and yes, I did take off the mask in pubs – didn’t want to scare potential readers off!

Despite the persistent rain, we had a brilliant time, and fantastic responses from a whole spectrum of people: pedestrians, pub-goers, bus drivers, businessmen, and travellers on their way to the airport.  I really hope people enjoy Good Omens, and the other titles we distributed, and it’ll be interesting to see if any future owners register the books on Bookcrossing so we can see where they ended up.

If you want to find out more, visit http://www.worldbooknight.org/ where you can vote for next years books, read all about the scheme and become a giver for 2013.  I’ll definitely be signing up next year!

 

Easter School Break at the Bookshop

Why do the kids on break always pick the most expensive books to pull off the shelves? Opening them up and flattening the pages or dropping and scooting around the floor on them while their parents wander about chatting on their mobiles.

A welcome Sunday off from work to get some more Hunger Games variations done. I managed to fall out of bed early this morning and went for a jog, then balanced out the glow of healthiness by eating a whole Easter egg… Whoops. One down, 5 to go