Two Towel Day Activities For You Hoopy Froods

Happy Towel Day, Hoopy Froods!

I just turned 42 this month, so this is my year of all things Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm hoping to have a joint birthday party later with another friend who's also turning 42, but in case that doesn't pan out, I thought I'd start sharing some of my planned birthday goodies here!

First up, I am BEYOND DELIGHTED to show you our most glorious coloring page party favors, made by John using all free clipart, if you can believe it.

How fun is this?? Feel free to download it (right click to embiggen, then save) so you can print it out to color. Or save the file to color digitally on your iPad.

Next up, while searching for birthday crafts I stumbled across this delightful creation by Terry Border of Bent Objects. (Remember Bent Objects? That was one of the big blogs back in Cake Wreck's heyday.)

I assume Terry made this by attaching the wire limbs directly to the book, but I had the idea to make it more of a wire stand, so the book could easily be removed without damage. Because how cute would this be sitting on your bookshelf?

As it turns out, VERY VERY CUTE:

Ta-daaaa.

 This is in John's game room, where I try to theme each bookshelf cubby to a different fandom:

 

It still needs something up high, I think. Maybe ships that hang in the sky the way that bricks don't? Or a banner advertising "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With," because that jingle has been stuck in my head for the last 3 days? (John and I've been watching the  6-part BBC miniseries of Hitchhiker's on Hulu.)

This little book stand is basically a wire easel with tiny feet and arms. The book is not attached, so you can simply lift it off to read. 

 Ahh, but what if you don't have spare shelf space for a book easel? Then what?

  Then you make a version that hangs on the wall!

 

  Either option is a pretty easy craft, so let me walk you through it.

First, you will need:

 

- A paperback book (hardcovers are too heavy)

- At least 48 inches of craft wire, in your choice of color (we just used what we had)

- Pliers for bending the wire

- Metal snips for cutting the wire

- An old washcloth

- (optional) Needle & embroidery thread for embroidering the washcloth

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- Start with one long piece of wire (about 24 inches) and one short (about 11 inches):

- Twist like so:

- The shorter piece will be the legs, so add some feet and bend the "knees":

It's hard to tell here, but the "knees" are bent to provide a little shelf for the book to sit on.

- Now twist up the long wire to form a triangular torso & 2 arms

- Wrap the wire on one side around a paintbrush to form the 3 fingers of a hand, like this:

(Heads up: this colored wire tends to chip! Booo.)

- Then cut off the excess, leaving one upturned "thumb." 

- The second arm will hold the towel, so bend that forward and in front, no need for a hand.

Now it's time to decide if you want your book stand to hang on the wall or stand up like an easel.

For a wall version, add a hanging loop and two "butt bumpers" to angle the stand out from the wall, like this:

See the Butt Bumpers? Without those the book will fall forward. Here's how it looks on the wall:

See how they help the book lean back? And you really can't tell looking at it straight on:

If you'd rather your book stand be an easel, then twist more wire around the torso section to make a kick stand in the back, like this:

- Finally, cut up an old washcloth to make the towel. We didn't bother to hem ours; just folded it in thirds and left the bottom edge raw:

 

For the "embroidery" I cut a vinyl stencil with my Cricut, then stitched haphazardly inside the lines:

We debated painting it, but I'm glad I stitched it instead. My attempt at embroidery is comically messy, but I'm telling myself that just adds to the charm. And honestly I love how beat-up the book is for the same reason:

This copy of Hitchhiker's was mailed to me by a very sweet reader, btw, when I realized I didn't have one and went begging on my Story. I can always trust this crowd to have the nerdy essentials lying around!

The whale pot was a Clearance find at HomeGoods, and the fake petunias cost me TEN WHOLE DOLLARS on Amazon, which I still bitterly resent, but hey, at least they look cute.

I really love the idea of making books functional art pieces like this, and I know there must be a ton of other titles that would be fun to add limbs to. Maybe a Star Trek book giving the Vulcan salute, or a Star Wars one holding a little plastic lightsaber? SO MANY POSSIBILITIES, I hope some of you take this idea and run with it. I'd love to see what you come up with! 

In the meantime, help me brainstorm: what other books need arms and legs? Wait, or maybe wings and horns?? OooOOOooooh.

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And as always, if you're looking for MORE crafty ideas, be sure to head over to my Tutorial Page! I've got over 150 different project photos there for you to browse through.