Saturday, 12 October 2013

Through the Tea Leaves - mini challenge

found on google, I was too eager to draw the character to remember to photograph the stain
Hello read-a-thoners I'm really excited to be hosting the Hour 6 mini-challenge Through the Tea Leaves. This activity is something I do at school to bring out the creativity in the kids, to make them think and imagine their characters, build their resilience and also their confidence.

My character, Del Jordan from Lives of Girls and Women
It is a drawing activity where you will draw the face of a character from your current read, now I'm know some of you immediately will want to shrink away, but plaease stay for just a few moments longer and hear me out. The secret of this activity is that you do not need to be able to draw, a picture will form in front of you and you are simply lining that image for everyone to see.

Believe me I cannot draw a thing-in fact I drew a tree on the board at school the other day and the kids thought it was a peacock!
What do you need:
One wet (not too wet) teabag (coffee and ink also work here), a piece of paper, a black pen (a biro will do).


Instructions:
1. Make yourself a cup of tea
2. When the tea is sufficiently stewed for your taste, strain the tea bag and place it upon the piece of paper.
3. Leave it for a moment or two (this will depend on the thickness of your paper) and dispose of the teabag.
4. We are now interested in the stain, move it around, view it from different angles, you are looking for a face, a face of a character from the book you are currently reading. (Whilst my stain was damp, I move the paper around which changed the shape of the stain a little and ended up providing the character's plaits)
5. Enjoy your cup of tea whilst the stain dries (if you are impatient like I was, use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process).
6. Now with a black pen sketch in the face of your character - use as much or as little detail as you like.
7. Take a picture, create a post on your blog or twitter acount and leave the link in the comments or on my twitter page @katrinasreads

Prize:
I will select, at random, one participant to recieve a band new copy of TEA Obreht's novel The Tiger's Wife plus a few other tea goodies.
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22 comments:

  1. tamara12 October 2013 at 10:18

    Dah! I think I only have loose leaf tea but I will cast about for a tea bag--this looks really fun!

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  2. guiltlessreader12 October 2013 at 10:24

    How interesting! Great homage to Alice Munro too! :)

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  3. Nadia12 October 2013 at 10:24

    I don't use tea bags, so I made this with coffee. Even if it's not valid, it's worth the fun :)

    http://eu-e-o-bam.blogspot.pt/2013/10/deweys-read-thon-hour-6-mini-challenge-5.html

    (I also tweeted, but I'm new at it, don't know if it was sent to you :P)

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  4. Nadia12 October 2013 at 10:24

    I don't use tea bags, so I made this with coffee. Even if it's not valid, it's worth the fun :)

    http://eu-e-o-bam.blogspot.pt/2013/10/deweys-read-thon-hour-6-mini-challenge-5.html

    (I also tweeted, but I'm new at it, don't know if it was sent to you :P)

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  5. Steph12 October 2013 at 10:25

    Okay so this challenge is super creative and awesome! Although it definitely showcases my terrible drawing skills. Here's my tea drawing: http://see-steph-run.com/post/63836511973/im-a-terrible-artist-but-this-through-the-tea

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  6. katrina12 October 2013 at 10:27

    Teabags, coffee, an inkstain if you have a fountain pen anything will work and will be counted. I'm sure the tea leaves will be able to create some type of stain too.

    Thanks for the positive messages x

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  7. Anonymous12 October 2013 at 10:31

    I tried!

    Mine didn't turn out anywhere near as amazing as yours, but this was a really fun challenge!

    Mine can be found here: http://linguaphileme.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/through-the-tea-leaves/

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  8. Heather12 October 2013 at 10:36

    I used the leftover coffee in my mug. Not a great artist, but it captures the character.
    http://thesnakewrangler.blogspot.com/2013/10/checkin-hour-6.html

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  9. Unknown12 October 2013 at 10:52

    http://hookedonbooks.booklikes.com/post/597802/through-the-leaves-mini-challenge

    Mine is really bad, but it was fun! :)

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  10. Elizabeth - Elizabeth-Michelle.com12 October 2013 at 11:08

    This was so much fun! Here's mine (all the way at the bottom) -- http://www.elizabeth-michelle.com/2013/10/12/read-a-thon-fall-2013/

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  11. Karen12 October 2013 at 11:37

    Yikes -- this is pretty bad!

    http://ghhslibrary.psd401.net/?p=10438

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  12. Anonymous12 October 2013 at 11:45

    Creative challenge! I don't have time to do it now, but I'll try later when I need a break to stay awake :)

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  13. Anonymous12 October 2013 at 12:28

    Mine didn't turn out as well as I might hope. I think I was too impatient and didn't wait for it to dry fully. I did some embellishments within the outline.

    http://leprechaunreads.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/catherine-from-proof-by-david-auburn/

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  14. Elizabeth12 October 2013 at 12:37

    Here is mine. Not the most beautiful picture ever, but making it was pretty fun!

    https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15388529-elizabeth#comment_84752378

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  15. Anonymous12 October 2013 at 12:38

    This was kinda fun. I used coffee drips, as the tea just kept leaving perfect circles (I have a diffuser, no bags). Thanks for hosting this one!
    http://tichwi.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/october-2013-read-a-thon/

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  16. Frk. Litteratur12 October 2013 at 12:52

    my rather weird looking unicorn: http://little-missreader.blogspot.dk/2013/10/deweys-24-hour-read-thon-hour-8-through.html

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  17. Tami12 October 2013 at 12:59

    Great mini-challenge! Here's my rather strange looking character.
    http://tdreads.blogspot.com/2013/10/readathon-through-tea-leaves.html

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  18. FICTION STATE OF MIND12 October 2013 at 13:04

    http://fictionstateofmind.blogspot.com/2013/10/dewey-24-hour-readathon-mini-challenge.html?spref=tw

    There is mine above:) great challenge

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  19. katrina12 October 2013 at 13:14

    And Timothy Guillan is the winner! I used a random number generator to pick the post which one. I have requested his postal address and the prize will be sent out soon.

    Thanks to everyone for participating I loved all the entries

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  20. katrina12 October 2013 at 13:14

    And Timothy Guillan is the winner! I used a random number generator to pick the post which one. I have requested his postal address and the prize will be sent out soon.

    Thanks to everyone for participating I loved all the entries

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  21. katrina12 October 2013 at 13:14

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. Book Dragon13 October 2013 at 16:27

    Congrats to Timothy Guillan!


    just stopping by to say thank you for hosting a mini-challenge. Gina @ BookDragon's Lair

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