Design Books

This book is an excellent tool for learning how to create original designs. It leads the reader through the knotwork process step-by-step instead of giving a collection of knotwork designs for the reader to copy. I was most impressed by one of the final sections, which describes and illustrates how to embellish your knotwork designs with zoomorphics, or animal shapes integrated into the design.

CELTIC KNOTWORK DESIGNS by Sheila Sturrock is a nifty little book. As complex as the Celtic knots appear, it all comes down to this, they can be reduced to curved and straight lines, the most important combination being the "small hearts". Sturrock says there are four basic hearts and she provides examples of each displayed against a grid. Almost anyone can create the grid as it consists of lines of dots applied with a ruler. These dots are then used as the basis for organizing the hearts, parts of hearts and straight lines that makeup the most complex design. The only other thing you need to study are the anima elements in the zoomorphic designs that also are based on hearts, parts of hearts and lines.

One needs the following for making Celtic knotwork: the materials listed by Sturrock, patience, imagination. Not everyone may be a gifted needleworker, but those willing to work at it will be able to master this straightforward art. I am using this book to instruct young girls.

If you want to learn to draw Celtic knotwork, you need this book. It explains in detail and excellently detailed color diagrams how to plot the points for many different kinds of knotwork. From simple two-strand braids all the way up to interwoven animals, it is simply gorgeous and comeletely easy to understand. I can barely draw a straight line, yet I can use this book to create intricate designs for t-shirts, jewelry, embroidery and more. I've even had a couple friends who are tattoo artists borrow it to improve their techniques.

After wrestling with the venerable George Bain, I turned to this book to get a handle on Celtic knotwork. Sheila Sturrock breaks down the framework of knots into simple, basic shapes, allowing the reader to start making decorative knots within minutes of picking up the book. It proved to be a good starting point for me.

This book is for people who would like to be able to design Celtic knotwork for quilling, parchment craft, woodcarving, painting, counted cross-stitch, or needlepoint (to name a few examples). It allows you to design beautiful frames, invitations, carved boxes, greeting cards, pillows--let your imagination run wild! I used this book to design watercolor frames.

The author divided up her chapters according to the knotwork design's basic construction unit, e.g. small loops, hearts, fish, corner motifs, etc. There is also a chapter on "Creating Your Own Designs" and one on "Using Knotwork Designs in Other Crafts."

All of the illustrated patterns are based on angles of 45, 90, and 180 degrees and are plotted on a dotted grid, which makes them fairly easy to resize and replicate on graph paper. All you need in addition to the graph paper is a pencil and the ability to find a quiet spot and concentrate on your design.

The many colored illustrations are beautiful, and the knotwork diagrams are easy to follow if you give them the attention they deserve! The author has also written a handbook on Celtic knotwork, and one entitled "Celtic Spirals and Other Designs."

Of all the books I own on this subject (more than I can list), this is the 'Best' one. There are many aspects of taiji and other martial arts that extend far beyond the mere physical motions of the form. There are two main sections to this book. The first section explains the principles of Chinese martial arts, Taiji single form, and two person practice. Chen Pan-ling explains in depth his Yang form (steps, etc) with words and pictures, as well as common mistakes, advanced steps, and ways to improve - in the latter section.
Chen Pan-ling was one of the most knowledgeable and practiced Taiji players of his time. With this book, he has made it possible for even beginners to understand Taiji philosophy and to further one's own development as both a Martial Artist and an influential member of world society.

A Must Have for anyone in this game.

There're lots of "New Age Tai Chi Crap"out there. This is one of the "rare" books that deals with what Tai Chi Chuan is: A MARTIAL ART!. Chen Pan Ling was one of the finest "old guard" MASTERS of the Internal Arts. He is the ONLY disciple of Yang Shao Hou (His brother Yang Cheng Fu changed the original form into an smooth EXERCISE taking away every martial aspect like Fa-jing and Dim Mak) who was skilled in the real Yang Lu Chan's Tai Chi. I'm fed up of coming accross with fake masters and "soft and sweet" Tai Chi materials. The real Tai Chi CHUAN (Fist) is a devastating martial art that requires hard practice. In the West, only Mr. Erle Montaigue (you like it or not) keeps the Internal and Martial Tai Chi way. If you want to have a book on REAL TAI CHI CHUAN this is THE ONE.

Chen pan Ling was one of a few students of Yang Shou Hou (the elder brother of Yang Cheng Fu)who taught the same fighting style of Taiji as the one created by his Grandfather,Yang Luchan.This makes the book a rare pictorial record of the "Old" Yang Style,or something very close to it as there are a few changes made to the form that reflect Chens varied martial arts experience,but all in all a good reference book for the serious Taiji practitioner.The only issue not addressed is the different "ways" to perform the form other than the standard basic slow way.

The book is written without any speculation. It just tells you "how to do" even for what regarding the deep internal feeling during the tai chi practice. Much more great are the flow charts of the several tai chi skills development. (first that , then that, then that......) .In the initial chapters it looks like a great "Tai Chi Classic" written in modern (and concise) language.
No one word more, no one word less.
The sequence, very well illustrated in the book (with photos, foot diagrams, applications), is Chen's own stile. The footwork shows a Bagua Chuan influence that makes much more interesting and exciting to study the form. In addition there are clear and deep explanations of the applications (movement by movement during all the form description) and the self feeling on executing each posture.
This is really an excellent book. Even though I can not say it is a book for beginners It contains alone almost everything you need to practice and further study Tai Chi Chuan.
I teach Tai Chi and I own a huge amount of Tai Chi books, anyway, if it could happen I got lost in a faraway desert island, that's the Tai Chi book I'd like to have with me.

...Chen Pan-ling was a practical martial artist who had a background in not only Tai Chi (Yang & Wu), but also Hsing Yi and Bagua. The book not only includes clear photos (clearer than in my original Chinese version of this book) and precise descriptions of the proper movements and applications, but also descriptions of how you should feel. This is Tai Chi at it's most practical, not a new-agey easy to learn sequence.

Chen was a pioneer in that he did away with a lot of the superstition and ritual associated with martial arts teachers at the time. His attempt at educated scientific study of this martial art is a welcome addition to the mibrary of the scholarly martial artist.

After I picked up Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky, I happened to look at the cover-design credit and recognized the name Chip Kidd. After a moment's reflection as to the source of my familiarity with the designer, I walked over to my bookshelf and picked up a volume from my collection of Osamu Tezuka's Buddha. Sure enough, Kidd had designed the covers for the entire series (incidentally, I found the design one part frustrating and one part inspiring, as the spines line up nicely and thematically but the half-jacket is kind of obnoxious to deal with).

After that, I went through my shelves and picked out any of the books that I thought had interesting covers. At least half of those were designed by Kidd as well. Kafka on the Shore. Pagan Babies. The Enigma of Japanese Power. Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans. Et cetera.

I was intrigued, Googled our dear designer, and found that he was more popular than I had properly imagined. This piqued still further my curiosity. And so now I have another book with a cover designed by Kidd: Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006, a 400-page volume exhibiting a sample of his book-jacket designwork from the last twenty years.

The book itself is a treasure. A visual smorgasbord of styles and themes. A veritable cornucopia of novel treatments. While there is an occasional overlap of feel or technique (or some other abstract quantification equally obscured and subjective), the breadth of design direction is truly impressive.

Kidd is clearly a creative devil.

And this collection of his work is impressively presented. Book One is a treat for both the eyes and the mind. While a mere presentation of the jacket designs themselves would be a worthwhile scheme for a design collection such as this, the work is elevated by helpful descriptions both of product and process by the creator himself as well as reactions penned by authors/victims of his creative process. Kidd's text shows both a joy in his work and a look into what goes into the crafting of a book jacket that enlarges upon the work it containsand does so with humour and more apparent humility than I would have expected.

I found the book so interesting that I blew through the entire thing in two days. Doubtlessly, I'll return to it time and again over the coming months and years. In any case, I highly recommend it to those interested in thoughtful design, a pairing of words too rare in our day.

NOTE: a big bone of contention is not the visual design of the volume's cover but its physical properties. While its dimensions are perfectly suitable for an art collection/coffee table read, the unique composition of its cover can be difficult to negotiate. The hardback cover only extends (front and back) to the point of the spine of the book photographed on the cover. Inside the hardback cover is a paperback cover that extends to house the rest of the book. It is awkward, certainly, and took a bit of getting used to, but once I became accustomed to the book, holding it comfortably ceased to be a difficulty. Heh, a book with a physical learning curvethat was a new one for me.

This is a great, great book. If you're a fan of Kidd's work, by all means buy this book. If you are at all interested in truly inspirational graphic design, this book is a must-have.

PROS: having so many of Kidd's designs in one place is worth the price of admission, inclusion of the development and back story of each cover is interesting and elucidating, stories of his adventures in the trade are well-written and fun to learn about.

CONS: the cover is awkward, the shape of the book makes it hard to hold while reading - you really have to put it on something flat - it's sometimes difficult to decipher exactly which pictures the captions are referencing.

There is a definite form-over-function issue with the book, but the content is what counts - and that gets 5 stars from me without a quibble.

I HAD to buy this book after having read about it in another forum. Kidd's artworks are superb!

This book is bound with a split hardback/softback cover, so if you appreciate design -- which I assume you do since you're considering a compilation of book designs -- the book is worth buying for this odd cover arrangement alone.

This an excellent ,colorful book with very useful and informative comments,they are also humorous.Kidd mentions that he shows failed designs when he lectures to show that even a successful designer has failures.Unfortunately,in my opinion,the jacket for this volume falls in this category,its clever but not practical.because the cover is split in two parts its an irritation to hold and eventually the cover will be bent when laying down or storing in shelf.Still a must have in this genre.Now how about a Susan Mitchell collection?
ps.i followed my advice and bought the hardcover .Amazing its even more unwieldy,the cover is half hard and half soft,yikes!I ended up buying the soft cover to keep and treat it very carefully ,was that the point of this nutty design?I guess this cover will enter the hall of fame and certainly will be a collectors item if its never opened.Argghh!!!

The knowledge the authors have on Christmas collectibles is massive. They are historical,and humorous. I bought the first book when I started collecting pixies and learned so much more from them about trim, authenticity and why people started decorating the way they did from the early 1900's through the 60's. This book is lovely, but their other book is better. I hope they write a third.

This is a such a fun little book! Warm holiday memories, lots of humor and beautiful photography. I thoroughly enjoyed every page! The best gift book you will ever find for a vintage/antique ornament collector.

Charming and nostalgic, giving us a glimpse into the history of holiday adornment. A great stocking stuffer!

Debbie Elliott

Even if you're not particularly sentimental about Christmas, the images and recollections of the authors are a delightful experience. The photos and graphics are charming and magical, obviously done by people who truely love the Christmas season. Anyone can appreciate the vintage flavor of this little gem.

This book brings back so many great memories of Christmas and decorating the tree. It was so much fun reading and looking through every page for ornaments that we might have had on our trees over the years and seeing the many different kinds of ornaments. It is a book that I will spend much time reading and viewing for many, many years.

This book will be an invaluable asset to anyone who is serious or even in the dream stages of building a metal boat. Bruce has touched on all the issues that will arise, from conception to launch, in steel or aluminum, and has made the process straight forword and understandable for all. Good job Bruce!
Tim Christensen
Christensen Yachts Ltd.

Lots of good info for someone stepping into the metal boat market but I would prefer a little more detail to earn the title of a complete guide. There are a few nuggets I will certainly apply to my vessel. Good information being so scarce on this subject, just one good nugget is worth the purchase price.

Being a joint owner of a steel spray for 10 years, I was delighted to read Bruce's new book. It is full of photos and information, and I recommend this book to anybody, owning, buying or contemplating building their own steel boat

If you are serious about building or refurbishing a steel or aluminium boat then this book is indispensable. It is in plain English and has lots of photographs and illustrations covering everything from the basics of metal boatbuilding to painting and electrics.

This third edition compares in more detail the choices of boats and materials, steel, alluminium and copper-nickel, suitable designs for sail and powerboats, building from plans or pre-cut kits, corrosion prevention, mechanical and electrical installations and much, much more. It comes with a bonus CD of sample study plans and many photos of boats in build. It is essential reading/reference for anyone who owns, intends to own, is building, thinking of building or just plain interested in metal boats. A 'must have' book!

A clearly written book, which employs a simple language. Another beauty of the book is that all loose ends are tied up. As sentences unfold one will realize why a particular phrase was used earlier and so on. That makes a big difference for an engineering text book.

It is the best book that I know for fundamentals. Hence, it will be useful for years to come.

Must have for all embedded systems people.

Helped me in my undergrad (older version). Helped me when I gave subject GRE recently. Covered Pipelining superscalar, out-of-order execution processors, caching and secondary storage, combinational and sequential ckt review etc real well. No computer architecture book covered them all so clearly, and in one book.

This was the assigned text for my junior year computer engineering course on computer organization. I loved it. The explanations are clear, progress logically, and are clearly presented. I find myself picking it up from time to time, both to read the more advanced chapters out of personal interest and to look up details needed in more advanced coursework.

After reading this book do not believe you'll know everyting about computing , but you'll know more than others do.

I had a chance to recommend this to a colleague just last week. It is easily twice the price of the "competing" books on the market, but you get what you pay for. With this book plus (perhaps) a hands-on course in the microprocessor laboratory--interfacing various logic families to output devices, e.g., or whipping up a robot of limited capabilities--the student gains the ultimate understanding of what makes computer systems "tick," from the loftiest levels of software, through the details of instruction set implementation (microprogrammed control, prefetching, cycle-stealing DMA transfers) and even the detailed digital logic circuits that underlie the CPU.

I dare say the student who aces this course is all but prepared to build a simplistic CPU on his own--"simplistic" because, though the concepts can be understood quite completely, it's an intricate challenge. Notably, the book has kept pace with the times: while the PDP-11 instruction set is didactically wonderful--clear and easy and even sporting reasonable opcode mnemonics--you don't see lots of PDP or LSI (or, for that matter, VAX) minis floating around nowadays. So, HV&Z moved on to the 68000, the Power PC, perhaps even the Pentium in the latest (of five or six) editions. (Good move, gentlemen: you've actually done your homework rather than just changing "happy" to "glad" and reprinting with a new version number!)

I used this book as a junior, but (a) I went to Cooper Union, which operates at an extremely high intellectual level [let's put it this way: I took a number of graduate-level computer science electives--compilers, OS, etc.--taught by Bell Labs MTSs as a junior and senior; and some "doctoral" courses that I took at Case were--honest Injun--watered-down versions of similar courses I had taken at Cooper], and (b) I graduated more than twenty years ago, and requirements always creep downward: a few credits fewer, a few tangential courses eliminated, perhaps one fewer humanities elective necessary to matriculate, etc. By 2006 standards, I would reluctantly have to reclassify HV&Z as a postgraduate text.

(A little puzzle for the reader: we had to build--from NAND gates--a microcomputer featuring two three-bit registers, and my squad was the only one that implemented an "exchange registers" function that required only one cycle and used no auxiliary storage registers. How did we do it? Tick ... tick ... tick ... time's up! The circuitry compared corresponding bits from both registers. If they matched, it did nothing; if they differed, it flipped both! So, there was no literal "exchange" operation: rather, each was simultaneously reset to the value of the other.)

Theonly problem with this book I would have to say is that the dress on the cover is amazing so amazing I can't find anyone anywhere! If you can in some way help me to get a dress like that one or find that on. I have prom coming up and that dress is amazing I would do anything to get that dress, thanks for reading this and your book is great!

I found this book to not only be informative about the origin of corsets, but beautifully illustrated with period photographs and poetry concerning corsets throughout the centuries.
I am very pleased with this book!
Melissa Hawes.

A great history of the corset, for both men and women. A must read for anyone interested in the history of costume.

Love the book!! Its a must have for any corset lover! Detailed history and pictures.

Steele's books all feature informative text and beautiful pictures. In "The Corset", she discusses this mysterious undergarment and dispels myths, explains sociological and feminist aspects of it, and looks at controversies surrounding it throughout time.

Steele discusses fashion from so many perspectives: class, gender, art, sexuality, medical, historical, and anthropological, and she does so with insight and clarity. Tracing its antecedents and moving to contemporary times, Steele outlines its influences on fashion and society.

For anyone interested in deeply understanding this beautiful and controversial garment, Steele is the author to read. She merges the world of fashion with academia. This book is fascinating and insightful!

This book is absolutely wonderful. It's really amazing. Everything you could ever think would exist in a basic 18th century wardrobe is here, and the ease of use is stunning. It goes into great detail on several pieces, including several sewing techniqes. And hey, if a teen can figure it out, anybody can do it. Although some parts are a bit tricky, it is overall a wonderful book, and belongs in every costumer's library.

If only Linda Baumgarten would write more books like this!

This is one of my favorite costuming books, because its format embraces a lot of different styles and the combination is much stronger than any of them singly. The book presents information both in articles and text-box asides, and uses line drawings and period illustrations as well as photographs and patterns of the actual garments. BEST of all, the book shows clear photographs of the INTERIOR construction of these garments, which is lost in most other books. (Janet Arnold shows a few interiors, but Nancy Bradfield seems to be the best about remembering to include construction.)

I'm so very, very happy that Quite Specific Media decided to bring this one back into print!

Does the "DNA" analysis of the clothing so you can get a true picture of each garment as it marched through time. Answers questions I have always wondered. Beautiful pictures.

Like Janet Arnold's now-classic "Patterns of Fashion" books, this book takes existing museum garments and offers basic scaled patterns for them. It also offers great details about how the garments were original made, tips for using period techniques, and even a few short histories (like the history of pockets). I can't recommend the book highly enough.

The patterns are not, however, for beginning sewers; they must be scaled up to size and then made up in muslin for the best accuracy. However, even beginners can enjoy drooling over these wonderful garments (shown in color and b/w) and learning about period construction.

Fortunately, I was able to get it from our library. I guess I'll have to be patient about actually owning it, but anyway....

This book contains excellent information, not only on pattern, but on the textiles used and construction methods on actual garments. I am fascinated with how these period items were put together and amazed at the detail the researchers were able to identify - so much better than iffy descriptions of fashion plates and contemporary paintings. It is also interesting to learn how patterns would've been used with particular textiles, given cost of fabric at the time. (Interesting to me, anyway, I'm a little obsessed.)

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about re-enactment costume, or who just wants to learn more history about how things were made.

I do more sewing and tailoring of regular clothes than costumes (which is a hobby). And I use this reference all the time. For example, when taking measurements or doing fittings for family and friends, I pull this out. It actually helped me to understand patterns better, and my tailoring skills have increased dramatically.

I also found it useful when finishing our basement and creating my dream sewing space.

I'm also using it for my research for a class on fabrics and fibers.

I recommend this book as a great resource for anyone making clothes.

I am a former student of Rosemary Ingham's, now graduated and working as the Costume Shop Supervisor for Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va. I use her book almost everyday. Her instructions for sewing, altering, and patterning are easy to understand, clear, and concise. Plus there are great visuals to go along with the words by her writing partner Liz Covey. I can't wait until the next edition is complete. This best thing about it is that you don't have to be a professional costumer to use this book. A must for all sewers.

This book is wonderful. I got the book when I was in school and it has been in my tool box ever since. I recently had the pleasure of working with Rosemary and found her working style to be as informative and educational as her book. It has helped me with many projects, both professional and personal, and should be in every costume technician's library.

I am a free-lance costumer that travels around the country a lot for my work. This is the one book that travels with me as a basic reference for whatever the directors might throw at me. Most of the information is presented on a basic level (ie pattern blocks are for slopers, not finished garments), but a book would have to be the size of an encyclopedia to include detailed information on how to construct everything and would still miss something. This book gives you enough information to get you started and you can figure out the rest.

I am a student costumer and I hav had nothing but good experiences with teh Costume Technician's Handbook. I finally learned to draft my own patterns from this book - a skill no teacher has ever been able to drive into my skull. This is an absolute necessity

This is a beautiful book with gorgeous photos of Cuban architecture and furniture of the Cuba I left behind many, many years ago. I gave it to all of my siblings for Christmas and it was an instant hit! Its ovely pictures bring both smiles and tears. A must for those of us who want to keep a collection of what once was our life in Cuba before our exile.

Cuban Elegance is a great book, has wonderful photography and dipicts the elegant decore of Cuba and its architecture as well.

This is a great coffee table book of good quality. The colour photographs are excellent, accompanied by descriptive text. I bought it out of a sense of curiosity of how the more affluent Cubans might live. Unfortunately, as it turns out, I don't generally share their taste in design or dark furniture, but don't let that put you off an excellent and informative book.

THIS IS IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BOOK. THE PICTURES ARE BEAUTIFUL, THE TEXT REGARDING EACH ONE IS VERY CLEAR. IT HAS A GOOD FLOW AND MAY I DARE SAY IT IS A SEXY BOOK? IF THERE IS SUCH A THING. I WOULD RECOMMEND EVERYONE AND ANYONE TO GET IT. WHEATHER YOU'RE CUBAN OR NOT.

IT HELPS POINT OUT ALL THE BEATY THAT ONCE USED TO BE AS WELL AS THE ONE LEFT NOW AMIDST ALL THE DECAY AND ABANDONEMENT CURRENTLY AFFECTING THE ISLAND COUNTRY. I LOVED IT.

I recently bought this book and despite that I had never being in Cuba before this is better than the real thing. Cuba was one the biggest economies in the region and such growth gave the possibility to create one of the most selected elites in the Caribbean islands. That prestige and class is all what you can find in this book full of excellent pictures. The reading of the book is pleasant, accurate and, full of details. I was amaze by the work around Cuban furniture which reflects the passion of the author in the topic. It's worth 5 out 5 starts with any doubts.