Arts and Crafts Books

(As written to the author)
Just wanted to tell you the reaction to your book here. A beading friend saw it at another beading friend's house. She immediately purchased one, then told me about it. She brought it to our bead society meeting last night and I came home and immediately purchased it, too. And several of the ladies in our group said they wanted it also! What a wealth of inspiration! And so beautifully photographed and displayed. Thank you, thank you for sharing this with us all. Who knows what wonderful creations will be born from seeds you have sown!!

As a jewelry designer, I am forever open to quality inspiration. "Beadazzled: Where Beads and Inspiration Meet," has become the go-to volume in my library when I need a little tug in the right direction. Unlike other jewelry showcase books which tend to present pieces in stark lighting with little more text than a list of ingredients, this one is rich in both bead lore ("Prized in China, Mongolia, and Tibet for its ability to protect wearers from evil, turquoise was also pulverized and added to traditional Asian medicines") and sumptuously arranged photos (necklaces adorn not only lovely decolletage, but also gorgeous raku pottery and Indonesian textiles). Sheer beauty and innovation were key when choosing featured designers; works from celebrated masters such as Grazia Zalfa, Amy Kahn Russell, and Susan Green appear alongside necklaces from up-and-comers such as Caito Amorose, Walter Ford, and 16-year-old Elizabeth Hutsell. Author Penelope Diamanti and photographer William L. Allen have created an inviting atmosphere for pure inspiration. My advice? Curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket and this book -- start with Diamanti's engaging introduction, and by the time you turn to the last page to see Zalfa's joyful bottle-cap necklace, your beads will be calling you to play.

Beadazzled: Where Beads + Inspiration Meet

Anyone who is interested in beads -- making them, buying them, stringing them or wearing them -- will love this book. First of all, the quality of the photographs and the writing are exceptional. That's not surprising when you learn that all the principals connected with the project have worked for National Geographic at one time or another. So along with remarkable designs by 70 of the best artists now working in the field of beaded jewelry, you'll find information about the history of beads and beading. The combinations of colors and materials are truly inspiring. This is a must-have book for anyone interested in the age-old art of creating beauty from stone, glass, metal and string.

I received Beadazzled as a gift from my 14-year-old daughter, who's always loved making jewelry. Nothing like the stunning creations in this book though. We enjoyed the book together, and were amazed at the range and beauty of all the beads--and also compelled by their stories. Every page of the book drew us in. The beads themselves are fantastic, but also seeing them around the necks of women is inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that we've already made a couple trips to a Beadazzled retail shop in our area. My daughter is hard at work, creating "just the right jewelry" for me, her sister, her grandmother, her friends. I think this book has started a lifelong interest for both of us. I'll surprise her with one of my own creations on her next birthday.

This book has become the ultimate coffee table decoration in our home. Out of several we display, this one gets the most admiring attention. The women are drawn to it at once. The book is rich, well concieved and crafted. The verbiage is plain and easy to read and the pictures are warm and beautifully detailed. Many are almost 3D. For the neophyte (like me) this is a virtual "course" in cultral taste from around the world. There are high quality pictures of jewelry, the likes of which, I have never seen. Very worthwhile and well done. Congratulations to Penelope Diamanti and to Bill Allen for such a successful collabration.

Delighted to receive it -
Delighted to skim through it -
and now I'm searching through my stash for
the appropriate fabrics so I can get right to
the making of the cover project
as a pillow but will use the pinks/greens/
whites combination of the suggested wall hanging.
The directions are clear, the aids seem precise,
and the projects are very inspiring.

Susan Taylor Propst's BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS: QUILTS AND CUSHIONS TO APPLIQUE tells how to create a range of flowers in lovely artful quilts. Ten wall quilts with ten coordinating round and square cushions use a range of hand applique, provide patterns, and offer tips for color matching in a lovely pairing of quilts and cushions to applique. Gardeners who love quilts will find these projects appealing.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I love the flowers in this book. This will be my third applique quilt. It may look intimidating, but the author has included great illustrations and instructions. If you have done applique before, it will be easy. If this is your first, then jump right in and have fun. These flowers are really beautiful!!!

This is definitely the book for me. I DON'T have a green thumb but I do appliqué. I wish I had found this book last fall rather than now going into summer but the book will still be there come fall. Appliqué is something I love to do in front of the fireplace on a cool/cold night.

The first 25 pages are all about appliqué hot-to's and quilting basics along with choosing colors and fabrics. It is a chapter that very thoroughly covers all these points.

Then there are 10 different flowers to "grow" under your needle. Pillows and wall hangings make up the 10 patterns. While no quilts are shown, there is no reason you couldn't turn the patterns into quilts.

Each project begins with a paragraph about the flower and the finished size of the project. A materials and cutting list follow this. Simple construction directions are given with finishing suggestions. All templates are included. The more complex patterns come with color keys as well.

Grab some scrap fabric (this book will give you a way to use up those scraps you just can't part with), some template plastic, your ruler and cutting mat and this book. When you are done, you will have a "green thumb" to show for it!

This is a wonderful resource book for the seasoned quilter. It is not for a beginner, but if you have been appliqueing quilts before, this book will make you smile.

A beautifully illustrated book with easy to read suggestions on working with recyclables in your classroom. Very inspiriing!

I took a lot of ideas for working with my kids at school.

If you are a Reggio inspired teacher as I am, you will love this book. It takes you through the wonderful process of sharing the joys of all those little treasures that young children find and love. You will be amazed at how clever the children in your class become at sorting and classifying through the kinds of experiences that working with 'Beautiful Stuff' involes. I just love this book, it has changed the way I view the materials that I put out for the children, and how I use them. My friends also love this book and all ask, "where did you get it?" Thank you Cathy Topal Weisman and Lella Gandini you are inspiring.

I am not a teacher and I was not experienced in the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education (project approach) before reading this book. I sought this book for handwork ideas with the items my girls collect on their nature walks. I could not put this book down!

Beautiful stuff outlines the projects developed with found materials at the pre-school in Reggio Emilia, Italy. It starts at the beginning with the ideas of the teachers, the method of including parents and increasing children's awareness of everyday objects. (This book is full of details - they mention how the teachers scan materials and remove inappropriate / dangerous materials).

The book is filled with photographs from beginning to end. The photographs themselves show the story. I especially like the different approaches to sorting suggested in this book and the amount of time the children were permitting to sort, touch, feel, enjoy, and organize the materials. I also liked the three-dimensional project where the children first drew what they were going to build.

The children are quoted throughout the book. The quotes are memorable and sweet and show the children's enjoyment of this entire project.

I would recommend this book to pre-school teachers, day care centers, people who baby-sit in their home or parents looking for ideas for found objects. I loved it!

This book is a great way to ease yourself into Reggio or to inspire others on your team. You do not have to be "Reggio inspired" to know that young children love small, collectable items. They find such wonderful treasures, but classrooms are not often set up to make good use of this "Beautiful Stuff". This book has great photos and easy to read text showing readers the process that children and staff went through in developing this long term project. I particularly enjoyed the summaries at the end of each chapter on what the adults learned during the process. My only complaint would be that I wanted MORE!

You couldn't want more in a book than this little number by Patricia Bage for clarity of method and technique, simple illustrations and nice projects to finish. You will get a true sampling of stitches including 10 techniques in drawn thread alone, 12 in embroidery, how to bead and 4 really pretty samplers to incorporate and learn the techniques through and through. I love that she shows each of the 4 samplers in 2 different color schemes. This allows you to see the potential of personal design that so inspire as to sit right down and begin to stitch. She has included a comprehensive list of fabrics, threads and supplies with photographs of everything that are very close-up and detailed and leave nothing to guess at. You can try your hand at one type of stitching or become truly an expert by finishing one or more of the samplers. What a great find!

This book is so much more than it seems. It's a treasure, the images are so neat and beautiful, widely displayed across the page. The tutorials are excellent! Step by step instructions with pictures and graphs...
It has information on materials, important considerations before stitching, tutorials on the techniques, plus four beautiful projects shown in different color schemes and finishes... Best needlework book I own.

Wonderful book detailing easy step by step instructions for learning drawn thread emboidery. Great pictures and diagrams. Would recommend this book to anyone wanting to recreate this form of needle art.

This book is a must for anyone who wants to learn drawn thread. It is easy to use and has some BEAUTIFUL patterns. Definitely worth the money.

This book is a must have for anyone wanting to learn or improve their drawn thread stitching! The author has used clear diagrams and beautiful patterns to demonstrate the different stitch types in this style of needlework. A Must Have!

This is a gorgeous book. It is filled with close-up photographs of the work of outstanding jewelers, so feast your eyes! Some have several entries; some have just one. Styles of the chosen works vary, so you get an excellent overview of what has been going on in the world of fine jewelry in recent years. Some pieces are over the top; others are very restrained. All are very finely made. They are accompanied by statements by and photos of the artists. All are products of design challenges set by the Jewelry Design Council, and it is fascinating to see how various artists interpret a one word challenge such as "spiral," for example. The variations are many and many are wondrous. I couldn't put it down. This would be a great gift for anyone who makes or collects jewelry or anyone who appreciates fine craft.

Alan Revere has a compendium of wonderful jewelry based upon several themes. The interpretations of each theme by selected artisans show imagination, skill, technical competence which is at times mind-blowing, and beauty. So much skill in a soft-cover book which is readily affordable makes it available to many who aspire to the heights these artists have achieved.

Thanks to the incredible jewelry knowledge and clear writing style of this book's two authors, those who appreciate real fine art jewelry are able to learn about some of the contemporary market's major talent. This book is for anyone who wants to be--or needs to be--further inspired by original creative work, each with a signature all its own. Perhaps most importantly, it is a significant contibution to the historical chronicling of 20th and 21st century jewelry design.

I find this book very inspiring and beautiful! I love Lark Books in general, but this book goes into more detail about the designs and about the designers. I find it so interesting how each concept is interpreted in each designer's vision. I also love the layout of the book starting with the prologue... the fabulous photos... the comments from the designers and details of the pieces... I like to collect art books and love jewelry so this is a perfect book to enjoy!!

This is a beautiful book, intelligently written detailing the uncommon works of amazing Jewelry artists. Inspiring!

This book is a very good book, but I think it is better suited to the more experienced tanner. I think Matt Richard's book is better suited for beginners, but I did learn some new things from this book.

This is the a very good job of writing on the topic. It's easy for the reader to know what it is all about.

This new reprint edition keeps in print all the great information found in the previous edition "Wet-Scrape Braintanned Buckskin", but adds some new minor revision, some new illustrations, and a new more attractive title and cover. We hope you will like it, we do!

This book is not really "out of print", but has been reissued under a different title and ISBN #. The new title is "Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning" ISBN# 0-9654965-5-4 and is available on Amazon.com. This new reprint edition features a more attractive title & cover and some minor revisions, but is essentially still the same great book. Thanks for your interest.

There is a lot of information contained within these pages...written by two excellent brain tanners and experienced teachers. It is the kind of book that you can go back to time and time again and find new and valuable information that you missed the first time. I do think its a little hard for the beginner to find the simple and straightforward how-to do it information in, but it is there, and it will teach you what you need to know, and then some.

"Wetscrape Braintanned Buckskin" has a particularly good bibliography, section on tool sharpening, troubleshooting, museum quality illustrations, good humor and a whole lot of excellent information. I've been brain tanning for a living for 11 years, teach it regularly and have written a book on it myself, and all I can say is that if you are considering getting this book, just do it!

This book is filled with wonderful projects, mostly ones that will require a lot of time, but some smaller things as well. The photos of the finished projects provide plenty of inspiration.

A lovely assortment of patterns. Daunting for a beginner like me, but sure to engage someone for many, many, many pleasant hours. These are big, complex patterns with good directions and colors plainly listed/described. A good reference.

I have other books by Jayne Netley Mayhew and Nicki Wheeler and I like every one of them. So far this is my favorite and I like how some of the designs can be used for needlepoint as well as cross stitch. It has designs with jungle cats as well as domestic cats and it is very hard to pick a favorite. Both ladies work very well with each other. I'm looking forward to their new book this month and want to collect all the books they will make in the future.

Cats Of The World In Cross Stitch is the wonderfully collaborative effort of needlecraft experts Jayne Netley Mayhew and Nick Wheeler who offer the reader more than 30 "easy-to-follow" cross-stitch designs featuring cats of all kinds, ranging from beloved house pets to fierce lions and tigers. Gorgeous full-color illustrations and diagrams bring life to the detailed instructions for making the creation of beautiful projects easy and fun for needlecrafting cat lovers everywhere. The fun and informative asides offer tidbits of fascinating information about magnificent felines of all shapes and sizes, making Cats Of The World In Cross Stitch a most engaging and confidently recommended cross-stitch pattern collection.

This beauty and cute book is the best for catlover!Stunning photos, easy to read colour charts, a lot of informations also regarding the cats...and wonder projects to stitch!I can't wait to stitch all this beauty pussycats!

I gave this book to my mom for her birthday. She is a big Chihuly fan and loved the book. It came quickly and in good condition. The pictures are beautiful and the introduction tells all about Chihuly's life and work as an artist.

I was introduced to Chihuly through a special on my local PBS station many years ago. I couldn't remember his name, but I always remembered that he was the brilliant man with the unorthodox style. His vision and his artistic talents are immense. This book is absolutely mesmerizing and gorgeous with page after page of color photos. From the "Chihuly Over Venice" project to his designs for the set of the opera "Pelléas et Mélisande" for the Seattle Opera. This book truly is a feast for the eyes and the soul. Chihuly is a master of glass and this book proves it.

From the front page to the end this book you will be mesmorized. For those familiar with Maestro Chihuly's work this is a bible, for those that just come to learn about his creations this book is a must have. I feel that Dale Chihuly is one of the most talented artists of this century. His vision and creativity are so outstanding in a world of modern art sometimes too bare and conceptual. The book is an array of picture after picture of Chihuly's work. Splendid details can inspire from a decorator to a fashion designer, every page is a microcosmo of creativity. If I had to travel the universe with just a suitcase full of books, this is absolutly one of them.

Among the thousands of art books on the market, Kuspit's exhaustive look at Dale Chihuly's career in glass is a bargain for the Amazon price. Filled with gorgeous color photos of Chihuly's unique work, and intelligently written, this book will grace any art lover's shelf.

This book is beautiful! I visited the botanical gardens in St. Louis and saw some of Dale Chihuly's work close up. I've never seen anything like it. What an incredible art form this is. This book brings back the same feelings I had while looking at his work in person. The pictures in this book are breathtaking. The great thing about this particular book is that it has pictures of his work located all over the world. Many of the pictures have a location listed and some of them have Mr. Chihuly's comments on the piece and how he felt about creating it. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a general book on his work. I have it on my coffee table in the family room and everyone who opens it up, can't put it down. Every turn of the page brings a "WOW" or "Incredible". Truly a `must have' book for your collection.

Swami Chetananda offers Truth as no other spiritual teacher I know of today. He writes from profound experience guiding the reader gently......step by step to a point where it is possible to realize that the choice to be happy is in the reader's hands alone. His energy lives in all his books so to begin with one is to open one's heart and mind to a gift of transformative possibility.......for all of us!
Barbara A. Rabin

i feel that if you are a human the first few chapters of this book would greatly appeal to your heart, mind, and spirit. Mostly, to choose to be happy is for your health, and in essense for life itself.

Just the chapter on inner vision was worth the book by itself

Recently there's been a spate of books on how to find happiness or make yourself feel happier. They all make their case with impressive statistics, catchy lists, and simple little tricks you can use to talk yourself into a more uplifted state. But the real test is whether you can cultivate, sustain, and live from a place inside yourself where that happiness is deep and permanent. This is the only book I've found to get at the root cause and core practice that will result in a total inner transformation that translates to your whole life. This book is powerful, inspiring, and life-changing. If you want to be a happier person, start by reading this book.

Chetanananda who is carrying on the teaching for Rudi, brings his own style to the wisdom of the east stripped of all of it's cultural baggage, extracting a potent concentrated clarity. This is an intellectual poetic book that is double edged in that; the insight it brings clarifies and inspires and reveals the gunk and horror of what habitually falls out of our awareness. His metaphor of the pendulum and acting from a place prior to our projection of good/bad, positive/negative jarred me awake from a place of deep slumber. This book is beautiful.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT PUBLICATION. MY WIFE WAS ABSOLUTELY THRILLED WITH THE QUALITY OF THIS VERY INFORMATIVE BOOK

You've come to my rescue. This was the first quilt book I purchased 2 1/2 years ago when I decided to take the plunge into quilting. I absolutely adore this book!

It was very interesting and applicable. I immediately began to make each project (completed 4 or 5 of 7) before moving on to some other projects.

Somehow, over the intervening months, I've managed to lose (probably merely misplace--so I'll be selling or giving away my extra copy when I find it) this book. I've searched several quilt stores, not remembering where I initially bought it. Decided to go on line, and finally found it here. I can't understand why it's not the first book listed when you do a search on "quilts" and "color." I believe it is the definitive book on the subject. Easy to read, easy and fun projects to do; you actually "play" as your learn. Would love to see other books by Ms. Perry.

This is the only book that teaches color lesson in quilting. Easy to follow concept and lots of fun too! The quilts here are pretty small and easy to finish. Very stater level. And the color lessons are wonderful. When I was reading this book, I keep saying 'so that it is.' It is just like someone helps you to say what you already know but can't find a way to express. The best thing is these lessons are for everyone with different color preference and taste. I loved it!

I love this book! It's an important one for beginner quilters, and also for quilters who need confidence in putting colors and textures together in a quilt. Do you have a sizeable stash, buy the fabric medleys you see in magazines but freeze up when it's time to use them? Can't walk out of a fabric store without a sack of fabric in your hand, yet it turns into one more project on your to-do list because, mmmm, maybe those fabrics you bought don't go well together after all?

I have another book that deals with color theory, fabric texture, pattern and theme. I'm supposed to cut little pieces from my precious stash and paste them in the appropriate boxes in the book. I just couldn't do it! I like Color From the Heart because the author sets up seven lessons during which you actually make a little quilt in each lesson. Lesson One focuses on Spontaneity. You'll be asked to make a little postage stamp quilt. This was a fun exercise, and yielded some interesting surprises for me. Lesson Two turns to Color Enrichment, and so on. In each lesson there are colorful photos of quilts made that reflect the quilter's individual choices.

The author spends just a few pages giving you background on color theory. That's fine with me. You can get more on that elsewhere. Her purpose in the book, as I see it, is on teaching you how to expand your knowledge of fabric color, design, texture etc. and how the fabrics interact and influence one another. All this so you learn to trust your color instincts.

I absolutely love this book. Originally a painter, Gai Perry really delivers in Colour From The Heart with her 7 step formula for understanding and working with colour and quilts. There are dozens of colour photos throughout the book - I can't stand quilt books that don't include lots of photos - so you can really get a feel for what Perry is communicating. Her approach to quilting is also quite refreshing; she prefers a few basic tools and supplies, a contrast to the perhaps overly technological quilts being made today in the 21st century. I feel completely inspired and confident about using her ideas and my favourite colours effectively in my next quilt!