Arts and Crafts Books

I purchased this book to use for homeschooling with my 6 and 5 year old. I have been very impressed with the layout and how easy it is for my kids to do the problem. This allows my kids to learn their math at their own pace. I hope to use further grade levels in the future.

I really like this book because of the way it is organized. Also, it is aligned with the state standards. It is a great supplement to the adopted curriculum that I use.

This is a great supplement to any math program. My students enjoy the activities, and I find the page format to be good. There are generally several pages to address each skill, and the book comes with a section of addition and multiplication timed tests which I have had great success in using (believe it or not, my students are very motivated by them!)

To anyone embarking on the learning of the art of basket weaving, this book is a must have. As someone new to basket making, I wanted to make sure that I knew the various terms and techniques and exactly what they meant. This book fulfilled that desire for me. Since purchasing it about two months ago, I have made a number of baskets and cannot count the number of times that I referred to it for direction. Both the text and photographs of the various techniques leave very little to desire. In the last paragraph of the introduction, Ms. Sudduth notes that she hopes that one will discover the excitement and the extraordinary possibilities of baskets. That hope has been fulfilled. I thank her for sharing her incredible knowledge of this art.

Ms. Sudduth is a critically acclaimed basket artist and some of her work is displayed in the Smithsonian Institute. Her work is excellent and her teaching skills are perfection! This (hardback) book is 144 pages of serious instruction with many beautiful color photos of baskets from very talented basket artists around the world. Not only will she have you making a wonderful variety of baskets from the start... she includes several tips to help make your work easier (esp. how to correct mistakes and get rid of that dreaded "hairy" look).

Inside you will learn (and also see colorful pictures of): Commercially available materials, found and collected materials, tools and equipment needed, preparation of materials, and storage. All of the weaving terms are well defined to be easily understood, and broken into sub-catagories of weaving variations, bases, ribs and random weaves. You will learn the basic techniques of start and stop weaving, continuous weaving, how to upset your stakes at the beginning and then how to bend and tuck them in at the end. How to add new weavers, carving and attaching a rim. All about adding rim and base fillers. Ms. Sudduth also teaches you everything you need to know about dyes from the equipment needed, safety precautions, the difference between natural, chemical, and fiber reactive dyes... plus how to store them.

The book continues on to teach you stop and start plaiting, continuous plaiting, twined construction, start and stop twill, continuous twill, and ribbed construction; How to add surface embellishments such as curls, painting, stenciling, whitewashing, and adding other attachments.

The remainder of the book discusses (but not instructs) the non-woven forms of construction: coiled, knotted, stitch, wrapped, and cast and mold. The back has a list of suggested reading, suppliers, Basket Association and Guilds, Craft Schools offering classes, metric conversion tables, plus the names of all the contributing artists.

A very complete book, easy to understand, that not only teaches you - but will continue to inspire your creativety time and time again.

Billie Ruth Sudduth's book is a masterpiece. The color photographs (and the baskets themselves) are amazing. She showcases some marvelous pieces made with both traditional and unusual materials. She explains every aspect of the craft remarkably well, in easy to understand fashion.Even a beginner could weave a basket using her instructions. I was pleasantly surprised that she included so many of her basket patterns for baskets that are on display at the Smithsonian. Now, I will be able to weave a piece of art with her easy instructions.

I met the author at an event and she is as charming as her writing. I have already been inpired to make a charm bracelet similar to the Lantern bracelet featured on the cover. I enjoy the format of including a recipe of some kind with each project. However the most valuable part for me has been the very clearly explained and ink illustrated wire techniques and tool/bead round up at the start of the book. The legacy of reading this book is that I look at all of the old costumey stuff that I have inherited from relatives with new eyes, especially the chunky faux gold chains that I hitherto considered useless.

Too much fun, great book for putting together you own pieces. After this book, its encouraging to know that instead of buying a necklace that someone else has put together with a gold chain and a few vintage pieces that sells for $$$, you can make your own, in your style.. Its so easy, she shows you how to put the pieces together, w. diagrams etc, and how to turn an item into an incredible piece of jewelry. I got a group together with all of the pieces, buttons, pins, spare earrings etc, and we used the book as a guide. Amazing what you can come up with and it changes how you look at some of the new jewelry designs, esp. when you can do it yourself. I found that one of the books biggest fans was a friend w.out pierced ears. They don't exactly sell many clips these days... so now she knows how to put together her own for big nights out!! Enjoy. Its a book for all ages, styles and expertise. I am buying in bulk for birthday gifts...
> Plus! I am totally pulling this out with my god daughter, its right up her alley.

I loved every page of this fun, hip design book! Not only is it a jewelry project book, it is a "how to" book...in this case, how to live your lifestyle with great enjoyment, written by the author in a fresh and engaging way. For example, Beadalicious includes recipes which have to do with the projects (Sonya's "Rich Amber Caramel Popcorn"---mmmm! for when you are makng some glorious amber earrings!) and ways to pamper yourself ("Sweet Dreams Eye pillow", set next to a pretty necklace of star and moon felt charms -- so enchanting!). This collection of lifestyle projects is a great addition to the jewelry projects and really helps you get to know the author, Sonya, who is full of energetic and imaginative ideas for creating fabulous fun new jewelry from old sixties or seventies pieces, for example. She really knows how to take apart and redesign a piece, so that you have learned an excellent lesson on jewelry RE-creating.

I could study this book for hours. One project I was particuary taken with was the Long John Silver necklace, which has so many gorgeous charms on it of all sorts. That has my m.o. all over it! She has some great wire wrapped rings as well, something I love, and she comments next to the red Phantom quartz stone which she has wrapped that it is red, for the "heart" chakra, and explains a bit about what that means. I love commentary like that, and I also like the way she wraps. By the way, next to that was a recipe for pink lemonade! Everything is joyous and fun and goes together!
You can buy this book as a starter book for a younger beader (who would love it and eagerly grow into it), or you can enjoy this book yourself, no matter what your age.

Sonya lives in Venice Beach, California. She is just a totally fun, knowedgable jewelry designer, and her terrically photographed book is a complete hit, as far as I am concerned! Five stars PLUS!

This might be one of the most amazing craft books ever composed. Your kids will be better people after building these critters.

I've made several of the critters and found the directions easy to follow and accurate. For younger children, using regular pony beads and waxed linen (increasing the length of the cord by at least 1 1/2 times)makes it easy for little fingers to master with just a bit of help. I plan to make more for Christmas ornaments next year.

Once again, Ms. Bhatt has made beading easy with her wonderful descriptions and diagrams. This time she allows the bead enthusiast to create charming land and sea creatures without the headache of deciphering complex directions. This is a beading book that will assist both adults and children who wish to take their beading to a new level.

A very well presented and colorful book. Good info on all types of beads. Many pattern suggestions. Info on all tools you will need, and types of beads to use for any project. If you want to bead your needlepoint canvases this is the book for you. Do not waste your money on other books like I did. If I had bought this book first, I would have stopped here.

I checked this book out at the library and was so impressed I decided to buy one. The book has a very informative section on beads to use and how to do the actual process. There are several projects that seem easily doable for a beginner as well as projects for intermediate and advanced needlepointers. It is an all around good book that will get you started in the technique and inspire you to try regular needlepoint projects using this new technique.

A nice range of wonderfully colorful projects. The charts are large full-to several page charts.

The first 24 pages are dedicated to information about beadpoint, the size, color and shapes of beads, calculating how many you need, preparing the canvas, thread, etc.

30 earring projects that range from very simple to challenging, and it's just as inspiring as the rest of them, the projects and ideas make you wonder what else can be done using the techniques offered. I really love it, and it's already one of my favorites. One of the things I love best about this series of books is that there are so many designers involved, so you get a great cross sections of ideas, from fun to elegant, and from very simple to ornate and complex, even the colors chosen can be inspiring.

I've just started with the projects in this book and they are awesome. I especially want to thank Nikia Angel for her contribution. Holiday Star is a fantastic project, although I have no idea how you manage to see size 15/0 seed beads. I did mine using 11/0 and struggled, but they turned out fantastic. Thanks to Jean Campbell and every designer who contributed to this book. The whole series is helping me get to the next level with my beading. Rita

Excellent and fun to read. I will be doing some of these projects.

In the midst of a big arts and crafts kick I decided to bring home a bunch of books on the subject from my library. The Beautiful Necessity is the third such work I have reviewed recently, and I have to recommend it as a wonderful book. I really like the arrangement and presentation of the chapters, and the color photographs are well selected and beautiful. One of my bigger pet peeves with books like this is their tendency to be too regional in scope. Often a book purporting to cover a subject like arts and crafts interiors will focus too narrowly on just California Greene and Greene houses or just on New York Stickley houses. This book is great because it gives equal effort to showcasing interiors from Eastern, Midwestern, and Western examples of arts and crafts homes. I also commend the authors on their excellent resource guide in the back of the book. One can use this guide to find 10 sources each for everything from architects to antiques dealers, and carpeting to metalwork. There is even an extensive list of historic a&c homes that are open for public tours.

If you enjoy and/or collect books on this topic, I highly recommend this title as a "must have". You won't be disappointed.

We've had this book in our pile of Arts and Crafts reference material for a while and it still gets picked up once in a while for ideas of just to look at all the great photographs. As a previous reviewer mentions (and I agree completely with the assessment!) this book doesn't cover just one region. Too many Arts and Crafts book authors waste time writing a book about the style and then spend the entire book looking at one or two homes. If I see one more book naming itself in such a manner to lead the reader to believe that it is contains broad information about the style yet features nothing but pictures of the Greene and Greene "Gamble House" I'm going to scream! (authors take note!)

One thing I would mention to readers about this book is that it covers predominantly the American style of Arts and Crafts. While it does contain information about the individuals that began the movement in Europe and the reflections of those influences in the American version, it does not cover all of the style. The authors have done a great job presenting the information they have concentrated on, though. The book covers East Coast to West Coast, shows some of the influences that Japanese or Art Nouveau styles had in the movement and presents examples of the work done by several designers well known in the American Arts and Crafts movement such as Stickley, Wright and Greene & Greene. They cover funishings, decorative items such as pottery, leaded glass windows and lighting; along with the overall fit, finish, and philosophy behind building in the Arts and Crafts style. Definitely would recommend this book for your arts and crafts collection. Also recommend "The Arts and Crafts Companion", by Todd, for a bigger picture and more historical information.

This book was a pleasant surprise. Purchasing what I thought would be a good idea book for an upcoming remodel of my basement, I ended up with a general schooling of the driving forces behind the Arts & Crafts movement. The illustrations exposed the styles of many of the great names of the era. I now have a more thorough understanding of this revolt against the machine and can better appreciate the efforts of Morris, Stickley, Hubbard, and others to save the craftsman. The resources at the end of the book are a treasure trove of suppliers for all things Arts & Crafts.

This book covers the now vanished world of Russian exiles from the Revolution till the 1950-60's. It covers such areas as the influence of the Ballets Russies in Paris prior to the revolution, the clothes the exiles bought with themselves, and the importance of the Kokoshnik to Russian fashion design.

We are also given the history of the now vanished Russian émigré communities in Constantinople in Turkey, Berlin in Germany and Harbin in China, with a smaller amount of discussion of the communities in Paris and London.

London and Paris mostly get discussed in context with fashion, as many émigrés, both noble and poor made a living in the various parts of the fashion industry in exile. There is a whole chapter devoted to the house of Kitmr with its exquisite embroideries and beading, which was run by Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna the younger in the 1920's.

The author has also unearthed other Russian émigré fashion houses which were well known and respected in the 1920's but are mostly forgotten now, houses such as Anely, Mode, Paul Caret, Tao, Yteb and Irfe which was run by the Youssoupoff family.

The majority of the book concentrates on fashion, but there is also discussion of the theatre, cafe's and other craft oriented activities which the Russian communities produced, especially in the 1920's. Many years of painstaking research as been conducted by the author to reconstruct this lost world. The book is full of black and white photos, which I imagine would not have been easy to find. However, if you are looking for nice colour photos of Russian costume, you will not find it here, but if you are trying to find something out on the background on émigré communities or the Russian fashion industry in the 1920's this book will be the standard work for many years to come.

An appraisal of European culture from an old maid somewhere in Western Kentucky knits a ludicrously inappropriate Horatio Algerish review to satisfy her puritan work ethos, that went out of date with the blue collar culture of 50's America, Honeymooners, Flintstones etc. She could be Pat Buchanans speech writer.

I loved Beauty in Exile. A friend told me about it. I was researching my aunt, who was a model in Paris. I discovered her world through the information this book contains. I had no idea to what extent fashion was dominated by Russian emigres in the 20s and 30s. I knew they were seamstresses and models, but had no idea they started fashion houses as well. Anyone interested in the history of fashion should own Beauty in Exile. The photos are sensational. I bring the book out to show friends who come over. I tell them to get their own, rather than borrow it. This book is too precious to risk lending. I might not get it back!

Great photography, classic decoys from Lake St. Clair to NY. This is where a collector learn what quality decoys are, and sets a standard of what a good collection should look like. The other fish decoy books contain more text info than quality decoys/photos. This book is an artwork in itself. This book was published a few years ago to promote fish decoys and for a while supply exceeded demand. However, as new collectors find this book an artwork in itself, with others buying them up, the book is becoming very difficult to find. Good luck on your search. If you have one, cherish it. If you have more than one, e-mail me.

Absolutely a once in a lifetime chance to view true folk art thatwas never intended to be. Nearlyanyone will be entranced by theethereal visual qualities of thesephotographs and text.anyone will be mesmerized by thestunning photography as well.

Beneath The Ice is a catalog that every fish decoy and folk artcollector must have. The text is informative and well written. Thephotographs are excellent. And the work surveyed is terrific. Too bad they printed so few copies. With the recent growth in fish decoy collecting, this is a book that should have a new edition. Until that time, it's worth the wait if you have to special order as an out-of-print book.

This is an awesome book. It challenges your skill of making,cutting,and folding paper airplanes.

A clever Father's Day gift. I've made four airplanes, so far, and they all fly as promised. I'm looking for some wide open spaces with a launching hill and a slight breeze, then I can enjoy their true potential. The instructions are very easy to follow: grab--but don't wrinkle--a sheet of bond copy/typing paper, make mountain folds and valley folds, you'll see, have a ruler and pencil handy, and a sissors. A glue stick is called for from time to time--I didn't have one, so I used a small piece of scotch tape. Oh, yes, you can color them in a variety of patterns. Fun and educational (basic flight principles) and a great value at $7.95. And no, I am not related to the author nor a friend of the family.

This is a great introduction to paper airplanes for the novice. The models range in complexity from easy to difficult, providing a challenge for both kids and adults. Best of all is a brief comparison of each model with specific models of actual airplanes, and a brief primer on flight principles. Taken together, this book is a great lesson in aviation, as well as a lot of fun.