Furniture Books

Jim Sprankle is a world class master waterfowl carver and painter. He has published a number of remarkable books and video tapes to help others with their carvings. This painting book is outstanding. Jim has a unique method of painting wood carvings with thinly applied washes of acrylic paints, masterfully blended. This book shows in color how he paints several species of waterfowl, step by step. He even gives the formulas for the correct mixtures of paint. The book is an invaluable source of information for anyone wishing to paint waterfowl carvings.

This is a beautiful, steal of a book (some independent sellers are offering <30% of the price Barnes and Noble wanted when I originally bought it the first time!). If you're like me and really want to know the intricacies of wine production (not just tasting notes, etc.--which this book also contains), this is a handy and educating book to have. Yes, it is paperback, but the front cover is a thick, glossy card stock and the pages inside are glossy as well. Nice for a coffee table or a bookshelf, but even better for your brain!

Pierre Chareau is a book that is well worth the price, if only for its extensive and beautiful coverage of the deservedly famous Maison de Verre (House of Glass), which the designer created in 1932 in Paris. The design was something of a departure for Chareau, who had been primarily a designer of imaginative Art Deco furniture and interior fixtures. The Maison de Verre was an extensive remodel of an existing house in Paris in a High Modernist style, with clearly expressed structural members (steel columns and beams) carefully differentiated from partitions and non-load-bearing members. It has extensive glass block walls which create a wonderful glow of light throughout the structure. It also has an open plan which recalls the flowing, plastic use of space preferred by most of the best modernists of the Bauhaus and championed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The book also shows the wide variety of Art Deco furniture designs produced by Chareau, as well as buildings and interiors which he either designed or collaborated upon with architects. The excellent photographs and high quality of the printed reproductions make this one of the best books on modernist or Deco designers I have ever seen.

This book has a very large number of beautiful photographs and well worth every cent. This book is a true treasure.

As a supermarket cashier for 10 years and shopper for even longer, this is the kind of book I wished I could have written. It is not only entertaining, but educational and brings new light and uses for those supermarket products we often take for granted. Yet, I could never have written this book, because I'm sure the research required, while probably fun, also took lots of time. "Polish Your Furniture With Pantyhose" isn't just for reading; it is for using in real life. I actually stripped off two rooms of wall paper using the book's suggestion of a solution of vinegar. I haven't though tried SPAM to polish my furniture, but did use WD-40 which worked well. (My house just smelled like a mechanics shop for a few hours.) Also a good idea was Mr. Green giving us some product information and other interesting tidbits of information about the products featured. Even if your only goal of supermarket shopping is to check-out as fast as you can, you won't be disappointed if you check-out this book. I'm definitely looking forward to his sequel.

It is a good book for hand painting and it is like its title pretty painted.

Priscilla Hauser although a very talented painter with many years of experience, is still able to put herself in the position of the beginner. Each technique or preparation is fully explained in easy to understand terms. The basis for folk art painting or tole painting is mastering different paint strokes to enable the painter to achieve the desired results quickly and effeciently, and these strokes are demonstrated and explained fully. The author also includes photos of what an inaccurate stroke would look like.
The best part is the patterns and step by step instructions that will excite the beginner and entice them into trying the world of painting!!
This book is an excellent reference and teaching guide that even the most timid of beginners could feel confident they would achieve a measure of success immediately!!! Of course as with all things, the individuals style of painting will change and develop as they practice their skills, but when they look back they will always prize this book that guided them so well!!

"In this book there are working drawings for making 50 pieces of furniture which are modern in their construction, and which, when completed according to the directions given, will be attractive and useful additions to the furnishings of any home. 133pp, 65 plates, 49 figs. Plans from an 8 inch candle stick to a turned 50 inch jr. floor lamp to a 5 foot living room table

It is a collection of tips garnered over the years. Enough of them are really good to make the purchase worthwhile. Most of them will require a certain amount of experience to understand how to implement them.

I thought the book was fun and I look forward to using some of the tips, especially for the drill press, router, and table saw.

This is a great resource book if you are interested in vintage rattan furniture. I used to comb back issues of old magazines for photos like this. I have been designing vintage cottages in Hawaii and this book has been a wonderful asset. 5 stars for this publication. Aloha.