Antiques Collectibles Books

IF TRYING TO TEACH YOURSELF DOLLMAKING A TOOL WITH MANY TIPS OF
DIFFERENT METHODS.I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM IT.ALTHOUGH I HAVE HAD FAILURES IT IS MAKING MY SKILLS GROW.ANOTHER MUST HAVE.

Talk about INSPIRATION! This is a wonderful book for all doll makers, beginners and experts alike. There are clear directions for many different techniques, and so much variety in the techniques that you will NEVER come out of your sewing room! This book is a must have for all doll makers and sculptures.

I am a cloth doll maker and never fail to find inspiration when I read this book. I look through it frequently for ideas and for technique - and never fail to find something I can use. This is a basic book for any cloth doll maker and I can't recommend it highly enough. I belong to a cloth doll club and everyone owns one of these books and wouldn't be without it.

Anyone who cannot understand and follow this book's instructions and illustrations should not attempt to make art dolls. They do not have the necessary creativity and would be better served by a major pattern company. This is the most informative and inspirational books I've read on art dolls. All of Susanna Oroyan's books are informative, inspirational, and food for the soul of the dollmaker.

The book follows no particular sequence and leaves much unanswered in basic steps. For example, page 35 which instructs on making a fully sculptural head is initially clear, basically 3 circles are needed and you'll come out with a fully sculpted head with no nose. But, then there is a drawing of a fully sculptured head with a nose. This head appears to have 4 pieces. The increase caused by splitting the face with the nose in half...but, is this nose appliqued or glued on? Is it then covered with another cloth? This is never answered. And what order is easiest in sewing this face together. If you sew parts 1 and 2, the face, then part 3, the piece which hold in the padding to the face should be smaller (remember, you sewed the face together) and now you need a smaller circumference for part 3, or should it be pleated. According to the author, "learning will be quicker and more enjoyable if you allow yourself to have ideas, to play with them, and to experiment with the techniques." She continues and it becomes condescending. I spent more time than necessary trying to determine exactly what steps to take and when.. she never tells the full story and jumps from one subject to another without warning or explanation. I have plenty of ideas but needed help with the basics in order to apply my ideas. You won't get that here. There are many beautiful figures made by the author and other artists and a brief statement of the technique used. The book is a waste of time and money.. I closed the book and started from "Scratch". I will list the book here on Amazon if any of you want to buy it.

This book has great pictures. It is not as comprehensive as I would have liked, but is still a very helpful guide to 60's fashion.

Great book for those interested in sities fashion. No interpretive text or historical context-- this book is purely an assemblage of some of Sear's catalog most enduring and representative patterns of sixties attire. Ripped straight from the catalogue pages, this book is just filled from cover to cover of catalogue models and accessory displays. My main criticism is that I would have liked to see a book representing not only Sear's catalogue, but other popular stores of the day. In addition, the book could have been longer and more colorful. While I like the idea of black and white photos on the semi-gloss pages, most of the photos are more fuzzy and gray than crisp black and white. Only two pages are actually in color... which is a disappointment and not what you'd want from this time period. Half of fashion interest in the sixties is the bold use of color and pattern never seen before the period.

This wonderful book provides a nostagic trip back to the 1960's, but more than just invoking fond memories, provides a glimpse of that changing decade through fashion. The early 60's ushered in mink stoles for $500.00, lady-like gowns and proper high heels. Towards the end of the '60's fashion takes on a distinct change, reflecting that turbulent time in the U.S. Gone are the wasp-waist dresses, and in come the "hippie" styles of striped bell-bottom pants for both sexes, mini-dresses and go-go boots modeled by Twiggy look-alikes. And the prices! A gorgeous pair of colorful leather flats were about $6.00, leather boots sold for $14.00. Of course, some of the styles are positively heinous according to current standards, but many have stood the test of time and would not seem out of place today. I love to scour old styles when I design my own clothes, and if you are a fashion designer or just love clothes, this is a wonderful reference guide.

Vibrant color was one of the most important aspects of fashions of the 1960's. Sadly, the color is a missing aspect of this otherwise wonderful volume.

However, if you are looking for a trip down memory lane, Everyday Fashions of the Sixties as Pictured in Sears Catalogs is a great way to recapture the era. It brought back fond memories of my school days.

If you are not a Baby Boomer, you might be very surprised to realize that many of the styles we wore were much more conservative and flattering than the media's reinterpretation of 60's style. (Oh! How I want those shoes!)

Highly recommended for fashion research or pure entertainment! I'd give it another star if there was more color!

purchased to use as a resource for developing a course on 20th century visual (consumer) culture.

a fun quick overview of everyday American fashion in the 1960's. would love it more if it had more color photos, and a larger assortment of men's clothing options (it definitely focuses on women's clothing) , but it's a great quick reference.

Jordan Mcauley has done a masterful job in presenting the most effective strategies for contacting the celebrity of your choice.

I really liked the chapters on Contacting Actors/Actresses and Talk Show
Hosts. Jordan give examples of meaningful communication vs. creepy communication with the stars. The key is to be professionally persistent (and patient) and to avoid being viewed as a stalker.

I also liked how Jordan explained the proper way to use search engines to identify mailing addresses of the stars. I thought that was really valuable.

Jordan even included the addresses of television networks, publishing houses, and professional sports teams. This makes the book really
user-friendly.

This book would also be useful for people who sit on boards of
non-profit organizations that are interested in aligning themselves with
celebrities.

I can speak from experience because I have two celebrity friends. More
people definitely need to take his advice on approaching celebrities. I
have seen people say and do the dumbest things in front of celebrities and blow it.

This book is a must read for anyone looking to contact famous people. I am glad that I have added this book to my library!

I bought this book and received the volume immediately. The book is slender but has a great set of pictures of the different gems. The book is set up like a dictionary with a discussion of each major (and many minor) gem usually with a review of how to identify it and how to distinguish some of the more common fakes.

My only objection is that the book wasn't long enough.

I liked the book a lot and would recommend it to anyone who loves gems.

If you need a book on Gemstones, this is the one. Awesome pictures and great detail on discribing the many different gems around the world. If you are a collector of gemstones, this is a MUST HAVE!"

A pretty good book, especially the opening sections about the history of gemstones and the methods used to identify diamonds.

a beautiful coffee-table book on old and modern Southwestern Pottery. I would have liked a little more on the old stuff and a little less by modern potters, but it is a minor quibble.

this is a beautiful book the the pictures in the book are so vivid and colorful, it would make a wonderful addition to any library or it would make a great coffee table book!

I was impressed with the display groupings presented and the journey of the authors beginnings of his collections and the knowledge he aquired along the way. He gave good advice to new collectors. I open it daily and alway see something I missed. It's a great book to add to your collection.

This is an excellent book for both the beginner or serious student of Southwestern Pottery. It gives examples of all styles, types, and designs, making it easy for anyone to understand what makes each Pueblo's pottery unique. Perhaps not as "in depth" as some others, this book is easily the best book out there today as far as explaining and illustrating the basics. It really is an indispensable guide and reference book. The authors are regular guys rather than scholars, so it is easy and enjoyable to read, and filled with great photos of their quite amazing collections. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a place to begin learning about Southwestern Pottery.

I'd been looking for a book like this for ages. It goes through every pueblo's pottery, describing the special characteristics of each, and talks about the important potters in each pueblo.

This is very well written in an easy going, non-snobish style, instantly increasing your depth of knowledge in southwestern pottery. The photographs are excellent and plentiful, giving many diverse examples from each pueblo/region/era.

Highly recommended for those new to collecting. I gave a copy to my parents in New Mexico, and even though they had been doing a bit of collecting for years, they have a much better understanding of the history of some of the pottery sitting on their shelves. They love this book.

This book has a ton of useful information about coin grading and collecting in general. The grading pictures, however, are not terrific. But it still is a good and worthwhile book. The photos displaying conterfeit coins are close to useless but the book is still a pretty valuable addition for an amateur collector.

I found this book hard to put down. Very Good....

The 2nd Edition of "PCGS Coin Grading" is an excellent reference. It is critical and required reading for beginning and advanced coin collectors. As I am the author of 7 coin books since 1977, I appreciate the difficulty of attempting to explain the subtle and challenging differences between "a few minor marks in the main focal area" (MS65 grading standards, page 28) and "a few minor marks or one or two significant marks with hairlines" (MS64 grading standards, same page). As a complete reference to the condition (grade) of all U.S. coins, this book does an excellent job. However, as noted on page 7, with reference to the 11 grades of Mint State coins (MS60 to MS70): "It would be desirable to have more space for them on the grading spectrum to reflect their degrees of difference more precisely." This is why I am now writing a new book about Precision Coin Grading that will supplement the PCGS Coin Grading guide by explaining how to determine the "decimal point grade" of your coins. (MS64.5, MS65.8, MS66.3, etc.) In today's market, there can often be a price difference of hundreds or even thousands of dollars between a "just made it MS65" and a "just missed MS66." (MS65.1 vs. MS65.9.) Whether you are buying or selling coins for personal enjoyment or investment, collectors need to know whether they should consider upgrading a coin of "the same grade" (like snowflakes, no two MS65 coins are absolutely identical.) You also need to know if you have a "high end" or "PQ" (premium quality) specimen of a numerically grade coin, from Carson City Silver Dollars to U.S. Commems to St. Gaudens Double Eagles. Rare coin expert Jim Halperin has also attempted to address this issue. I've known both Jim and David Hall since the 1970's. Both are brilliant numismatists who have made valuable contributions to the hobby. Coin grading will always be an art as well as a science, and the 5 critical grading factors (surface, strike, color, marks and eye appeal) may never be determined by a computer, as my good friend Jim suggests. In the meanwhile, the more you know, and the more you learn, the better. As a tool to educate collectors about coin grading, The PCGS Coin Grading guide should really have better photos. Fortunately, many such photos are available on the websites of both PCGS and Heritage. If you don't own this great coin book, and you plan to spend more than $100 on coin collecting in your lifetime, buy this book immediately!

This book is pretty good except that it is in desparate need of more pictures. It completely leaves out the Morgan Dollar, probably the most widely collected of all US coins. Also, it is a 2004 Edition, so the prices are not up to date. It is better when combined with another source book like the 2006 Official Black Book.

You know what they say: "buy the book before you buy the coin." I bought a few dollars on ebay before I got this book. After reading the book and testing my grading skills for a bit, I know that I overbid for what was offered.

No big loss, but you don't have to make the same mistake. Learn the rudiments of grading first, then (if you so desire) bid on raw coins.

What a gem! This book has all that is needed about your flea market find. The only complaint is that it didn't cover enough items!
Find information on history, care and preservation. The title says "restore" but I feel that it is preservation that the author covers. Exactly what I wanted as I don't want to make something new and then make it look old again!

I just purchased these Dover COloring Books for my mother and she loves them. The detail is out of this world and the variety of colors you can use are only limited by your inagination. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I first found this book at the library when my daughter was four and now she is eighteen! At that time, I had her and my baby boy keeping me running in circles. I just could not keep up with the messes, toys, laundry, etc. Deniece's book broke it down for me and helped me to tackle each element that seemed out of control. But all those "tips and tricks" are not really what stayed with me. I do continue to refer back to my book (I returned the library's copy and bought my own!) for those kinds of helps occasionally, but what has really stayed with me are the Basic Organizing Principles presented in Chapter Two.
They are:
1. Think before you act
2. Discard and sort
3. Group
4. Be motion minded
5. Practice preventive maintenace
6. Use your accrued benefits

Those principles can be applied to every situation in your life and I still find myself relying on them to be efficient at home and at work. I think the book is worth the price just to get familiar with those principles.

The other part of the book that continues to be helpful to me fourteen years after my first read, is the Personal Planning Notebook. Rather than use an expensive pre-packaged system with sections and categories that are not relevant to you, you buy a 5" x 8" binder and Deniece shows you how to set it up in a way that is completely useful and relevant. I have my monthly calendar pages that act as an "index" or "overview" of the month and those help me to organize my daily pages in such a way that I actually get things done!

Not every section in this book is going to be relevant to every reader, but there is plenty here to choose from. I admit that at times Deniece's prose comes across as a little Donna Reed-like, but I forgive her because she is sensible and she knows what she is talking about! She is also the first to say that you need to fit the tips, plans, and advice to fit YOUR life. It is not a cookie cutter approach, but rather an expert's wisdom which you are free to put to use in the way that best suits your life.

I have read and tried the Sidetracked Home Executives and FlyLady, but this is really my bedrock system when it comes to meeting all the "have to's" in my life so I can get to the fun "want to's"!

This is a really great book on organizing. The ideas are practical and doable. I like the puzzle idea of numbering the pieces, though I only used it for those puzzles we planned on doing more than once. With kids, there usually are a few of those. I found the lay-out of the book easy to follow, and the author's tone to be helpful and not demeaning like some "let me be tough" with you tones in other books. All in all it is a very good book and one that I used often when my sons were younger. Looking around my house, I would have to say I am due to read it again.

As a professional organizer, I have read quite a few books on organizing. This book was very light and easy to read, which I liked. In addition, it has practical ideas for using inexpensive (and sometimes free) storage containers. Many people are on a tight budget, but with the suggestions made in this book, you can find the products inexpensively and at your convenience.

If you don't want to read this book cover-to-cover, there is an index in the back that can be used to find solutions to a problem area you want to tackle.

I'd recommend this book as a resource for tackling each room in your home.

Each chapter naturally leads into the next, so the writing flow is smooth, but what sets this book apart from others of its kind is the sheer volume of ideas. The author doesn't provide a one-size-fits-all mentality and allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusion(s) and adapt to his/her own environment. More pictures would have been nice.

I was a 28 year old working woman who was overwhelmed with my domestic responsiblites and drowning in a sea of mess,clutter and chaos. Thanks to "Confessions of an Organized Homemaker" now my home is well put together and neat. No longer do I stress out over grocery shopping, laundry, and planning meals. I was a constant last minute person, doing the laundry when I was down to the last towel, grocery shopping only after I had exhaused all meal possibilites it was terrible. I even served chicken thighs on hamburger bun havles with gravy on top! Thanks to Deniece Schofield I have my life back. She covers everything from finding storage spots to creating your own grocery lists where the items are grouped together by catergories. She lets the reader apply what works and leave what doesn't. This book is perfect for newlyweds and young people who have moved out of the house. Buy it and you'll see what I'm taking about!