Crafts Hobbies Books

I love this book. In our house it is considered the Soap Bible. Everything you need to know and more is between these two covers. Recipes, step by step instructions on the actual soapmaking process, a list of common essential oils to use along with medicinal and other propeties (including approx. price ranges for each), tips on packing, wrappers, and making gift sets.

This is the only book you'll need.

Alicia's book is up-to-date, modern, and stresses safe soapmaking methods that WORK. Everything from basic melt and pour, basic cold process, laundry soap, geode soaps, pretty much anything you can think of are covered in this thoughtful, easy to follow volume. Whenever someone asks me to recommend a book to get started soaping, THIS is the one I suggest.

This is a great book for soapers. If you are new to this hobby a great beginner book. Good recipes a must have for this hobby.

Having read many books on soapmaking and having made some soap, I find my returning to this book to check methods, and ideas. The book is well written easy to read, understand and full of good information for all types of soap making. A must have for the begining soapmaker.

As someone who is a beginner at soapmaking I found this book provides a great overview of the subject. Really covers a lot of ground, pretty much any question you can think of is answered here. Lots of useful recipes as well so as you proceed there are many more advanced recipes you can try. Definitely very useful for anyone learning this craft.

First, my qualifications as a "reviewer": I've been making glass and metal beads, along with precious metal jewelry, for a living for over 20 years. In my early beadmaking years I also made fiber and beaded jewelry, and I amassed a collection of over 1000 kinds of beads in all materials, shapes, sizes and hole sizes. So I came to this book with a lot of experience with all kinds of beads, a fair amount of experience with fiber; and none with knotting, knitting, braiding or any of that. I'm doing good to remember how to tie a slip knot! And finishing the ends of a fiber piece in a professional manner has always been a challenge for me. My goal was to learn how to work with larger cords in a way that was *simple*, colorful, elegant, and showcased my own beads.

I think this is a very good beginner's book and I'm happy I bought it. The knots are beautiful, the jewelry - although rather simple in design and color choices - is attractive and shows intelligent color sense, the illustrations and photos are clear. There were times I could not see how she got from Point A to Point B, and an intermediate photo would have been helpful. But by and large, the book will be very helpful in my desire to experiment with elegant fiber jewelry with knots as a design element.

I have not given it 5 stars, however, because I think there are important areas where it falls short:

1.) First, what she says about supplies and how to choose them only fills a total of one page, and is completely inadequate. The author spends 4 times more pages on her personal introduction and the history of knotting than she does on choosing the supplies. One requires very large-holed beads to use most of these techniques, and although she mentions hole sizes in passing, she gives no information about useful or minimum hole diameters, *relative to the sizes of the cords*. She also gives virtually no *specific* information on cord sizes or types, what might be suitable or not. Someone with experience would eventually calculate ratios of hole sizes to cord sizes, at least mentally, and would buy materials with minimum or maximum sizes in mind. But an inexperienced bead or fiber buyer could buy a lot of stuff, learn it was unsuitable, and end up very frustrated.

2.) Second, I wanted to see more of a variety of professional finishing options. A button knot makes a great button, but one loop of smaller cord might be completely undersized or too weak to be used over and over in a closure. There are many fiber finishing techniques for closures, ways of wrapping threads and loops and so forth, and it would have been very useful to have seen them incorporated with the knots. Clasps and closures are the mark of a professional piece; the pieces shown in the book were finished with commercial findings in a "hobbyist" manner. Because this is not my strong suit, I'd hoped to get a few more ideas. I was disappointed.

3.) Finally, any good how-to book should have a few good sources of supply. With this book, listing some of the larger mail order sources for silk and cotton cords would have been useful, as well as sources for larger-holed beads.

Having said all that, this is certainly is a good elementary book, and it will prove useful as a starting place. I recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to using beads with Chinese knotting.

This book is awesome. It is very clear. I've been looking for something like this for integrating into my jewelry designs. I'm excited to get started. Photos and instructions are excellent. This is a great addition to any library for one who is interested in making jewelry that is "different" and will attract comments.

This is another book about the subject that have captivated my imagination in the same way of Celtic Knots. The same graphic explanation and the differents examples make this book another best selection of this type on the market. Satisfaction guaranteed.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn to make jewelry using Chinese knots. It is an excellent reference. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the instructions for some of the more complicated knots did not provide enough step-by-step guidance. For example, the knotting process might be shown in 2 or 3 pictures where 5 or 6 pictures would have been much better. Some of the knots took me a lot of effort to puzzle out from the pictures provided.

This is THE best basic Chinese knots book I've ever used. The diagrams are very very clear and easy to follow. The author also provides a lot very useful knots tips and how to put together beads and combinations. My 10 year-old girl learned how to make button knot from this book when I tried and failed from other books. This 80 pages simple book has done amazing jobs to show you the very complicated Chinese knots the easy way.

This has been a great book for my son (age 3). He can't wait to work on a few pages each night and his skills have improved quite a bit as we near completing the workbook. This book is engaging and gives great instructions for the parents as well to encourage development while still focusing on encouragement. The skills develop incrementally which means the kids get better without realizing the skills are getting harder. My normally easily frustrated son is progressing rapidly and loves every minute of it! I'd recommend this entire series!

On another note, my two year old (25 months) has been using the "Let's color" book in this series for 2 and up and I'd say that he's a bit young still for that book, let alone this one. I would say that the 2-3-4 recommended here refers more to the average 2.5 year old rather than a young 2 year old.

I can't say enough about Kumon books. I got 5-6 books for my 2 1/2 year old. My daughter is very interested in painting but not so much into crayons and coloring. I wanted her to get interested in coloring as that is the basis for writing later. She is very interested in the coloring books and the fact that the coloring spaces progress from small to large is very thoughtful. The paper quality and picture quality are excellent. I will probably purchase this coloring book and the others in the series again and it will be good to see how she has improved.

My son had a lot of fun with the Kumon First Steps book "Let's Color" and so when Kumon just recently released "My Book of Coloring", I bought him one. It is very very similar to "Let's Color", only is in a bigger format. There are 40 pictures to color, all on the right side pages. On the left side pages, are "mazes" for the child to go thru, to learn crayon control. The coloring pages are in full color, the maze pages are in black and white. The coloring pages have only partial white areas for the child to color, a white circle in the cherries, a white sqare in the cheese, a white triangle in the fire truck. Later pictures have more than one white space to color, and then it becomes coloring things like, the stripes on the tiger, the spots on a giraffe, the strawberries on the cake. Some of my favorites are at the back: finish coloring the prince and princess, the robot, the magician, the tropical fish. Artwork is pleasing and fun, cute, but not babyish. The book is recommended for ages 2-4, but I think older children will like it too. My son is 8 and he likes it. Some children don't like coloring; a whole blank page to color can crush the spirit of some children to even start. Kumon gives the child only small areas to finish in the picture, so the completion of the coloring page is more quickly realized, and the child is satisfied. I guess I would have liked to see this coloring book be a bit beyond the first "Let's Color", and have had more pages like the ones at the end of the book, with a bit more white areas to color. The purpose of the book is for the child to learn control of a crayon/pencil (my children have all enjoyed coloring with colored pencils best), and to match colors. This book teaches these skills in a fun way. My son is always amazed that if he colors neatly, and the colored pencil he chooses really matches the surrounding printed ink color, that it's hard to tell where he colored it! Printed on heavy white paper, My Book of Coloring is a far superior book to the junky coloring books printed on flimsy newsprint paper that you find at the local store. I think any child just learning to color would love this book, and I think it will please parents too! Note: cover art does NOT represent the inside art. Be sure to also give a nice box of crayons or colored pencils when you give this book to a child! I recommend Prismacolor colored pencils and Crayola twist up crayons.

As a teacher, and mother of a 3 year old, I think this workbook deserves a good solid A. The only thing the designers of this book could do to improve it would be to provide more practice of the same skill. My daughter loves the book and asks for it when we are out to eat.

This book was very helpful, I have done a lot of sewing, but no upholstering, so I made a sample boxed, zippered, cushion with welting, and learned from my (minor) mistakes before using expensive special order fabrics.

I have taken an upholstery class before, but have never tried to do a large sofa. I found this book gave me just enough information following the directions for an overstuffed chair to tackle the project. If I were a beginner, I don't think I would have been as confident using this book, but would have wanted something a bit more detailed.

This book has great pictures and illustrations and the instructions are easy to follow. I checked it out at the library and loved it so much, I added a copy to my own personal library. It is a great reference book and well written.

I bought this book because I couldn't afford to buy new living room furniture and wanted to at least recover the cushions. However, the instructions and illustrations were clear enough that I was able to reupholster both the couch and chair. And they look amazingly good--which, I confess, amazes me!

This book is very helpful. The pictures are large enough to see essential details and the instructions are clear and allow a complete beginner to obtain professional results.

You can be sure that any book by Nicky Epstein is a good one, and this is one is good. Crocheters mostly use borders for trimming afghans, but many of the innovative ones here are perfect for embellishing clothing.

The frontispiece photo is of a gorgeous small afghan that is a true crochet tour de force -- but it is made up of a large variety of spectacular motifs and medallions and has little to do with borders. Once again the publisher has followed its policy of "don't tell the customer what is in the book" because the cover doesn't let you know tht you get not only borders but instructions for some wonderful garments, Many people now buy books on line and don't have an opportunity to see a contents page or glance through to see what's inside.

The book begins with one border which is photographed worked in many different types, textures and weights of yarn, which is a great graphic demonstration of how yarn choice changes the look of a pattern.

I think one of the author's intents is to show knitters how to use crocheted borders on knitted projects, so the next section is four pages of kntted squares, each edged with a different crocheted border. This too is a great idea, except that the borders were mostly worked onto the knitting in such a way that they distort the
shape of the knitted pieces. This might discourage some knitters from even trying to add a crocheted border.
There is a way to avoid distortion, but no help in doing this is provided.

Then the section on borders begins -- and not only are there written instructions, but complete symbol diagrams for each one. Thank you, thank you! The section starts with the most uninteresting borders,
but don't get discouraged: they get better as you go along. THe designs range from frilly to fun to elaborate to simple-but-lovely.

The garment patterns are near the end of the book. They are all crocheted, but the patterns are written in the typical knitting pattern style (tell them as little as possible) instead of the more expansive and detailed style crocheters are accustomed to. But with symbol diagrams also provided, most crocheters will
manage.

Unless the knitter or crocheter who uses this book is very experienced, they may run into trouble. Little help is given for how to work stitches such as reverse single crochet, a technique which gives many crocheters a lot of trouble. When this is called for in a pattern, there is just a cryptic note saying "see page TK". This page was referenced for technical help a couple of times,but I could find no page TK. Maybe it's just my bad eyesight!

On page 195 is a section headed TECHNIQUES where I assumed to find crochet technique help, but all that was there was how to make lazy daisy and French knot embroidery stitches. At least one border is done in Tunisian crochet, so you better already know how to do it if you want to make that border.

If you are not an experienced crocheter, better brush up on your skills before you add this beautiful book to
your library. And don't give it to your favorite knitter for Christmas unless you know she crochets!

I bought this book today at Michael's (with a 40% off coupon of course!), and just had to write a review about it. I just love it......so far. I own at least 4-5 other crochet edging books, but this is certainly the most creative out of the bunch. I especially like the "flora" section where there are numerous edgings with flowers, leaves, etc...that you just do not see anywhere else. There are some typical, or as the author puts it "classic" edgings in here that you will find in other books, but for the most part the edgings are pretty original. This book also features 9 original patterns created for this book, although I cannot say that I will make any of them becuase they are not my personal style (two jackets, a vest, two capelets, a scarf, a "hatband/bracelet", a t-shirt with an edgining, and a "medallion medly" (which looks sort of like a freeform style small lapghan) it was an unexpected surprise to find them at the back of this book.

I would like to mention that there is not a "how to" section in this book. While this is not a problem for me, for those of you out there new to crochet, or for Nicky's knitting fans, who just have to have all of her books, if you do not know how to crochet, make sure you pick up a book on how to crochet along with this book. Because unlike many crochet books which will at the very least contain some illustrations in a "refresher course" type section, to remind you of how to do crochet stitches, this book does not have that. She does however, provide a small explanation of special stitches at the beginning of patterns that use them (i.e. the popcorn stitch, etc.....). There is a photograph of a swatch as well as a chart for each pattern, which I really like. The symbols can be really helpful at times.

I would also like to say that having just purchased this book today, I cannot comment on how the directions are written, or if there are any errors. A lot of customers who reviewed her crocheted flowers book (which I do not own), complained that her directions are not well written. I cannot comment on this, so take this review for what it is....someone who has looked through this book several times, but has not made any projects from it.

My only "complaint" at this point is not the fault of the author, or even the publisher, but rather whomever printed this book. When I got home to go through this book I found that pages 49-59 are pretty messed up. They all have significant creasing, and ink spots, and places where the text is quite blurred. It looks as if there was a mess up during the printing process, so alas, I will be going back to Michael's to exchange this book for another (hopefully better) copy. Whatever company actually printed this book should have better quality control, especially for the $30 price tag of this book!

But so far, just from looking at all the unique edgings in here, I am really quite impressed with this book, and cannot wait to add an edgining to something.....anything!

a very good book, as it explains heradlry terms, and makes it simple to create your own device.

pity amazon so hard to deal with if not in america

Perfect resource guide for my unit on the Middle Ages. Very quick shipment and in perfect condition. Great job!

Great book for beginner Heralds!!!

This book provides a very elementary introduction to Heraldry. The basic layout of a Coat of Arms is discussed, including a very brief history, along with the rules of placement and description for the major elements. The author also includes some discussion of the prevailing Heraldry of countries around the world, including medieval countries. The appendixes include elements for the user to trace or imitate when creating their own Coat of Arms. Lastly there is some contact information for organizations involved with Heraldry.

The book lacks depth. It provides nothing resembling an exhaustive list of elements; only a few basic forms and styles are covered. Further there is nil discussion concerning the meaning of the elements presented. The most a reader can learn is that crowns and lions rampant are symbols of Royalty, and some of that we have to infer. The work feels directed to early middle school children and should probably be marked as Young Reader.

In this book there is more historical information, and descriptions. Great for older children that can draw well.

I absolutely love most of the patterns in this book. The other ones are just too funky or ugly for me to consider making. It's well over half of the patterns that are great though. It's not easy to find some good patterns for the modern man and this book is good for that. Maybe some of the ugly ones would look better with a different color palette.

My favorite projects are the Uncle Argyle Scarves, Celtic Beanie, Half-Pipe Hat, Beer Gloves, Biker Boy (sweater), Speed Racer (sweater), Treads (socks), Tubey (socks).

I will be returning this book. Only 5 of the 45 projects are for crochet. Some of the knitting projects look cool but I can't knit and have no desire to learn. The crochet projects are terrible. As a guy I can say without a doubt that I will not be making any of them.

I was hoping to find some cool NEW ideas for guys. Same old stuff- sweaters, scarves, hats... & the ties do not look well made at all.
Skulls are still in, but not new.
Honestly, not one man/boy in my life would be interested in any of these items, nor do i have the desire to make any of them...I have loved the other S&B books, & eagerly opened the package, but alas... blah!

Also, as said by others, the book is seriously lacking in crochet options.

I rarely write a negative, but just had to say it here.

Gotta say that after purchasing this book I wish I would have gone to a bookshop to perooze it first. I really don't think that I would have bought it after that. There are a few hat patterns that are different than any I have seen before. Out of the 45 patterns in the book I may do 5 or 6 of them.

Putting a skull on something doesn't make a crappy knitting pattern cool!! I was sooo disapointed with this book. Come to think of it, none of the Stitch n Bitch books have had many current patterns, they are all very out of date. You are better off taking classic patterns and modifying them to your mans taste. Or make him a blanket or socks! Something he will actually LIKE.

This is a great color book. It took me awhile to get started on it because I was a bit overwhelmed by the "classicness" of the pictures. How could I ever do justice to these great artist? But then I started just having fun with it. Sometimes I try to stay with the artists color patterns but sometimes I do my own; I kind of dolled up the Mona Lisa.
It's a high quality book, I highly recommend it.

Who says you can't complete a masterpiece?

For just a few dollars, you can be Picasso! Pick up your crayons, colored pencils or whatever you wish, and repeat the choices of the Masters, or show Grant Wood how it really should be done with some choices of your own. (I've always suspected that those American Gothic folks would look a bit more cheerful with auburn hair!)

Fun and educational!

Wonderful book! I like the summaries of the artist, the orginal pictures for examples, and the amount of detail for a beginner to moderate colorer is not too much. I bought this book for myself (44 years old), Dad (82) and Mother (78). This will be the Christmas gift this year for everyone in my family.

Iknow there aren't many out there who enjoy coloring at my age, but it is a very relaxing hobby while watching TV in the evenings. This book is fun and has great variety.

A great fun way to introduce famous art works to the young. It has a small version of each art work on the cover. Your child/student can color the art work the same or make it their own.

I found this book to contain a lovely selection of projects. There's something for everyone's style, as well as their skill level in creating it. The instructions are good, but not spectacular, and that's why it got 4 stars from me instead of 5. But basically, this book has broad appeal with it's great jewelry and terrific photos.

I have been a beader for a long time, and I have always wanted to try wirework. However, many books looked too simplistic, or chunky, or had too much wire coils for my taste. I finally saw this book in a store, and bought it on the spot, along with the materials needed to get started. I love the variety of projects, and the differing skills levels in the book. I definitely reccomend this book.

This book seems to want to be a beginner's guide to bead and wire art. It doesn't come close to achieving that goal.

If you are a bead and wirework novice (like me) do not purchase this book. Wait until you have picked up a few skills, and have a few projects under your belt. Then reconsider this book.

The book starts out with tools needed to use this book. If you are a novice, this section makes a nice "to buy" list, but does not go into details like what each tool is used for or whether you really need it at all. For example, it would list "round nose pliers" with a picture of a round nose plier. Another example: it would list a "wire twisting machine" with a picture of a wire twisting machine. No discussion of relative merits of the tools, or brands, or any of that helpful stuff.

The book then has roughly 30 pages of "how to" instructions. How to create a loop, how to wrap a bead, how to make a chain, how to make a toggle clasp, etcetera etcetera.

The instructions are very very adequate. For example, a nine step instruction for something will only have four steps illustrated. And the illustrations will be of the first two and the last two steps, not the complicated stuff in between. And that's in the "how to" section, not the "project" section! Not helpful.

The pictures that are illustrated, are not well thought out. If the instructions indicate that a wire must be twisted so that it loops around itself (picture an "O" with a line across the top), the illustration will be a Microsoft Paint version of a circle, with a Microsoft Paint version of a line on top of it. It WILL NOT show the loop, or any indication that the wire is of one piece, wrapped around itself. It will look like two seperate wires. This sucks for a beginner. Not helpful.

FYI -- None of the projects require a knowledge of soldering. It's all bead stringing and bead wrapping.

The projects are all rated by difficulty -- "Easy", "Intermediate", "Advanced". This is good. Helpful.

The pictures of the project are nice (in a shopping sort of way, not in a learning to make it sort of a way). Cute but not helpful.

Each project has a list of tools needed to do the job. Most seem fairly simple -- pliers, beads, wire, wire cutter. Some projects require things like jigs and wire twisters and jewelry holders (if you want to braid the wire, there is a machine that holds onto the other end that the author recommends you buy). She also recommends you have an anvil, a hammer, and a hammering block. All good, but if you're going to tell people to buy a pile of stuff, knowing a little more about the pile of stuff would help, if not anything else to know how to shop for it. At least in a book ostensibly geared toward - not just beginners - but novices.

A "for example" that is NOT in the book and I feel should be: Why a hammer and hammering block? To work harden the jewelry. What does work harden mean? Well, wire is very pliable. Work hardening strengthens it and makes it less bendy. The process can also add texture to a piece. Caution: do not over hammer, or the wire will break.

Another "for example" that would help in a beginner's book: what type of wire to buy. (This is also not in the book, but I feel it should be). The book merely instructs that "18G wire" should be purchased. It does not indicate - well, what does "G" mean? Gauge. What is gauge? How wire is sold, based on numbers by American Society of Something or Other. The larger the number, the smaller and more bendy the wire. What type of wire -- copper? silver? brass? gold? Does it make a difference? How? Why?

All these questions remain unanswered in this book. For a true beginner's guide, purchase "Creating Wire and Beaded Jewelry: Over 35 beautiful projects using wire and beads" by Linda Jones, Paperback $13.59 and "Getting Started Making Wire Jewelry and More (Getting Started series)" by Linda Chandler, Hardcover, $11.53. Both are available on Amazon. I purchased both for that hard core beginner's guide to beading and wirework.

Nice things I have to say about this book:

The projects make you want to buy this book. They are lovely, and would be fun to make and wear. They are in the trendy style of the bracelet on the cover. They are creative, but not artsy. They look like jewelry you could wear to work as a professional. Some of the styles even an attorney could get away with in the office, though maybe not in the courtroom. None of that awful big multicolored wire flower garbage, or beads strung on a wire and twisted into a spangled mess with feathers.

Final verdict: If you are a novice or a beginner, definitely do not buy this book. Consider the books I suggested above. If you are an intermediate or advanced beader/wire worker, consider this book for its nice projects. At that level, holes in instructions and crappy pictures mean less, it's the project ideas themselves that have value.

I purchased this book after looking through it at a crafts store and think it is just great. There are a lot of 'do-able' projects for the beginner to advanced level. The book contains basic fundamentals to get you started on the beginning to intermediate level, and clear photographs of all the projects. It does not spoon feed step by step instruction beyond that. Some reviewers have disagreed with this, they want the step by step. However, once you have mastered the basics of wire work much more instruction isn't really needed. Many pieces can be figured out by the photos alone. The value of this book lies in the inspiration it provides you, the wire artist, to look beyond someone elses work and become original with your own pieces.

having beaded for a number of years I now find most books uninteresting. This was an exception. I have been making wirework jewellry for the last year and still found 6 projects on my first flick through that I am going to make. This is rare as I normally only find one maybe two that interest me. Good for all levels with project ranging from beginner to advanced.