Crafts Hobbies Books

Perhaps its just me, and my personal preferences, but I was not impressed with the designs in this book. As far as I'm concerned, the only good thing about this book is that it has 3 patterns that I use semi-regularly, so it isn't exactly collecting dust on my book shelf. The desins in here are, to put it really nicely, very bizzar, and not very pretty. And I don't mean "not pretty" in a girly sort of way, either. I mean, I wouldn't even put them in a man's knitwear item--not aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. I wish I hadn't wasted my money.

Not only did I buy this book for myself (I would consider myself an intermediate) knitter but also for a friend who really has only knitted scarfs and baby blankets... it is so practical and if you don't quite understand the instructions - google. I have made a baby bonnet, a christening dress and am working on a pillow.....
Happy Knitting

It's a great book. A lot of knitting and purling stitches. The book is well written and the instructions are very easy to follow. I hope there will be a new one with other types of stitches, so I can buy it. You can really be inspired by this book.

This book is beautifully done. I enjoy the written instructions and the clear pictures of the stitches.

While I like the organization of the new Harmony guides based on type of stitches, the original guides have a lot more examples.
In this guide all the slip stitch patterns have been eliminated along with color variations of many of the stitches. What a shame - as I found the variations and the slip stitches really inspire me when I am thinking about modifying an existing pattern or creating my own. Also no charts when there was plenty of room to make them. The only charts are the charts that are found in the original guides.

I love stitch dictionaries and have many in my library. When I looked at this I decided that the original harmony guides are a better deal and I recommend buying those guides used when asked.

This book is filled with explicit instructions on many facinating projects. It is clear, concise and easy to understand. Excellent resource for children and teachers.

I have just entered the field of preschool and was disappointed in the books for activities until I found Carlson. Her book isn't full of kiddie graphics as if the kids were reading, her instructions are clear and careful. This book is fun because it gives so many ideas of using things around the house. I liked this book so much that I bought 50 to give to preschool teachers coming to a workshop. If you like to do things with your young children and someone doesn't give you Carlson's books, buy them.

Laurie, I just finished this book and I really appreciated it. My daughter is soon to be three and I have been wanting to learn more about environmentally friendly ways to teach her about life and our world. This is a super resource for me. Thank you so much!!

Great Book. Full of Good Stuff to work with.

Very Speedy Mailing. Thanks.

This book is just another one of Patti Culea's delicious writings, complete with other people's work as well. Wonderful.

Creative Cloth Doll Beading: Designing and Embellishing with Beads



Creative Cloth Doll Beading
Designing and Embellishing with Beads
by Patti Medaris Culea with Anne Hesse and Laura McCabe

* Beaded Tattoo's - what more can I say? How COOL!

* The collaboration of these three stellar dollmakers brings out the best in each artist.

* Great new Techniques for wings, hair, creative clothing and beautiful faces! Also... detailed directions on making flowers - WOW!

I am not really a beader... so I sighed when I got this book "Oh... tedium, oh schemedum, oh little tiny bead-ium" but what I saw knocked that apathy right into a shocked puddle on the studio floor which was dangerously slick... what with all those beads rolling all over the place!


What a killer book! Patti gets some able assistance from two of the doll making worlds finest, Anne Hesse and Laura McCabe. Just as she did in the wonderful Creative Cloth Doll Couture, Patti provides one versatile doll pattern. This pattern is used by all three main artists and the many talented "gallery" artists, to create a flock of beautiful and unique dolls.

Patti does a chapter on flowers, making them look wickedly easy and raucously beautiful. Anne has the next chapter and with her two comrades, she leads us through a bead embroidered face, now THIS is exciting to me! Next Laura creates a "wood elf" and beads her leather garment with several cool techniques, my favorite being the bead stacking. Finally Patti returns at the end of the book and gives us "Franalizia of the North Sea" who has scales of beads, and a wealth of burned, melted and glued beading and embellishment techniques. She is a "Fairymaid" Upp you guessed it, a mermaid with wings, extremely clever!

Off to the right here... is my version of the beaded head... Ok, so I didn't draw the face onto the fabric and I didn't use a rubber stamp (tho this is a great idea!) , I basically didn't follow any of the directions, (tho they are great!) but I did get INSPIRED and I did LEARN about "Wedges", "Focal Beads" and "Fill Patterns". I also learned how to make fringe, and flowers and what a "bud" is. (this was welcome news to me as it associated with the "bezel" and I can't help but sit around snickering about "budding the bezel" or "bezelling the bud" - Yeah, just alittle easily amused... Ya think?!)

I highly recommend this book for us "regular folk" as well as the seasoned beaders. Hum, now where did my charolottes go, I need to do a basic bud on that bezel!

This would be a great gift

A must for your library. This book has easy to read instructions, wonderful instructive pictures and tons of inspiration! So very glad I purchased it!!!

I love Pattie's unusual style and I learn something new in everyone of her books and I have all but the faces one. My only complaint is having to add seam allowances on some pieces.I find it unnecessary and bothersome..but she must have a good reason for doing this I just don't like it. Also some of the instructions are vague for anyone with limited sewing skills. But it is always worth the time it takes to teach yourself if necessary.

With general chapters covering everything from organizing your work space to finding outlets, and detailed specific sections on photographing your work, keeping records, and submitting proposals to publishers, Sandra McCall's book is a full-service sourcebook for anyone looking to approach their art as a business. A savvy crafter herself, Sandra also relies on the expertise of highly successful artist/business people like Claudine Hellmuth, Traci Bautista, Catherine Moore, and nearly 2 dozen other artists engaged in the business of art. A diverse array of art and craft is shown, there are extensive tips, quotes, record/financial pages that can be copied straight from the book, and a there is also compendium of useful resources including federal agencies and trade associations. The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success is a beautifully designed and well-organized reference tool to which I find myself turning time and again.

I bought this at our local bookstore. It was the most current book they had. It has lots of helpful information. Some areas, like photographing your work could be more detailed, but that isn't the main focus here. It includes forms you can copy and customize for your own use. All in all. I really like this book. In fact, I'm re-reading it. Well worth the price.The Savvy Crafters Guide To Success: Turn Your Crafts Into A Career

Expertly written.
Photographed interestingly.
Not a stone left unturned,
Go forth and succeed!

This Book is a great book for any beginner Potter. It has over 400 recipes for glazes and it also explains how to adjust the glaze ifyou have a problem. I love my Book and I know I will use it for a very long time.

I am thrilled with this new book I recently purchased, I have had Emmanual Cooper's other books on glazing and recipes - and found them most informative and the glazes pretty true to explanation
I also have found that they are quite stable - we fire in the higher 1260.C upwards catagory and the sometimes glaze recipes unless worked out correctly can be very unstable and uninteresting.
All in all a very worthwhile book and easy to use, a definate "MUST HAVE" for your collection

Easy to use and keeps open while I work on recipes.Great size . Great pictures on nice paper.

The book is able to be opened flat which is helpful. The troubleshooting section is especially good.

Terrific illustrations explaining the working of the knit/purl stitch. Great instruction to undo and fix the impossible.

This book is so helpful to the beginner knitter (me!). The information and pictures are all very well presented.

This book is very simply written with clear instructions how to fix errors we have made in our knitting. The pictures are large enough, so that you can actually recongize the error and fix it properly. Think this book is great.

Knit Fix is an absolute must-have for knitters of all levels! Being new to the art of knitting, I often have more questions than answers to the problems I encounter. I learn better visually than from written word, but the author addresses each problem (and many I've not yet encountered) in such an easy-to-understand manner, I almost feel she's standing next to me, guiding my every step. Beginners spend a lot of time learning from their mistakes. Now instead of trying to spot the problem and figure out where I went wrong, I have a a time-saving and outstanding reference book to turn to.

I found the directions complicated and so many extra supplies needed to complete a project. Probably will never use.

This book will give you a lot of information so you can design and build your kitchen cabinets. It is great.

Planning, organizing, layout, building, finishing and finally installing cabinets. Jim also included some shop tips and simple jigs. Doors and drawers included, though there are more extensive books on that matter. The book is enough by itself to help you build your first cabinets from scratch. I made my first build a corner set with 8 ft of counter, tops and bottoms ( wood is my lucrative hobby ). I also recommend Jim's book for the pro cabinet maker as it has some organizational advise that complements this volume. This book gives several styles of construction and face assembly, all good. I used mortise and tenon bead for my build, but I had nice FESTOOL joiner with dust system already. ( Festool 574283 DOMINO DF 500 Q Set. My only FESTOOL and well worth it. )

good book

I also recommend:
"Finish Carpentry" by Taunton Press
"Understanding Wood Finishing" by Bob Flexner ( very good )
"Cabinet Doors and Drawers" by Danny Proulx

and just about everything from Rockler.com and Lie-Nielsen.com

Thats a pretty comprehensive list, I feel its complete for the task in question. Many reviewers say these books are mostly fundamentals, I agree. The authors assume you have a "complete" set of power tools and a viable work space with many hours safely logged in it. You're looking at at least $5,000 start-up cost for decent power and hand tools to get into this field of hobby, and at least that much again to pretend you're seriously in business NOT including quality materials on hand for manufacture. Yep on hand before you sell anything. Its the unsung costs of dust collection, climate management, quality finishing, insurance, and maintenance that make the cost climb up on you.

Can you compete with China?

But I digress. Enjoy a great read!

Definitely the best money I have spent on a cabinet book. Tolpin really provides a LOT of valuable information that can be used for DECADES to come.

From what I gather through my readings, Tolpin is a traditionalist / purist at heart, but, he understands the necessity to produce time and resource efficient designs. He provides instruction on both sides of the spectrum: Fast and Effective as well as traditional and effective (a little something for both). In this way, he is able to speak to the enthusiast that is interested in making a traditional set of cabinets, and the professional that is interested in producing a quality set of cabinets more quickly.

I also gather that he really enjoys teaching others his thoughts, shortcuts, time saving jigs that you can really use and appreciate (especially if you have been busting head trying to do it another way). This fact is what really wants me to buy more of his books. His service to carpentry in general is extraordinary; he is a true teacher of carpentry and advises young carpenters in almost every page of this book.

I especially enjoyed making and using most of the jigs he describes. In one chapter he outlines more than 5 jigs. Having built them (extremely easy to make), I have already put them to use in more than one woodworking session and will continue to do so in the future because they are so useful.

If you're interested in cabinet making, buy this book. If you're tight on money, buy a used copy. The point is to buy this book and read this book. If you don't like to read, buy this book because the illustrations can explain a lot too. Building one cabinet will pay for the book.

This book is old school and is way outdated as far as making cabinets. This book is very hard to follow and laid out very poorly. If you want a good book to make cabinets look into "Building Kitchen Cabinets" UDO SCHMIDT

The hand written drawings are poorly done and lack significant detail. The photo illustrations are of good quality but are again limited in their application to the building process. Overall descriptions of the building process are scanty at best. Woodworkers interested in learning kitchen cabinet construction would be better served by reading Jere Cary's book; Building Your Own Kitchen Cabinets by the Taunton Press.

I bought this book for my husband, and it was exactly what he was looking for. It contains everything you need to know if you want to build model ships. Plus there is historical reference to the different types of models. Very happy with this book!

This book is more of an introduction to ship modeling than a comprehensive volume. It might be appropriate as (one of) the first book(s) one reads on the subject, but is not sufficiently detailed to live up to its highly ambitious title. The chapter on gunnery fittings is the most detailed, but still can't impart the detail and volume of information available from other sources. The author communicates his palpable enthusiasm for the hobby. This, combined with the broad but somewhat thin material he offers, will stimulate readers to further and more detailed exploration of ship modeling. This book is a good choice as a gift for someone (early teen or older) who may be interested in the field.

I am beginnig to learn about model ship building. I have bought several books on modeling and wooden ships. It seemed that the more I read, the less I learned, UNTIL I purchased this book. I gives more details, more information, and more additional resources than anything I have found thusfar.
This is a MUST READ for any beginng plank on frame or plank on bulkhead shipbuilder.
It also is simply a Great read. It is likened unto a novel.
Thank you Milton Roth!!!!

I'm all new in the modeling wooden ships game, though I have been fascinated since my early childhood and grew up working plastic aircraft models. I always saw wooden modeling as the Holy Grail and finally decided to get on with it. I was captivated at age 7 watching the Cpt from the "Ghost and Mrs Muir", seizing lines and tending to his ratlins whilst educating the youngest boy about the moral to-do's and don'ts.

Having recently purchased my first model, the Scottish Maid, from Artesania Latina, I decided after looking the plans over that I was going to need more in depth help and assistance. After researching online I have discovered that there is quite a decent literary safety net regarding the subject, but as usual it's a case of where to start?

Well after leafing through this book in relative depth I have found a brilliant place for the Ship Modeling neophyte to make their start. The work gives a great overview of the many complex areas involved in the longtime craft of Ship Modeling as well as gently leading the enthusiast into the greater intracacies involved therein. I was delighted among other chapters to find a section on Ships in Bottles, one of my fascinations, as well as informative tips and tricks regarding all manner of applications from planking to seizing lines and rigging.

I found the sections on Running Rigging, Proportions of Rigging, Making Masts and Sails for Sailing Ships a revelation, which has totally whet my appetite for exploring singular works dedicated to these subjects alone. Roth does a great job of keeping the language simple and with a little observation of the diagrams, which are easy and clear, most questions left wanting in the text are answered. I only wish this work had more colour plates of ships in the building and completion stages, which is why I have witheld the final star.

Apart from this small omission I can wholeheartedly recommend this work to the novice and enthusiast alike as it has enlightened and informed me as well as fueling my passion for this noble craft more than ever! So if you want to know where your mizzen is and how to rig your gaffs; if you care to know how to set the rake of your masts or find out what box off is all about, then get 'Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern' and quit your blatherin land lubbers!

I found this to be a very informative collection of hints, tips and reference information for any modeller.
Unlike a previous reviewer, I only found one photo that might be classified as upside-down; the rest of the photos and diagrams are clear concise and very helpful.
Excellent sections on tools and adhesives plus 'why didn't I think of that...' tips; there are some nice tables not seen in other books and some excellent line drawings of rigging and sail tackle.

This is not intended to be a guide to building an 'Admiralty' model, or a faithful built-up model; what it does do is fire one's enthusiasm for building a reasonably accurate scale model - other books cover the finer points of fidelity.

I would recommend this to anyone starting to build model ships, it is not too detailed to put one off, nor is it dumbed-down.

Basic and the reading is consistant with this book style, easy to read and definitely not dry/boring.

I read this book cover to cover (took me about a week) before I started brewing. I bought the right equipment, and followed the instructions in the book. Now, three weeks after brewing and four weeks after purchasing the book, I have some pretty good homemade bottled beer!
Brewing is not for the impatient, but the author makes that clear. This book is very easy to follow. You don't have to read the whole thing. Some of the chapters are for people who are pretty advanced in the hobby.

A load of info and great tips... A must have for beginners or experienced brewers

Homebrewing for Dummies is an excellent resource and how-to guide.

Like all the "dummies" books this book breaks down the subject of homebrewing into simple easy to understand language.

Nachel explains the affects of each ingredient on the beer, as well as step by step brewing and bottling instructions.

If you are just thinking about starting homebrewing read this book first. It will guide you through what equipment to buy, how to brew and what to expect.

If you are already a brewer, Nachel provides a beginner, intermediate and advanced recipe for each of the AHA beer styles.

If you're a budding homebrewer or an experienced home brewer who could use a few tips and troubleshooting techniques, then Homebrewing for Dummies is a book worth buying. This book is a complete guide to homebrewing at different levels and it serves as a highly useful reference for those who wish to brew their own beer for the first time or who would like to find some ways to make their homebrew easier to make, better tasting, or more eco- friendly. This book covers everything that is important to the homebrewer, from purchasing equipment to buying the ingredients to bottling and evaluating the finished product.

Brewing beer isn't easy and many homebrewing hobbies have been ended prematurely due to a recipe turned bad or by general frustration with getting everything right. This is where Homebrewing for Dummies can help. This book was written to assist homebrewers at all levels in the fine art of making beer. It steps the homebrewer through all of the important steps, starting with the equipment inventory and ending with the bottling process. Along the way, the book shares some secrets for homebrewing success, pointing out the importance of cleaning and sanitizing, temperature control, and other factors that directly influence the final product.

What I like best about Homebrewing for Dummies is its penchant for thoroughness. Many other books exist on this subject, but few cover so many different aspects of brewing as Homebrewing for Dummies. Those who are unfamiliar with homebrewing will probably be shocked to learn that this book is more than 400 pages in length. Many people mistakenly believe that making beer is a simple process than can quickly be described in one- hundred or fewer pages and many authors have, indeed, attempted to compose quick guides to homebrewing that are a fraction of the length of this guide. But to cover every aspect of homebrewing, a much longer guide is needed. Homebrewing for Dummies wants to make sure that you, the homebrewing enthusiast, have all the necessary facts and information at your fingertips to make sure your homebrewing batch turns out just right and once you get involved in a hobby like homebrewing and realize what it entails, you will agree that a much longer book is necessary to do the justice to the craft.

Since this book is part of the For Dummies line of books, it is written in a format similar to the others in this popular series. Thus, it includes bulleted text, unique icons to indicate special points, highlights, boldface headings, etc. This type of format makes the book more readable and better organized. It is also humorous at times. The author wants the homebrewer to take his/her hobby seriously, but he also wants to make sure the brewer enjoys himself/herself in the process. So, he includes touches of humor from time to time throughout the book. The humor isn't excessive by any means. It is just right and is well timed, offering a nice change of pace as you read, helping to lighten up the mood as you learn more and more about the world's greatest beverage.

Overall, Homebrewing for Dummies is an excellent book about brewing beer. It covers the subject of homebrewing thoroughly and effectively, is flawlessly written, and is entertaining to read. It's an outstanding resource for the homebrewing hobbyist and a book I recommend to anyone with an interest in this subject.