Exploring the Fussy-Cut World of Precision Patchwork
For those of us who love quilting, but can’t cut or sew a straight line, English paper piecing is the answer! The description of “fussy-cut” is both accurate and misleading. While English paper piecing does require more steps, it offers the …
Adam Savage
Adam Savage, of Mythbusters fame, has written a combination memoir and maker advice book. With decades of experience making props and sets for major studios like Industrial Light and Magic, then 20 seasons of the incredibly popular Mythbusters show, Savage knows what he is talking about. Always a …
Alexander Langlands
For those of us who like working with our hands, there is nothing as satisfying as making a useful and beautiful object we can use for years. Cræft, being skilled at creating unique, hand-made items sourced from nature locally, has nearly disappeared. Once, being a craftsperson who could …
Tomoko Nakamichi
Unless you are a professional tailor or fashion designer, there’s small chance you will actually make any of the clothing directly as is in these books. As the author says in the introduction, the point of these often wildly bizarre experiments with fabric is not to create everyday …
Thomas Stender
If you’re wood crafty, like architecture and have a few woodworking tools, this book is for you! This is not a beginner guide to woodcrafting. You need both some base skills and a decent number of tools. However, the …
Everyone from professional fine artists to the occasional weekend crafter knows how incredibly expensive supplies can be. It’s not just the materials you need to create the piece itself, but also all the supporting supplies, be it it rulers, mats, easels, scissors etc. If you are just starting a new …
As with every new hobby, I needed All The Books from the library. A few of my particular favorites included:
Paper Cut by Owen Gildersleeve
This collection of works by paper artists includes short interviews on the artist’s design background, how they got started in paper art, and a few …
Thomas Thwaites
Could you build a toaster? “Sure,” you say. “I’d just get a kit on amazon.” No, from scratch? “Well yes, I could get all the parts online, probably Ebay, and cobble one together.” No, from real scratch. Mining the ore and refining it. Forming each delicate piece. Creating …
Kevin Kelly
Do you need to know where to get transparent concrete, Amish tools, color-changing LEDS, Japanese woodworking tools and so much more? Neither do I! But that didn’t stop me from putting so many bookmarks in this fascinating book that it ended up looking like a hedgehog. Modeled on …
John Wehrheim
Taylor Camp’s hand-built tree houses gets some coverage in Tiny Homes, but it is the stories of the residents that are truly fascinating. Started by a group of people tired of the Vietnam War and exhausted from the anti-war movement, the original founders of Taylor Camp are …
Lester Walker
Like Lloyd Kahn, architect Lester Walker loves small homes. His book features an array of small homes, ranging from historic like those of Thoreau at Walden Pond and Thomas Jefferson’s “honeymoon cottage” to modernist mock-ups created by his students. There are less pictures of interiors than Kahn’s …
Lark Books
Most people hearing the words “seed beads” probably think of Native American clothing and hippie bracelets. The master beadweavers in this book go far beyond the traditional decorations. From modern covered vases, kimonos, sculptures , plants, flowers and sea creatures these pieces of art are fantastically detailed and …
Logan Ward
We saw Ward speak at the WI Book Festival and he as was equally as amusing as AJ Jacobs, though a bit more low-key. Having thoroughly burnt out on the hectic lifestyle of New York, Ward and his wife decide to drop out for a year and …
Ben Marcus
Have I ever surfed? No. Will I ever try? Maaaaybe. But gosh darn these surfboards are beautiful. Along with a pretty interesting history of the sport, major surfers and the evolution of design and materials and numerous gorgeous images of boards. Everything from the earliest all-wood boards to …
