3 comments about Craft of the Dyer: Colour from Plants and Lichens.

1. Loads and loads of information -all in print. The only pictures were on the cover. Information is technical and makes use of the nasties - tin, chrome and copper. It should have been named "Science of the Dyer." If you want to identify anything then you will need more books as this one refers one only to other sources for identification. Good reference book for the technical aspect of dyeing. Dyeing is all about color and this book misses out on that aspect.



2. I had been wanting to dye yarn for a long time and I finally ran into this book. It explains everything clearly and warns you multiple times of this not being a science, but rather to expect variations. The book is intended for dyers in the east coast of Canada / NE U.S., where the plants she mentions can be easily found. Nevertheless, anyone can benefit from the technique and general principles explained by the author.

   I tried her instructions for the onion dye and it worked like a charm. I got colors very similar to those on the book's cover. Luckily I just pruned my apple trees and plan to use the bark and twigs as dyestuff next.

   The book was written before the age of Martha-Stewart detailed instructional photography, so the only thing I wish is that it had included more pictures. But this book should be on every dyer's bookshelf.




3. The only problem with this book is that it lacks colour photos that would enhance the reading of this book. However, this book is full of information on how to dye wool and other fibers from plants and lichens. The book goes over all the techniques of dying different fibers. It also has a huge section on different plants and what colours you would expect to get when combined with a moderant. The book also contains a section on where to get and how to identify plants and moderants as well as other books that are useful. There are many helpful tables on dyebaths, measurements for moderants and the effects of weak, medium and strong dyebaths. This is a wonderful book for the beginning dyer and an excellent resource, it is easy to read and understand eventhough I think it could have more pictures of the plants, moderants and different colours you may get.

5 comments about Making Handbags & Purses: 50 Patterns & Designs from Casual to Corporate.

1. Hmmmm I just checked this book out of the library and was so inspired that I came here to Amazon to purchase my own. I was sad to find I could not and was very surprised to read so many negative reviews.
   Many people describe the bags as "ugly"...I found them hip, cute, stylish, creative very cute. Maybe because I like artistic/Bohemian style...but even so there were many varieties to like. Very shocked at all of your negative opinions....wow. I am curious what you do think is cute...maybe boring mainstream bags? I don't know. I hope to get a copy and I will be making cute bags with free style emobroidery, applique, cute closures...and I will look sharp!



2. I am not a picky person,I like lots of bags in all sizes and colors but this book is just terrible! The bags are not pretty at all!I can't even comment on the directions because there wasn't a singe purse in this book that interested me enough to even read the directions.This is one of those books that will sit on my shelf until I do a clean out and then it will be gone.



3. This book was another good find if you're into making purses for yourself or family, or just like making purses. More great designs and patterns to chose from. Very well done and explained.



4. This book is not that great. It is the same purse pattern (fold over flap sack type bag) just has differant designs. Many are for people that crochet... I dont!! And it doesnt' even show how to crochet. What a waste of money... I sent it back!! I did read all the reviews and orederd it any way. Take heed... don't buy it!!



5. These are a bit, um, avant garde for my taste.

1 comments about Wild: Fashion Untamed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series).

1. For any referance you cannot go terrible wrong with the Metro Series....
   they are always the top of the top.

No comments about Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis.

5 comments about Fetish: Fashion, Sex & Power.

1. overall this book is very good, however it leaves out some important elements of fetishism and fetish culture. It pin points important elements of fetish and fashion, while skimming over the importance of emotions, trust, childhood,sex, power. When Steele addresses sex and power she uses a freudian approach. this is simply because steele's educational backround is limited to maintinly fasion history.

   The book is complete with fetish photos, and describes the history and evoltion of the fetish well. Steele, describes one fetish party that she has attended and makes assumptions about fetishes, however i find it difficult to fully accept her conclusions due to her limited exposure. She does not accuratly address the role of fetishism in the gay and lesbian and bisexual community, but rather sticks to trannies and crossdressers. Futhermore, much of the evidence that she uses to explain fetishes is based on biological sex and gender roles. Both of which i would argue are downplayed among those who are open minded enough to participate in fetish culture.

   This book is very well written and hard to put down. The book is well edited and well sectioned to keep you entertained and statisfied. It great book for someone who wants a brief and PG 13 explaination of fetishism-- for someone who knows little about the history of fetishims--or for your slightly kinky friend. Please keep in mind that Steele looks at fetishes from a fashion perspective--if you are looking for a more indept explaination of fetish culture you wil left, without it




2. Steele's book is thoroughly researched and does an excellent job of placing fetish fashion in a historical context. What the author fails to do, however, is make a clear argument. When she states that she cannot claim to be for or against a particular piece of clothing (in this case, the corset), her well-crafted "neutral" stance weakens the very course of her history. As Steele demonstrates, each article of clothing featured in her book has a complex cultural and intellectual history imbedded with meaning. By refusing to go beyond, "feminists believe..." or "Freud argued...," the purpose of Steele's glossy work remains obscured. Moreover, the author's overuse of quotations further confuses the argument. I was lost between Steele's words and those of her sources and find that her failure to truly engage with her research rings of a forced objectivity.

   My second objection is perhaps not a new criticism. I tend to cringe when I hear that the combination of being sexy and powerful rescues woman from the bad old days of obligatory femininity. Steele implies this by refusing to take a stance. The strong, yet sexy, woman remains a male fantasy. After all, the corset-clad, high-heel wearing dominatrix acts out the role to please her slave. She is there to help him live out his fantasies. Her pleasure (and this is generally the case whether the woman is dominant or submissive) tends to remain secondary. Steele's modern fetish woman gains pleasure from being pleasing to men and power from being sexually desirable. I would have liked the author to examine this issue further and even to deconstruct it.




3. this book was boring because it demeans fetishes. fetishes can be healthy outpourings of one's soul, not something that needs to be hidden away in the proverbial closet. i have a foot fetish, and this book gave me the impression that fetishes are to be spurned: i disagree and disagree strongly. my fetish is something integral to my being; i live for feet.



4. A very well-written and -researched essay whose clarity and wit is all the more remarkable for its breadth of subject matter (fetish and fashion, along with all the psychology, sociology, sexuality, feminism, etc. that they entail) and the high degree of subjectivity authors usually bring to that subject matter. Steele's writing is observant, engaging, stylish and piercingly critical--she gains much credibility in my mind by debunking the corset myth, for example. One flaw is that the wide implications of the subject matter often lead her off on tangents. It often takes her some time--in some cases, the entire book--to fully elucidate her points. You have to trust her to explain everything in the end--a trust which is largely well-placed.

   Oddly, the largest overarching theory about the connection between obscure fetish gear and high fashion is left implicit in a "perhaps. . ." phrase at the end. That theory is that most behaviors and interests previously thought perverse are being accepted into the mainstream as our society becomes ever more leisure-oriented and pleasure-based. Also unresolved is why fetishism seems to be largely Western and modern--is this a function of social organization, the definition of "fetishism", new sex research, sexual liberation, mass-media communication, all of these? There's an interesting correlation here with the equally culture-specific and modern outbursts of schizophrenia and serial killing (killers who are of course sexually motivated, highly perverse and often fetishistic). This is a query of high social concern, and I'm now more convinced of the role of the mass media--fetishism requires visual stimulation, Steele says, and there's more of that in a wider variety of subject matter than ever before. Not to simply psychology, but it's an interesting factor.

   The notion that males rather than females are prone to fetishism is almost borne out by this book itself, as though it took a woman to write sensibly and objectively about fetish/fantasy issues. Conversely, she trips up in fashion, her academic field, which she's too close to for that degree of objectivity. In dicussing whether fetish-inspired fashions empower or degrade women (a discussion wisely complicated with reader-response and intentionalist critiques), she doesn't realize the question she's begging: Why are fetish fashions almost exclusively produced for and worn by women? You could argue that fetishism is almost exclusively male activity projected onto female items. But many fetishists are just as satisfied wearing the fetish items themselves. And as Steele distinguishes, fashion is about "normal" fetishizing, not fetishism, and works by far looser rules. All she really says to this question is that men's fashions are "slower to develop" and suggests a psychoanalytic theory (interesting, though far from convincing) about why women like dressing up more than men do. I think the obvious answer she misses is that whether women feel empowered or degraded, the very reason they're allowed (or required) to dress up at all is because they have a subservient social position to men. When men are required to dress up, it's a relatively simple and standardized uniforming, whereas women are required to puff up a la a court jester or similar colorful figure of subservient/entertainment social standing. Whatever a women chooses to wear, there's no choice about dressing up, and that's where real power lies.

   These lacunae aside, it's an honest, thoughtful and meaningful examination of the unspoken--and often misunderstood--meanings lurking within our clothes, and a timely, necessary study of what's going on in the 20th century sexual mind.

   Also wanted to add that today's radical forms of bodybuilding should be considered as body modification in the corseting/tattooing/piercing vein. It's been a rapid movement from Schwarzenegger's Greco-Roman classical perfection to today's insanely bulging, wildly exaggerated look.--J.Ruch




5. You would not think that a book concerning Fetish trends etc would put you to sleep but this book will. You may nod awake for the photos but the text is a mish-mosh of psycho-drivel, unrelated and uninteresting facts and sketchy history.

No comments about Young Fashion Designers (Evergreen).

1 comments about Amazigh Arts in Morocco: Women Shaping Berber Identity.

1. This book presents the role of women in Berber culture. It goes into great depth concerning the symbolism found in the arts of Berber women. For those who first glimpsed this world in Imazighen, the Vanishing Traditions of Berber Women, by Margaret Courtney-Clarke, the present work provides a study in great detail.

No comments about The Art of Watching Films: Student CD-ROM.

4 comments about The Jeweled Menagerie: A World of Animals in Gems.

1. This book had exactly what I was looking for. Many beautiful designs of animals from simple to really extravagant. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the jewelry business or who has an interest in gems.



2. This is a wonderful resource for high end, modern animal jewelry pieces. These are not designs you will find at your local jewelers, and it is probably of limited use to crafts people, but as eye candy it can't be beat.
   
   While brief mention is made of historical pieces, this is really a book about Victorian jewelry to the present. It is a shame that there is not more information about the wonderful animal jewelry of antiquity, but perhaps that will come in another volume.
   
   If you are interested in contemporary and 19th-20th century jewelry design, this book is a steal at the Amazon price.



3. I FIRST SAW THIS BOOK @ MY LOCAL LIBRARY & BOUGHT IT THE SAME DAY. FULL OF ORIGINAL & MASTERFULLY CRAFTED JEWELRY THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO APPRECIATES ORIGINALITY & ARTISTRY IN JEWELRY DESIGN. I WOULD HAVE PAID MORE FOR IT!



4. This book is crammed with page after page after page of the most breathtaking animal jewelry by the world's elite designers, such as Verdura. It is amazing to me that the book, printed on high quality paper, retails [at a low price]. The authors have compiled a comprehensive review of jewelry history and photos and if you are a fan of whimsical but elegant design, you'll love this book.

5 comments about Effortless Style.

1. June Ambrose jumps off the page in this straightforward how-to book. I hate books and magazines that make me feel like I need a while new wardrobe to look great. After reading her book, I felt like I could shop my own closet for a more flattering look.



2. Boring, Boring, Boring!! As much as I love June, I could not get into this book. Lloyd Boston's fashion book is so much better.



3. June Ambrose puts together a good book on how to dress well. While this book isn't a complete authority on style, it does give much basic information. I liked that she starts out in an early chapter what essentials you really need to have, and then suggestions for what to build around this basic wardrobe. This basic wardrobe isn't one that you will have to toss out every season, but rather one that will transition you through all seasons.
   
   She gives many tips based on body shape, which is helpful. Now there aren't tons and tons of these suggestions, but there are many there. I also like that she gives tips on things like how to hide panty lines, and other basic issues that all women have. She also spends a good amount of time on the subjects of shoes, purses, and other accessories. In fact, she emphasizes the importance of accessorizing what you wear for maximum impact.
   
   Effortless Style is a good book that does provide you with basic information on how to look better. She gives tips on a basic wardrobe that will carry you though multiple seasons. Tips are given on what to wear with certain body styles, as well as tips on basic problems we all have. Accessories are given attention, and advice is given on what to look for in purses, what types of shoes are essential, and much more is addressed in this book. While this may not be a comprehensive guide on personal style, you can definitely upgrade your look after reading this book.



4. This book is horrible. I was expecting a lot, having heard wonderful things about June Ambrose. As I read, I was sorely disappointed. "Effortless Style" does nothing more than brag about Ambrose's many celebrity clients, and advocate for the adoption of every last awful fashion trend. Style is not about following every fashion fad. It's about figuring out what styles work for your body, investing in standout pieces that really fit, and picking and choosing trends as the come along so that you only wear what is truly flattering for YOU. Ms. Ambrose spends very little time discussing how to discern what shapes and cuts work for certain body types. I think the only tip worthy of note was that short women should not wear jeans tucked into knee high boots, because doing so only makes your legs appear shorter. If you really want to learn more about style, I suggest Kendall Farr's "The Pocket Stylist." It is far superior to this trash. I'm sorry I wasted my money on it.



5. It's great!! I'm one of those people who wears very traditional clothes, though I do love getting fancy. I don't get too fancy because, honestly, morning and night I'm out running or at the gym teaching or training. This has helped me redesign how I do things and get in shape out of the gym.