No comments about More 3D Origami: Step-By-Step Illustrations.

5 comments about Fantastic Figures: Ideas and Techniques Using the New Clays.

1. I really enjoyed this book, and the author is really a master at her craft. Some things I still don't understand and need clarification on, and for a real novice, I'm putting this aside for a while as it seems a bit more than I can handle at the moment. I don't understand the sizing guidelines, and just wish someone would print a sizing chart. (Cannot find one anywhere) It would help so much. The rest I can read and practice. All this "1/12th" or "1/16th", I'm still trying to figure out if that is the size of the picture in comparison to the real figure or what it really means. I really missed something and otherwise, I would recommend it because she is an extremely good author and doll maker. I know I would also buy more from her if I ever get going on this!



2. This book is more for an intermediate to advanced sculptor.
   
   There are many lovely color photographs from exceptional doll artists, but most of the "learning techniques" are in black and white with a lot of text.
   
   A beginning sculptor could learn from this book, it's an excellent tool, just not much of the "hand holding" through every step like other books of this type.
   
   I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and feel it is worth having in your library.



3. This book is a great book... but, I am only giving it 4 stars because not all of the pictures of the dolls are in color. Many are in black and white. I have been making dolls for a couple of years and her instructions are great, but probably not for the beginnner. It is interesting to see the different mediums for OOAK dolls. She provides a lot of examples using different mediums.



4. The book "Fantastic Figures: Ideas & Techniques Using the New Clays," by Susanna Oroyan is a great book on advanced techniques in clay. However, for a beginner like me it was a bit overwhelming. So I am placing it on my book shelf and hope to be skilled enough to use it some day. As the dolls in it are great examples of OOAKmanship!



5. This book is wonderful, it covers every aspect of dollmaking. If this is your first time making a doll or your 100th you will find new and helpful information in this book. Definatly add this book to your doll making library.

5 comments about Turning Green Wood.

1. If you want to be successful when you turn green wood or newly cut lumber on your lathe. I recommend purchasing this book and reading it all the way through before you begin your wood turning project. When you use green wood there are different procedures that you need to follow than when you use dried lumber. I had tried to turn some green logs on my lathe and had many problems with wood cracking and was very unhappy with the results. After purchasing this book I learned the reasons why my previous attempts had not been successful. I only wish I had gotten the book at the same time I purchased my new lathe. It is an excellent resource on how to use green logs and newly cut lumber that can add flexibility and save money on wood costs when you use "found wood" and cut the logs yourself.



2. Great book - great photos - great ideas - great explanations and written so anyone can understand the directions and concepts (even me).



3. Great and a must have for all turners. The book is more oriented toward bowl turning but covers a ton on green turning with plenty of pics and diagrams. Michael O`Donnell goes to great length to educate the reader on how wood dries based on where it is cut form the tree.



4. this is a good basic book of how to deal with green wood and also the use of crotchwood. well written and illistrated



5. As a beginning turner, I searched for books that were both informative and interesting to read. This book approaches turning with 'green' in mind but also has some very good information about wood properties and turning in general. Very much worth buying even if you are an experienced turner.

5 comments about Kusudama Origami.

1. My 16-year-old daughter loves origami and is presently making an origami bouquet of 24 flowers from this book. Just know that this is fairly advanced origami. One flower takes her about 15 minutes, and then the flowers will have to be put together with string!



2. I became the shipment very quickly. I like this book, because the instructions are short and clear.



3. Another of Fuse's masterpieces
   
   For some reason, I think Fuse has the pictures of the ugliest models on the front cover of this book! Inside are some really beautiful models.
   
   The models are easy enough for new folders, who are determined (You have to fold a lot of the same thing, and then join them together using needle and thread, so you don't see results until the very end).
   
   All in all, a great book.



4. The models are very easy for an experienced folder and turn out beautiful. Everybody whom I have shown them to was amazed. The figures are wonderful and are great gifts.



5. I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and can't seem to stop folding...The instructions are easy to follow, provided you know a little bit about origami (just some basic folding techniques, which you can learn online.) The designs are very interesting, though very time consuming. Block out some time to do this! When I finished my first Kusudama piece, I was so pleased at how beautiful it was. I have experimented with lots of different papers and achieved great results, even with papers that were not japanese. My favorite is the bouquet of lilies, which is stunning in bright colors. I definitely recommend this book to those who would like to pick up a new hobby and wow their friends and family with amazing gifts.

5 comments about Pornogami: A Guide to the Ancient Art of Paper-Folding for Adults.

1. It's not the easiest for the novice origami person (i.e., me), but the folks I bought it for who are origami gurus found it hysterical and fun. My new bar trick is making a winky out of a dollar bill because of this book.



2. This book is a novelty and the concept is funny. However, I'm not impressed with the models.
   
   The diagrams are pictures of somebody showing the folds - so the book does not use the "normal" symbols.
   
   I think a beginner folder would have some problems with this book.



3. I am a complete & total beginner at origami, I found many of these hard or impossible to make.
   
   I also bought 'Naughty Origami' which generally has easier figures - I was able to make almost all of them after a couple of tries each, after doing them I was able to make a few of the figures from Pornogami.
   
   The figures in this book are generally more 'interesting'.
   
   The origami were very well received by men and women alike at an adults only party.



4. I bought 5 of these to give a birthday gifts. Everyone has loved them.



5. I gave it as a xmas gift and it made a few jaws drop and brought on lots of laughter . A+

1 comments about Robert Gober: Sculptures 1979 - 2007.

1. The catalogue for a comprehensive retrospective of Robert Gober's career to date, this book is an invaluable tool for the study and the appreciation of one of the most difficult artists on the contemporary scene. If you want to understand how a mere sink or playpen can be turned - or moulded, or distorted, to use more appropriate terms - into a work of art, how a mere board of rough plywood can be called a sculpture (and rightly so), then peruse this book and stop to ponder the meaning of those beautifully illustrated works.
   
   The complete series of sinks, playpens, human legs and more recent installations (especially one already exhibited at the Matthew Marks gallery in NY in 2005 that reminds the viewer of a cathedral) are illustrated in the book and some works are explained by the artist himself. Also present are pictures of the making of some of the sculptures, which help the reader understand where the idea of the work came from and what its meaning is.
   
   Highly recommended.

5 comments about 500 Wood Bowls: Bold & Original Designs Blending Tradition & Innovation (500 Series).

1. Bought this for my dad for Christmas. Anyone that picked it up couldn't put it down. I looked through it at least 5 times before leaving for home. Great photography and very inspirational to anyone who turns wood.



2. Having turned hundreds of bowls over the last five years
   I thought I was a competent bowl turner, until I purchased
   this book.......... Every page has work that I have never been
   able to do.......This material is challenging and life changing.
   .
   After studying this book I took my lathe and threw it off the top
   of the tallest mountain In all of Oklahoma. I then came to my senses,
   Recovered my lathe, still useable after an 18 inch drop.
   I have started turning again....with renewed vision and focus.
   .
   "Oh snail climb mount Fuji"
   .
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to turn bowls
   And wants to see really amazing work.



3. The publisher of this book is also responsible for '400 Wood Boxes,' which I reviewed about a year ago. Both books are juried photographic collections of the work of contemporary woodcrafters. '500 Wood Bowls' is a more eclectic selection composed of almost anything that could be considered a bowl that has some wood in it. This actually is my one complaint about an otherwise very well done collection. In favoring the more modern and experimental work, a great deal of contemporary work that is more traditional, and more focused on the wood got left out.
   
   Don't get me wrong, there's much to admire and wonder at. As a struggling woodturner I find much inspiration here, and a good deal to feel envious about. I've just added a large lathe to my workshop, and bowls continue to elude me. If it wasn't for books like this I would have resigned myself to making very expensive dowels. Here the reader sees possibility and knows that incredibly fine work can be done, whether he be turner, carver, or a collector. Lark books should be congratulated for a very high quality effort at a very reachable price.



4. This book is beyond awesome!! What a fine collection of bowls, from the most intricate to the outlandishly uncommon. This book has the most incredible collection of innovative turning, carving, and transforming of wood that I have even seen. From intricate inlays to woodburned accents, including segmented to free form with every unbelievable artistic vision and extra-ordinary form of artwork in between. Many common ordinary available woods along with exotic and worldly woods are shown in so many unthinkable showpieces. Every new page turned brings "I can't believe how incredible" to a new height.
   Some leave one wondering just "How could this be done?"
   If anyone ever needs a book to inspire, motivate, and capture the drive within to create, this is the book.
   Every photo is crisp, clear, in color, and close-up. Each labeled with the dimensions and some with the author, and most all with the type of wood used.
   416 pages, many with 2 pictures per page. Very professionaly photographed and displayed in an exceptional book.
   Some books show bowls, this book inspires greatness!!
   Highly recommended and a book to KEEP!



5. No tool reviews, no "how-to" pages: just pictures of beautiful bowls. Some right off the lathe, and some where the lathe was the tool that created the canvas, and then the artist started to create. Many names I recognized, and lots of new names also. Highly recommended if you want to see fresh ideas from both the known and not-yet-known.
   
   Excellent photography throughout.

1 comments about Children, Clay, And Sculpture.

1. This book is extremely useful for classroom teachers and homeschooling families alike. It slowly and thoroughly works through the progression of skills from first using clay to creating finished sculpture. The chapters include information for teaching the skills, multiple examples of professional artwork that can be studied to view the technique at hand, tons of pictures of student work with the age of the student identified (very helpful for knowing how to set your expectations at a realistic level) and every chapter includes free exploration ideas as well as specific exercises.
   
   Chapters:
   
   Before You Begin
   Explorations
   Making Sculpture
   Sculpting in Relief
   Animals
   Heads and Faces
   Figures
   Improving Sculptures
   Finishing and Displaying Sculpture
   
   I have taken classes with Cathy Topal; she teaches in the Education department at Smith College, helping prospective teachers learn how to teach art. The care and attention she has taken to laying out the exercises in this book clearly reflect this experience - she can think both like an experienced teacher of art and like a mentor to new teachers. This book is a valuable purchase for any art teacher or homeschool family and can be used with students from age 4 to high school level. It will grow with your child and can be used over and over to explore topics in more depth in subsequent years. I give it my very highest recommendation.

2 comments about Learning How to Scrimshaw.

1. I was somewhat disappointed in this book, it seemed a little sketchy. It was a little light on surface preparation and didn't say anything about actually inking the work. The author stated that this book, or more rightly a booklet, was based on class handouts and it showed it. Still, there is good information to be had if one knows almost nothing about the subject but it is bound to leave you feeling that you need to know more.



2. i took a one week class with ron at campbell folk school. he will make you a belivear in your ability to scrimshaw. i have since actually made $ from my new hobby.highly recomend.

1 comments about One Hundred Years of Collectible Jewelry: 1850-1950.

1. Lillian Baker's "100 Years of Collectible Jewelry" might help you to find your way, but only barely. The small opening section, with a brief history of jewelry, may be helpful to the novice...but is by no means complete or even truly interesting to the seasoned collector. It will give you an overview of jewelry styles and some of the historic events that prompted them, but will leave you wanting more. (Much more.) The photographs in the book are clear, but very small; not wildly exciting nor representative of all periods and jewelry styles. However Ms. Baker does go into areas not generally covered...hair combs, hat pins and beaded purse are investigated although in a flash in the pan sort of way. Possibly the major advantage of the book is the Glossary of Terms. If you are brand spanking new to collecting jewelry, this may be the most helpful and informative portion of the book. Overall I would recommend the book for it's reasonable price and easy to chew small bites of information, but if you are interested in a compelling, in-depth view of the history of jewelry, this book is not for you.