5 comments about Kovels' Dictionary of Marks -- Pottery And Porcelain: 1650 to 1850 (Kovel's Dictionary of Marks).

1. Exactly what I was expecting. A bit difficult to understand at first, but once you understand the layout it really makes it easy to use for reference.



2. Overall it is helpful. I am really just getting into this, so it is great to have something I can refer to to get an idea of where the item I have comes from.



3. As with the Kovels other books, this reference is very exhaustive and complete. There are, perhaps, some mistakes, but given the volume of information here that is to be expected. I find I reach for this book first when I'm trying to identify a piece of this age group, and usually find what I'm looking for here. Easy to travel with, from antique shop to auction. A good buy.



4. Rather coplete book but-alas-full of mistakes in entries concerning German and Austrian porcelain.Take for example the Meissen porcelain:the authors put together in one large pile Meissen proper,Thieme factory,Fr.Hirsch,Helena Wolfsohn and other factories,though these are absolutely different things.The authors should make a bit of research before starting the project:What amazes me is that this is the 46th edition of the book and nobody ever corrected those mistakes.



5. Good research, accurate information, and voluminous (if not exhaustive) representation of marks. Brief yet succinct information identifying maker, circa date and geographical location are offered with marks. Don't expect a good read or scholarly discourse. Small and light; easy to take on the road.

2 comments about Paul Klee: Hand Puppets (Emanating).

1. This is a great book for more "out there" puppeteers, artists and lovers of Paul Klee's art. His son, Felix, reminisces about his childhood with his artistic Papa, who built whimsical, sometimes scary and political, puppets for his young son's enjoyment. There are many photos of the restored puppets and Felix's stories about them and his father are charming.



2. I just got this newly published book and it is simply wonderful. I have a huge puppet book library and having just skimmed through it, I am thrilled to see all photos/puppets are ones I've never seen anywhere else. The puppets of Klee are an absolute inspiration, and I am so glad there is a new book that introduces them to a new generation. The only other book about these puppets is in the range of $500.00 if you can even find one, so this is an absolute steal, and probably will become collectible as well. This is put out by the new Paul Klee museum and text and photos are all fascinating. You must have this for your puppet library!

5 comments about Boundaries.

1. This book accomplishes for me what Maya Lin set out to do - it provides a well of knowledge that I keep coming back to. I have shared her philosophy with friends and family providing a direct and intimate dialogue with her work.
   I first came across 'Boundaries' while doing research on public controversy and sculpture. I felt that I was listening to Lin's voice and began to understand why she depicted the works as she did. I was drawn to the simplicity of her designs that left space for human participation. When the book had to be returned to the library I had to have a copy for myself to continue my understanding of her works.
   The aesthetic set-out of the book draws the viewer into the designs with more understanding. It is not just a coffee table book, but one that encourages one to rethink and revalue ideas.



2. After days of a dry spell, in trying to figure out a design problem; I started to flip through this fabulous book. Maya Lin's Boundaries; is a book that is food for the soul of an architect. Ironically, the title of the book is Boundaries, but the whole essence and poetic journey allows for one to see the world with out "Boundaries".
   
   Traveling through each project, Lin is able to take us from her thought process through a complete execution on each project. She is so delicate in describing each event, from growing up, the Vietnam memorial, to her goals in the future. The reader can travel with her, through each process, struggle, and creating architecture that is able to resonate within it's setting.
   
   Thinking with her hands, Lin describes each event, each challenge, and solution, allowing for the the reader to gain an inside, touching the souls of what every architect and designer needs.



3. Maya Lin's "Boundaries" is both creative and stimulating.
   
   This book is not an autobiography and it is not an art book, but rather an extension of Lin's work. Many know Lin for creating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and like the memorial "Boundaries" provides a medium-both public and private-to observe and interpret what we sometimes don't even consider.
   
   If you like photography, architecture, or simply wish to know more about an idea behind one of Lin's works then this book is for you. I love the format. It is easy to read and the pictures are of high quality. The pages are numbered from 1:00 to 12:00 and each chapter starts with a new hour. "Boundaries" is refreshing- it's truly unique and inspiring.



4. There are two ways to read this book, as Lin points out in the preface. First is just as a coffee table picture book. In that role, "Boundaries" gives a photographic tour of many varied monuments and installations. Lin is best known for the Vietnam Veteran's memorial. At the time, it was an unprecendented look and a deep controversy. Since then, I think it has become what Lin had hoped: one of the most personally involving war memorials ever. Lin has moved on since then, and this book shows many of her more recent works.

   Although her family heritage is Chinese, Lin identifies herself as American. That gives her the freedom to use concepts from many Asian traditions. Many of her later works show a sense that I see as Zen-like. They are centered on stone, water, earth, and light. Like that first memorial, they invite the viewer to touch and become involved in the work. "Waves", for example, is a large-scale earthwork to be explored, offering surprising privacy in an open, sunlit lawn.

   The second reading of this book comes from its text. It explains Lin's approach to her work. I was quite surprised to fined out how important collaboration is for her. Most of her installations are undertaken with archtitects, writers, or preparators of various kinds, quite opposite the 'lonely artist' stereotype. I was also surprised to learn that her first conception of most pieces is narrative, not pictorial. To me, translating word into image and structure is a complete mystery. My own thoughts work in the other direction. That difference intrigues me.

   The book itself is a pleasant artifact. It's well printed, well organized, and displays some thoughtful, unusual typography. It's a vehicle well suited to the material it carries.

   "Boundaries" was printed in 2000. That means that the catalog of Lin's work has developed since then. More of her work surely exists that was locked out by the publication date. I look forward to the next book documenting her work, and I look forward to her future development as an artist.




5. Sometimes I felt really sad that I don't have enough money to bring this book home.Maya lin should be an architect who can be also known as a good writter.Her writting had combined both beauty architecturally and verbally,like a stream of purity norished readers'heart,explained her designs with pleasure of sights.She got similar passion as her famous aunt lin huiyin,composed a melody of life,mastered the way a human being might uneasy to see.I am appreciated her way of representation.That she inheritaged from Lin's family.She absolutely knew that poetics in their family traditions,a symbol of very special abilities.

No comments about Advanced Scrimshaw Techniques.

4 comments about The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece (High Museum of Art Series).

1. The book is excellent. Each chapter is written by a different person with his or her own area of expertise. Somewhat redundant comments at the beginning of some chapters recounting the history of the doors but overall each chapter is very good. Image quality is good and text is readily understood by the average person . . not an overly technical book and is thus good reading. However, the format of the book is absolutely stupid. Who would create a book illustrating SQUARE panels such as these and then print it in a tall rectangular format. Someone wasn't thinking and it leaves the reader longing for a full page image of each panel in its entirety. All we get are vertical slices of panels and no complete image of any of them. One of the silliest mistakes in a book I have seen. Also some pages are not numbered and the numerous notes at the end of each chapter can have you jumping back and forth a bit. We went to the exhibition in Seattle and the book was a great background read. Shortcomings aside it is well worth buying. Enjoy it! By the way I have not yet purchased the other book available here at Amazon but may yet do so.



2. This book, actually the catelog for an exhibit of 3 of the panels, tells you everything you want to know about the panels and the doors that are one of the signature achievements of the Renaissance. It's got well written chapters on the narratives in each panel and a detailed step-by-step description of how they were made, with beautiful diagrams.
   
   A must read if you're going to see the panels or doors...



3. "The Gates of Paradise" is the title Michaelangelo gave to the extraordinary bronze doors on the Baptistery in Florence created by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the mid-1400's. This book is not a "coffee-table book" for impressing friends, but is for lovers of great art or the Italian Renaissance who want to look at beautiful photos of these doors (recently restored after years of painstaking work), and to learn more about them in a serious way. The book is a collection of essays, each focusing on a different aspect of the doors; their origin (questions of authenticity, date of the work, the extent that Ghiberti [and not his apprentices] were involved; the technical aspects of casting, and then gilding, bronze in the 15th century (how Ghiberti was truly at the leading edge of his time, not just in artistry, but in technology); the difficulty and technical aspects of restoration; and more. I found this book fascinating and would recommend it highly.



4. This is the luxuriously published catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition "The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece", till January 13, 2008 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York after having been on show at Atlanta's High Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. It's about the gilded bronze reliefs on the East Doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence (Italy), made by the Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452. The book contains seperate quires with photographs, mostly in detail, of the three reliefs on show: the "Adam and Eve" relief, the "Jacob and Esau" relief, and the "David and Goliath" relief, which allow the spectator to see what great masterpiece indeed Ghiberti made in his reliefs, depicting intricate scenes from the Old Testament. And these photographs do capture --since but few people will be so lucky as to see these reliefs in reality-- Ghiberti's artistry and amazing craft: his originality of invention, his majesty of designs, his vivid illusion and clarity of space as well as the diversity, intensity, and meticulousness in his depiction of the figures' physical, mental, and emotional states of mind, the aforementioned being a new realm of representation in Renaissance art. For all the expressive power and convincing vitality of human figures in early Renaissance art and their seeming to be intensely alive, only rarely are their individual and distinct states of mind and sentiment indicated if not captured the way Ghiberti managed to achieve.
   The book contains very readable essays on the artist Ghiberti and on the art and innovation in his amazing reliefs. In his essay, Andrew Butterfield offers scholars and students who still put their trust in Richard Krautheimer's 1956 book on Ghiberti (the 1970 hardcover and the 1983 paperback editions are still available) convincing arguments --based on the latest research-- to question Krautheimer's methods and results (in despite of their overall importance) which are largely based on Krautheimer's basic principal of the "single-point perspective". Mr. Butterfield argues that "single-point perspective" is a system intended for the projection of space on a two-dimensional surface, whereas relief sculptures are three-dimensional and have complex surfaces. It's a basic problem that figures in a relief must have real three-dimensional volume, and consequently there must be a projection at the bottom of a relief for these figures to stand on. This being rather self-evident for us now, Mr. Butterfield pursues his point by explaining the requirements of narrative and setting that Ghiberti faced, and fulfilled, among them the direct confrontation of but a few (usually two) figures in one scene of a relief, against the necessary depiction of large groups of figures in events in the biblical history of a nation or people in another scene of the same relief. All this is connected with Ghiberti's other primary concerns: legibility and a desire for clarity. Which stresses the need to look beyond the prejudicial notion that Ghiberti was in essence a Gothic and conservative artist, as advocated a.o. by J. Pope-Hennessy ("Italian Gothic Sculpture", 1986).
   Gary M. Radke's essay explores the realms of collaboration Ghiberti had to enter into and looked for. In his days, most public commissions knew a high amount of interaction and Ghiberti had manipulative relations with his patrons, at the same time furthering his own best interests. Furthermore, this book explores historical documentation on the Gates of Paradise, reconsiders the creative sequence of Ghiberti's doors, documents the now almost finished restauration and examines both Ghiberti's art of chasing and casting technique of the Gates of Paradise reliefs, abundantly supplied with photographs and illustrations giving overviews and many details of each relief under survey. There also is a chronology of Ghiberti's life. See "The New York Review of Books", Vol. LIV, Nr. 17, November 8, 2007 for a more professional review of this catalogue.

5 comments about Sterling Flatware Identification & Value Guide.

1. This has become my bible for identifying sterling flatware. Of course, it has the most popular patterns, and obscure patterns may not be found; but generally, it is a great resource for collectors or those who sell flatware on auction sites. I keep it right by the computer, and use it almost on a daily basis. I have recommended it several times to those who don't know how to ID what they have. I don't know what I would do without it.



2. I WAS HOPING TO GET SOME HELP IN MY SEARCH FOR STERLING HALLMARKS, BUT THIS BOOK IS REMARKABLE. EASY TO READ AND VERY NICELY ORGANIZED WITH CLEAR ILLUSTRATIONS, ALPHABETIZED LISTS OF PATTERNS, CURRENT APPROXIMATE PRICES OF THE NEWER SILVER AND OF COURSE A FEW PAGES OF HALLMARKS.



3. Silverplated Flatware by Tere Hagen is an ID and Value guide for mostly silverplated utensils or flatware. The book I received had a publisher's mistake on pgs. 369-370 in that the top part was not cut so I had to cut the pages to get to the information. There were a few pages that were pulled from the binding. But, I did not buy it for cosmetic reasons. I wanted the information. The illustrations are fantastic. It made identifying products much easier than going all over the web looking for them. So it is a timesaver. It would have been nice to have more history about the various pieces. There was a lot of information about the companies themselves but not how the were named, or why such names were chosen or for what occasions. It would have been easier to research if the pieces were in alphabetical order under each company.The book illustrated here is not the one I am reviewing.The silverplate book has a blue cover. The Sterling book was similar without the flaws.



4. very nice and informative book, a great haelp to any silver lover!



5. I bought this book because it was the only book out there that included Unger Brothers patterns. But, then I found myself looking up other patterns too. The book also has a brief price guide in the front of the book and a letter code rating system which corresponds to a price range. Every pattern in the book has a letter code which lets you know how valuable and sought after the pattern is. I have gotten a lot of use out of this book and I would recommend it to any serious collector or dealer.

2 comments about 305 Authentic Art Nouveau Jewelry Designs.

1. This was a gift to a friend in Europe and he LOVED it! Very quick shipment and everything great. Amazon is fantastic, as usual!



2. I LOVE this book, and have turned many of these designs into tattoos. Never seen anything like it on any other person, either.

3 comments about Cloisonne Enameling and Jewelry Making.

1. The book is useful for a broad spectrum of initial enameling skills. While it doesn't delve into minute detail, enameling is a hands-on learning and application art. So I found the directions and and steps useful for my needs. I will take care of the details.



2. This is one of those books that you are giddy that Dover reprinted! it isn't for the very beginner in enameling but it will take the enameler thru all the steps for making some basic cloisonnes and then the settings and chains for them. The jewelry working/metal smithing section is worth the price of admission. The chain making section is old school just enough to get people thinking about the need for all the fancy gizmo's they sell today. I enjoyed the book as a whole. the B&W pictures are good being reprints. the project drawings, pictures and the wire bend diagrams are great. To bad more of the newer books don't include them. The resource pages were very complete and you will find most of them still doing biz and with web sites. If you have old Thompson Enamels you have picked up from some ole timer the list with numbers will be worth the cost itself. I own it, use it



3. Well written with many photos and a step-by-step guide for cloisonné. Sound advice and useful trouble shooting. It touches briefly on other techniques without enough detail information to use but enough to start an interest in expanding enamels and a few trial experiments.

3 comments about The Joy of Origami.

1. This is a nice book of general origami figures. For those who have never done it before, the book gives clear instructions and a good introduction to the basics of folding the most common and enjoyable of the figures. To you I would suggest reading ahead before you complete a fold. It will make the concept clearer for you and prevent frustrating mistakes.
   
   For those who have practiced origami for a while, there's probably nothing new in the book except the delightful papers provided at the back of the book. While not the traditional designs, these papers provide some pretty new ones motifs and some thoroughly delightful scenic designs that fold up into a shape that presents a unified image. You'll enjoy them, I think. I plan on using my copier to duplicate them for use in projects so that I can kept them nice.



2. Great book for the beginer in origami. Many great and fun projects.



3. This is SUCH a cute book! What a great idea to package the models, directions and paper all in one book. The choice of models range from the basic to the more complex (for those serious folders) and the paper (included in the back) is FABULOUS--from the super colorful to the super fun. I am almost through the whole book and am buying a few more copies as gifts for Christmas.
   If you liked her calendar, you will totally love this book. I hope she is working on Volume 2.

5 comments about Family and Friends in Polymer Clay.

1. I love Maureen as an artist and my rating has nothing to do with her or her book in general. The detail in her artistry is fantastic and her instructions are easy to follow.
   
   I was dissapointed in the condition of this book though from the seller. It was used, but I was surprised at how bad the condition of it really would be. Out of all the used books I've purchased through Amazon, this was the worst...... Again, this has NOTHING to do with the author or her book in general. It is still worth your purchase.



2. this is a fun project one both young and young at heart will enjoy. Mom if you want a project you and your childern can do together, this is it. What a great feeling when you see the finished friend your child created. They will want to do more and more. It is very additive.



3. Polymer clay figures are difficult to make at first, but the book is easy to understand and entertaining to read.The author discusses topics from choosing clays and tools to learning to see the different shapes of faces and body proportions. She includes a variety of facial shapes to practice, with step by step guidance. There is no confusion and loads of clever ideas for caricatures. There is also a chapter on problems and solutions. I am working on caricatures of my family right now, and I don't know of another book that could be as helpful as this one. I am very pleased with it. I have a few others, but this is the one that I recommend to friends, and basically the only one I need.



4. Whether you are a beginning sculptor, or an experienced doll maker, this book is a good one to have on your reference shelf.
   
   The artist has a playful way of explaining/showing you how to do things, and the step-by-step color photographs are really helpful. She even shows you how to make tools from common everyday things you'll find around the house.
   
   I was impressed by her ability to sculpt perfect caracatures of her friends and family. There was no mistaking who it was when you saw the finished sculpt along side the photo of her person.
   
   Enjoyable book.



5. In this book, Maureen Carlson presents all of the information you will need to get started at making either figurines or art dolls . . . or both!
   
   Not limited to friends and family, the book contains basic information you can work from to also create your own characters. The information can be overwhelming if you just page through the book, but the author's fun tone and excellent photography work hand in hand to create a text that truly welcomes you into what should become a fulfilling hobby.
   
   I especially appreciate her focus on how everyday items probably already within your home will work just as well as the more expensive tools available in craft stores. So be sure NOT to stock up on supplies while waiting to receive the shipment of your book from Amazon!
   
   My one "complaint" is that the author focuses so much on her more mature friends and family. It would be nice to have more examples and instruction relating to children and babies.