1 comments about The Sculptor's Way: A Guide to Modelling and Sculpture.

1. This book point out lots mistake beginner would make with lots illustration.
   Worth to read.

5 comments about Collectors Encyclopedia of Hall China.

1. A lady I know worked in Halls china in East Liverpool Ohio, she loves looking at the book and telling stories about the plant and the time she worked there. She has a lot of the china and I find myself collecting it. This book is a great help, and I am very thankful to have found it.



2. This is a must have for Hall China enthusiasts. The format is clear and easy to follow. There is so much great information with pictures and pricing info. for a wide variety of Hall China pieces. I carry the book with me whenever I am shopping at Antique Stores looking for Hall China.



3. The edition is as complete a guide for the mian lines of Hall China as you can probably find, however I think the photo layout and quality were better int he previous version.



4. The Whitmyers obviously worked for years and simply produced "The Informative Reference" to the wonderful Hall China Company and its long production of products. If you love Hall China, this is the book that you HAVE to have in your library. Packed with facts, photos, information found nowhere else but in this volume. Through the help of dealers, collectors and friends; they were able to show Hall's artistry and employee craftsmanship at its finest.
   The color photos pop from the pages as the digital up-to-date photo process allows for this volume. It is so wonderful to see so much Hall China and accessories one might never have a chance to see otherwise if it were not included in this book. Hats off to the Whitmyers and all those who allowed them to photograph such fabulous collections.



5. This is one of the best collector reference books I have ever seen. It is laid out in an easy to read and refer format and the pictures are fantastic. It contains well over 100 pages on teapots alone. Descriptions are clear, interesting and well written.

   This is a perfect addition to the Hall China or teapot collector's library.

2 comments about Hand Painted Porcelain Plates: Nineteenth Century to the Present.

1. A rich source of inspiration for a painter on porcelain, a pleasure for an art lover!



2. As a collector of fine antique porcelains, I was eager to own this book, and delighted when it was finally delivered! The artistry of painting on porcelains has been presented before in other publications, but "Hand Painted Porcelain Plates: Nineteenth Century to the Present" provides a new benchmark in terms of both text information and illustration.
   
   With superb photographic technique, each image captures the magnificent color, form and art and the captions describing the age, area of origin and artist are very well done.
   
   The plate chapters are arranged by country. German, Austrian and Bohemian plates include a history of manufacture, and makers like Richard Klemm, Ambrosius Lamm and other notable producers of Dresden porcelain, as well as portrait specimens produced by KPM and the artists of Vienna are included in this important chapter.
   
   World class English porcelains are well-represented, with stunning and rare Worcester examples, as well as outstanding painted plates from Coalport, Davenport, Minton and Wedgwood. I enjoyed the recognition afforded to the venerable firm of John Aynsley, and the painted scenic view plates are generally missed by other publications on antique and collectible porcelains.
   
   Many French porcelain makers set the decorating standard for others, and the chapter devoted to the makers from France, including Limoges and Sevres, are alone, well worth the price of the book!
   
   With important information on marks, as well as fake and reproduction plates, Richard Rendall presents a clear and comprehensive text, and the examples from Elise Abram's collection are clearly representative of the most luxurious porcelain on the planet!
   
   Recommended to both new and advanced collectors, you will not be dissappointed! This book is truly a feast for the eyes!

5 comments about Origami for the Connoisseur.

1. I collect Origami books. Each book has something new. This one does too but I mostly buy it for some of the known folds such as Kawasaki Rose.



2. The origami collected in the book is very interesing. Also the instruction is as detail as everyone-can-do. The only cons is the instruction is on the back of the paper you use for the origami, which means either you have to figure out a way to follow the instruction during the process, or you use other paper.



3. I have been reading this book and folding models every night since I bought it! It serves as a great introduction into some more advanced folding techniques. The models are very interesting and the directions are easy to follow. The book is structured like a reference book and easy to use. The pictures inside are 2 tone, but high quality.



4. I recently got this book for my birthday, and months from now, I'm still doing much of it. I've made nearly all of the models, and even did one of the 300 sonobe units modulars. I've tried the stegosaurus, and I'm starting to be able to clean new ones. Everything I do astounds my classmates in various classes.
   
   Even though I've been told I'm crazy, I started the 900 unit sphere with a couple friends, and we have over 150 units put together.
   
   This book has some models for beginners, but I'd say it's more for intermediate-advanced folders. The rose is defintely one to try, although it took me a couple tries just to get it. This is my current favorites origami book out of at least 10. A definite must-buy.



5. This is one of the best origami books ever written. My all-time favourite model John Montroll's Goose which I have made hundreds of times is included, along with the wonderful and now classic Rose by Kawahata, David Brill's lidded box and transparent bottle, a series of twist folded cubes and many other beautiful and stylish paperfolds too numerous to list here.
   
   The models are not for the complete beginner but will for the most part require some experience at intermediate level and the book is a good graduation point if you wish to move on to more advanced work.
   
   The book has stood the test of time - the original edition was first published in Japanese in 1985 and then in English in 1987 - and is as fresh and exciting to read today as it was then. I cannot recommend this book too highly.

2 comments about Ceramics - Ways of Creation.

1. CERAMICS, WAYS OF CREATION is a highly informative look at 36 contemporary artists who are "pouring" ceramics, working with the wheel, and molding various kinds of clay. I don't know if these artists are the best in the world, or who could possible determine that, but all the artists depicted are working in America, and most seem to have acquired a M.F.A. and some recognition among peers and critics.

   Probably the most valuable aspect of CERAMICS is the light it sheds on the contempory ceramics work scene. The artists seem to be fairly representative of their art/craft. Porcelain and raku, organic and inorganic, poured, molded, pressed and pinched, utilitarian and nonutilitarian, spritual and irreverent, functional and disfunctional are represented.

   For example, Ray Strassberg's Holocaust vision and David MacDonald's African pots and calabashes are opposite ends of the life-death spectrum. Wayne Higby's beautiful and evocative "Lake Powell Memory-Rain" is somewhere in-between. Virginia Scotchie's "Vera's Garden" of stylized ceramic plants as big as the artist regenerate her memory of life as a child on her grandparents farm. The metaphysical "Primal Courage" of Joanne Hayakawa shows a stiff backbone (skeleton and pelvis) and Peter Pinnell brings the reader back to teatime with his wonderful teapots.

   Each section contains a short biography of the artist and discusses themes, types of clay, modeling techniques, firing temperatures, tempura, and other aspects of the creative process. The book also contains an appendix of terms. Probably not technical enough for the ceramics artist, but a wonderful book for those who are thinking of taking up the craft and want to appear semi-literate at the local art center.




2. Ceramics Ways of Creation provides a refreshing venue for currently practicing ceramic artists to explain their processes, description of materials and methods, motivations and philosophies of purpose. Ample colorful illustrations expose the substance of each artist's work. This is an "inside peek" at what makes our contemporary ceramics scene "tick". Each artist is unique but a common love of the clay medium unites them.

5 comments about Robert Rauschenberg: Combines.

1. Living in a place where its rare to see an original Rauschenberg combine, this book has standout photgraphs of the works, with detailed views to complement the full image- the first two essays also provide some keen insights into the processes and influences on Rauschenberg's life and work. Definitely recommend for artists
   or interested art followers. These works constitute what I think were the finest in his career.



2. It is great to be able to have this book as a remembrance of the great exhibition it illustrates. Every single piece reproduced here is a masterpiece of creativity and the quality of the reproductions do justice to the works of art, which is no small achievement considering that the Combines are intricate mixtures of sculptures and paintings. You also discover what a master of color the artist is, an aspect often overlooked by his critics.



3. This book blatantly rocks my world. It has a very nice selection of images, and is much more affordable than the godly $900 retrospective catalogue. Amen.



4. This book is a catalogue for current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and then the Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, and in Europe at the Pompidou Center, Paris and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
   
   As installed at the Metropolitan Museum of art, the show is stunning. It's astonishing that this exhibit is the first time these works from the 1950's have been shown together. These "combines" -- art somewhere between painting, collage, and sculpture -- are a foundation of modern art, so much so that art of the second half of the century is hardly conceivable without them. This makes looking at the work afresh more difficult than usual, since seeing these pieces together in 2006 means also viewing through a legacy and school of influence.
   
   But what phenomenal pieces they are! You can see Rauschenberg gobbling down visual techniques whole - collage, assemblage, juxtaposing printed images, materials, sculpture. They are daringly junky and breathtakingly beautiful. I have know idea whether you'd call this conceptual art, or the most luscious, messy opposite of conceptual art you've ever seen. The works are fearlessness. Really inspiring.
   
   The catalogue has excellent reproductions, and the photography is quite good at conveying the depth of the pieces - some of the works are presented from several angles so the more sculptural pieces are well conveyed.



5. ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: COMBIINES is the name of an exhibition currently on display and one garnering some of the warmest acceptance by both critics and public alike of any retrospective survey in years. Not that Rauschenberg is a 'discovery' unearthed by this generous volume: there have been many excellent monographs and catalogues printed about this extraordinarily gifted artist who for the past half century has been creating art from found and constructed objects.
   
   Rauschenberg's art has always had secondary messages - political, anti-war, ethnic, sexual, and ecological statements - housed in the fascinatingly complex assemblages that are part of the collections of the major museums around the world. This fine book limits its survey to the prescient years 1954 to 1964, that period during which Rauschenberg became well known and highly respected for his art and beliefs. Curator Paul Schimmel writes a fine essay about this period and accompanies his own perceptions with those garnered from a very informative shared conversation with Rauschenberg himself. Likewise Thomas Crow writes an immensely readable chapter on just how Rauschenberg came in this realm of artistic expression and from Crow's writing we learn much about the mid-century changes in American art.
   
   The reproductions of the art works are excellent and if there aren't as many images as one would wish, it is because of the self-imposed limited time frame in Rauschenberg's career of the exhibition. A fine volume, highly recommended for all art history majors and for those under the spell of this great artist. Grady Harp, February 06

5 comments about 3D Origami.

1. I bought this book a couple years ago. Used the Temari ball as a pattern to make ornaments. Made a basket, some cranes and now I am working on the Peacock.
   
   All I had to do was take one crane to church and boom I had orders. I've sold enough cranes to pay for the book a dozen times.
   
   And if you want to know if the book is clear enough for kids. I showed it to a lady at church. Her 9 year old daughter borrowed the book, made a baby swan and took first place in a regional art contest.
   
   One of my favorite things to do is to keep a bowl of prefolded peices handy. I play with them like Legos and when my friends come over their kids spend hours "buidling" with them.
   
   My only regret is that the author has not released even more books.



2. I bought this book for my 14 year old son who has done origami for the past three years, he found the instructions very clear, and was delighted with both the variety of shapes that were given, and how easy it was to modify the shapes to create different designs.



3. I first saw a swan in a japanese restaurant and was interested in learning where they got it from. The owner of the restaurant said he had made it himself and reccomended this book to me to learn for myself.
   This book has really good explanations and step by step instructions to start with. the diagrams are very useful and the initial pages teach us how to fold the paper and all that.
   it does get difficult to make the more complicated objects like the swan which requires about 600 pieces...it is better to start of with something small...
   also it is pretty time consuming,,and as they say in the beginning of the book it is really nice for someone to have espescially if he is recovering from an illness...
   i wud absolutely reccomend this book...



4. I first saw completed 3D origami projects of the dancing crane and peacock done by an older Japanese gentleman, who had lots more origami years under his belt than I, and said, "WOW".

   He handed me his 3D origami book to look at and within a few moments I realized that I could do any one of the projects shown too.

   The instructions are very easy to follow. You might find it more difficult to find the exact paper you want.

   You are folding the same size paper into triangles for projects then assembling them into rows to create your 3D project.

   Be patient, some of the larger projects require hundreds of triangles. The good-luck hyotan (gourd) takes 762. Looks great when complete in gold or silver foil. I used gift wrap and cut it to the appropriate size because this required so many triangles.

   In the end, you'll be very pleased with a completed project and your friends will be amazed.




5. This book is nothing like other origami books. My friends even offered to pay for one of the swans I made from this book. Of course, it's alot more work than ordinary origami foldings (like cranes, and other single paper folded origami) but it's worth the work. Once you finish making one of those swans, you'll be looking at it and go "wow...did I make that??" You'll draw alot of attention and be very popular!
   Finished origami looks very sophisticated, yet it's very easy to make (just need little patience).
   Buy this book, you won't regret and it's worth every penny.

1 comments about Netsuke.

1. This is the book I give to friends. It has beautiful photos and abundant information on a wide array of netsuke. Highly Recommended

2 comments about A Passion for Metal: Reflections and Techniques of a Metal Sculptor (Schiffer Art Book).

1. This book is very readable, not just a look at the pictures. There are many techniques used and discussed, with a new fluxing tool I'd never heard about. I've actually read most of it because of its interesting writing style. The work is high energy and enthusiasticly made.



2. A Passion for Metal is truly an apt title for this book. Mr. Harvey writes with wit and a clarity of thought about his 30-plus years as a sculptor. The book is part instruction manual, part art criticism, and part philosophy text backed by truly beautiful photographs of the work from Harvey Gallery on every page. You can sit down and read it from cover to cover or open it up to random pages and get enjoyment out of it.
   If you are a sculptor, an art lover, or just want to know what life is like as a professional sculptor in the present-day, this book is for you.

1 comments about Chinese Seals: Carving Authority and Creating History (Arts of China).

1. This small book provides a good overview for the beginner in the field of Chinese Seals, in a field where there is nigh on nothing available to the English reader.
   The chapters are succinct and well written. Each chapter is also well illustrated in terms of seal imprints as well as typical seal designs.
   One of the more difficult areas for the non-Chinese speaking/reading collector is that of identifying the era from which one's seals come from - this book will not assist in that task but provides a pleasant and helpful introduction to an area many may well be tempted to delve into.