Crafts

Chip carving, traditionally used for decorating fine furniture and boxes, involves carving out shallow ornamental designs on a flat wood surface, as opposed to carving in the round, which is done on a three-dimensional block. Barton (The Art of Chip Carving: Award-Winning Designs) supplies basic information on handling knives and various woods through a series of practice exercises in individual chapters devoted to types of designs, e.g., borders, rosettes, and lettering. Because this is a craft that requires much practice to do well, the book will be most useful for those with some experience. Highly recommended for public libraries.

Three-dimensional objects formed entirely of beads are the unusual topic of these two books. In Beaded Dollhouse, bead artist Chiba offers extremely detailed projects for furniture and accessories in 1/24 scale. For those accustomed to wood and metal miniatures, accepting a chair made of beads requires some imagination, but the total effect of a dollhouse furnished entirely in beads is really very colorful and quite charming.

Freese's animals and insects in Beaded Creatures are also formed of beads and are intended as ornaments and jewelry. The sea creatures and flying insects are particularly appealing. Instructions include beading charts and color photographs of the finished items. None of these projects is suitable for small children, but older children and adults will find them fun to construct. Both books are recommended for public library crafts and YA collections.

Christmas decorations are so popular that some people never get around to putting them away. Country Living magazine has compiled a book of tips and ideas for using all those accumulated ornaments and found items on trees, furniture, and walls. Except for a chapter of recipes for baked goods, there are few projects, just page after page of photos and suggestions. A good selection for public libraries needing more holiday material.

Beginning and more advanced beaders will find helpful instruction in these two guides. Cypher (fashion, Marist Coll.; Hand Felted Jewelry and Beads: 25 Artful Designs) and Wedekind, both beadwork professionals, lead the reader through a series of practice projects for learning the stitches that form the basis for offloom work with small beads. The authors discuss small-beaded accessories and simple jewelry pieces as well as materials and equipment. Both of these basic books will find good use in public library collections.

This collects cleverly designed projects by mosaic artist Germond using china shards, bits of glass, buttons, shells, and other found objects. The objects are mounted on furniture, accessories, and outdoor ornaments that in some cases become new pieces bearing little resemblance to the original. As is usual with found-art projects, crafters will need to supply similar items from their own stashes in order to approximate the finished products. A good selection for public libraries wanting more material on mosaics.

Artists crafting with metal clay continue to expand the possibilities of this relatively new medium. In these books of step-by-step projects, Haab (The Art of Metal Clay: Techniques for Creating Jewelry and Decorative Objects) and Wire (Creative Metal Clay Jewelry: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration) explore the use of glass and other materials added to metal clay jewelry pieces either before or after firing, depending on the materials' resistance to heat. These colorful additions make otherwise plain metal clay pieces most interesting. Both books are recommended for public libraries.

Host of an eponymous popular HGTV crafts show, Duvall has selected for her first book several dozen easily constructed paper projects. Instructions are well illustrated with color photos, and designs are simple but clever. Greeting cards and little boxes predominate, but oddments like decorated stones and a clock in a bag are intriguing. Certain to be popular with Duvall's viewers; recommended for all public libraries.

This scholarly work lays out reasons for the historical dichotomy in Western philosophy between fine art and craft. Risatti (art history, emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth Univ.; Postmodern Perspectives: Issues in Contemporary Art) argues that aesthetic standards for craft separate from those of the traditional fine arts are necessary for craft to receive the status it deserves in the art community. He points out that non-Western traditional societies don't make such distinctions and that their artwork is a functioning part of daily life. Since fine craftworks in the marketplace now approach the prices paid for fine art, this is a problem that may be solving itself. Suitable for academic art libraries.

Like Sudo's previous books, e.g., Kokoro no Te: Handmade Treasures from the Heart, this work is filled with delicate fabric treasures with an Asian flavor. The unifying theme of these projects for small accessories is Wagashi, a type of Japanese sweet, although none of them involves real candy. This visually appealing book will be welcomed by fans of Sudo's distinctive style; recommended for public libraries.

The crafting of temari—colorful balls wrapped in thread and embroidered with geometric designs—is relatively new to North America. Temari gives embroiderers rare experience working with three-dimensional forms. A teacher with her own temari business, Suess offers step-by-step instructions for basic techniques and 20 projects with American themes. The designs, however, look the same as those on traditional Japanese temari. Recommended for public library crafts collections.

Summit and Widess (coauthors, The Complete Book of Gourd Crafting) continue their creative treatment of gourds with this book of projects for human and animal figures loosely adapted from traditional dolls and fetishes in other media. Naturally formed gourds are used for a set of Russian-style matryoshka (nesting dolls), while other gourds are shaped during growth to form grotesque faces and corkscrews. Photos of finished objects by many artists are used as chapter illustrations. This book does not duplicate material in the authors' previous books; recommended for public libraries.

Memorabilia quilts have a long tradition, but recently, they have become an extension of the scrapbooking hobby. Weiss and Causee, who have coauthored many books on needlework (e.g., Log Cabin Quilts), explain the techniques of making quilts out of such things as T-shirts, county fair ribbons, and photocopies of snapshots and postcards. Although instructions are given for piecing and layout, these projects assume some experience in quilt making. For quilters and scrapbookers in public libraries.