5 comments about Garden Mosaics.

1. I really like this book. It is easy to follow and the steps are illustrated which makes it easier to learn how to do the projects. I like the fact that some of the projects are 3-D and that I was able to get ideas on how to execute them. They go from very easy to more difficult so there is something for almost everyone.



2. This book has many creative projects, it clearly explains several techniques, including good details, list of materials needed and very useful information. There are several different techniques and original projects. Excellent information that will be very useful for making your own outdoor projects. Highly recommended.



3. The book is excellent, with many helpful projects. The author takes you through each project to completion. Also includes a thorough description of materials needed.



4. This book is great! Both funky and eclectic, the many projects enclosed in its pages are worthy of exhibition in anyone's garden. I highly recommend this book to anyone just starting out in mosaics or to the seasoned mosaic artist.



5. if you are like me, you might own several mosaic books. This one is one of my favorites! Here's why:
   
   Clear,concise directions with good pictures-most projects could be done by a beginner but there are also MANY projects to make a more advanced artist happy.
   
   Great variation of mosaics-this author covers some mosaics styles I've never seen in other books. Like making your own wire mesh base for cool animal mosaic sculptures-with enough how to pictures that even I can contemplate making one:), making several different shaped stepping stones-from scratch-these are GREAT-there are footprints and fish to die for. And unusual mosaic creations like windchimes and garden "cones".
   
   This book helps you to think outside the box and many of these projects would look wonderful outside or inside as well. Well worth the $13 bucks that Amazon sells it for-highly recommended!
   5 stars!

1 comments about vE-jA: Art + Technology of Live Audio-Video (Book, DVD & Downloads).

1. Extremely well researched and nicely designed. The book gives an overview of the VJ scene, equipment, VJs, and culture. A must for both the experienced and aspiring newbie.

1 comments about Fratelli Toso Italian Glass 1854-1980.

1. I spent a month reading books about Murano art glass from libraries in my area, and after looking at at least 6 different books, this was my favorite. The pictures are beautiful, and divided by vases/paperweights/ bowls etc. The murrine examples are terrific! The writing is well done and there are lots of examples in color. I highly recommend this book. It was a worthwhile purchase.

1 comments about The Story of Imari: The Symbols and Mysteries of Antique Japanese Porcelain.

1. Professor Goro Shimura, one of the greatest mathematicians of our day, has written a wonderful book about something well outside of mathematics: an aspect of Japanese culture that should be of great interest for anyone interested in Japanese civilization. I congratulate him for writing so eloquently outside the field of mathematics and for showing his sincere passion for an art form that is unique to historic Japan and its tradition. This book will enlighten and delight any reader with interest in Japan, in fine porcelain, and in ancient traditions.

1 comments about Pietre Dure: The Art of Semiprecious Stonework (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum).

1. This book has a very large number of beautiful photographs and well worth every cent. This book is a true treasure.

3 comments about Spanking Tails Vol 2 - A Gallery Girls Book.

1. This book was a major disappointment. I almost returned it but got too busy to take care of it. For the Gallery collection I was very disappointed.



2. ... but I still enjoyed many of the very erotic illustrations in this edition! The quality varies greatly from artist to artist, with some artists clearly showing a much higher degree of erotic creativity than others. My own favorites were those involving women with other women, which were fortunately the majority of illustrations depicted. There are 22 drawings involving spankings, with another 11 showing girls getting whipped. I prefer the spanking illustrations, as they seem less harsh and much more sensual. The overall erotica quotient throughout is generally high, with the best work in this edition being those drawings by Palaez, Joe Pekar, Anibal Maraschi, and Danilo Guida! Dave Nestler's cover is also quite nice! Other notable individual drawings I especially liked include those by Diego Florio, Brian LeBlanc, Diego Cirulli, Pablo Kousovitis, and Perla Pilucki. Overall this one is well worth it, and I look forward to the release of volume three.



3. Spanking Tails Volume One was one of my favorite releases from SQP in 2005 so I was ecstatic to see that they have now releases a second volume of playful, spanking fun with scores of beautiful women drawn by some of the best artists in pin-up illustration today. I mean just look at that fantastic cover by Dave Nestler doing his best Norman Rockwell, Saturday Evening Post take-off. I love the Bassett Hound sitting there with the brush in his mouth, oblivious to the two gorgeous women.
   
   For the bondage fans there are lots of great pieces in the book including the one by Danilo Guide of a rather rotund girl holding a riding crop is about to deliver a whacking on a cute blonde to the amusement of several male spectators.
   
   I love the subtlety, or perhaps no so much, in Pablo Kousovitis illustration of a gorgeous girl getting spanked by a beaver using his tail. Great innuendo there! Anibal Maraschi moves the action to the classroom as the buxom teacher has her hot student pressed up against the blackboard, administering her a good spanking. Note the handprints on her backside.
   
   Joe Pekar's piece of a Catholic school girl bent over the lap of a lovely nun holding a paddle is one of my favorites! Pekar returns later with a golfer using a blond's rear end to plant her golf tee! (Pekar also does the full-color back cover) Another favorite is from the great Pelaez who always illustrates the most beautiful women as two hotties in lingerie go about their bedroom games. Diego Florio takes things to the dark side as a fresh, out-of-the-ground zombie smacks a lovely lady who has wandered over his grave.
   
   Other artists including in this volume are Arantza, Brian LeBlanc, German Ponce, Julio Cesar, Marcelo Sosa, and Pedro Cuevas. Spanking Tails 2 is a fantastic follow-up to the first volume!
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson

4 comments about The Glaze Book.

1. This book contains no valuble recipies. All of the earthenware stuff is lead based and most of the other recipies use stains and other pre-made colors, one "recipie" specifies to use 100% of a commercial red glaze, with no modifications at all. This book is such a waste.



2. I bought this book because I confused it with another title and I was so disappointed with it I felt I have to warn others. Since I work with stoneware in the temperature-region of 1240-1260 °C I wanted a book with lots of stoneware recepies - but almost all stoneware glaze recepies in this book are adjusted to 1290-1300 °C !!! I don't know a single potterer that fires stoneware at those temperatures and have never heard of one either. I feel bewildered and cheated. And the book brags about having over 700 recepies but many of the recepies are the same with only a slight slight change in the amount of colouring oxides! There are also recepies in the book that are exactly the same.
   I don't know how such a bad book could ever have been published to be frank.



3. Although the book is nicely presented with durable material/cover/binding, it was a major dissapointment. I would have returned it back to Amazon, but unfortunately I have opened the shrink wrap packaging! Almost all the earthenware formulas have Lead Bisilicate in them!!! The remaining few are made up of colourants/stains and ready made mixtures! The stoneware and porcelain parts look good, but hey.. most of the hobbyists and amateurs like me fire at low temperatures! I don't recommend it at all.



4. While doing research for some new earthenware glazes I came upon this book which has a large section dedicated to that subject (as well as raku, majolica, stoneware and porcelain).

   The test tile examples are beutiful and it is laid out in a different fashion than normal; by color not colorant. I found that to be helpful.

   Then I started reading the glaze recipes.... a MAJOR percentage of the earthenware recipes use lead bisilicate. I was sceptical, but since some of the glazes were marked for "Domestic" use I decided to try them out.

   That ended up being a colosal waste of time, energy and money. All eight glazes that I tested for "Domestic" use leached lead in testing at home. I don't know how one would begin to use or sell glazes that leach lead. From a practical view I don't think I would ever be able to tell a customer that it's a lead glaze, but not to worry '""cause this book I got the recipe from said it was okay to eat off of."

   I'm quite disappointed. For people who do low-fire ceramics (which would be about every grade school , junior high, hobby-ist...I know of) this is most definately NOT the book for you. The author needs to be a little more up front about what's in the recipes and exactly what kind of lead leach test those recipes passed to be considered for "Domestic" use.

   Someone out there needs to write a very comprehensive book in the same style for just low-fire ceramics that may include these glazes (along with alkaline glazes etc....), but be more realistic about usages.

No comments about Motawi Tileworks: Contemporary Handcrafted Tiles in the Arts & Crafts Tradition.

No comments about Best of Black and White: Erotic Photography.

2 comments about Potter's Studio Handbook: A Start-to-Finish Guide to Hand-Built and Wheel-Thrown Ceramics (Backyard Series).

1. I am an intermediate potter looking for new ideas, techiniques, and sources of inspiration. I expected this book to include more projects. The first 130 pages included light coverage of basic information that is available in dozens of other books. There are only fifty pages devoted to specific projects and they were uninspiring and frustrating. I was initially excited by the opening picture of a vase with clay applique. However, there were no instructions for that project... The instructions for the chip and dip dish was one page conisisting of mostly photographs and very little instruction. It gave you no indication as to how to properly join the dip bowl to the larger bowl. Do you score and slip the bottom? Also, how do you trim the bottom of the larger bowl once you have already attached the small bowl? A more experienced potter may already have these solutions. They should have been included in the instructions for this piece.
   As an intermediate potter, I found this book frustrating. For the beginning potter, there are better books out there....



2. This book it is very helpfull for a beginer and also I think for people that practice pottery more than a hobby. It has very good pictures and the experience of the author seems to give a complex image for the entire big lesson for pottery.