5 comments about How to Make Clay Characters.

1. My daughter loves polymer clay and my wife saw this book so she told my daughter about it. My daughter got so excited she couldn't wait to order it. When we got the book, it was in excellent shape. Maureen Carlson is a awesome sculptor and my daughter said she does not know how Maureen created those realistic faces even though there are steps for it!



2. Maureen is such an amazing artist. If you are wanting to make figures in clay, then her books are a great place to start. I have several of her books now, and I love them all. Each one teaches you something more. Also this book came in great condition for a used book. Really good seller.



3. How to make clay characters by Maureen Carlson is not available to buy in Australia. I had it on loan from my local library but only for limited periods and it was never long enough. I am happy to say that although it may have been printed initially a long time ago I am delighted to have obtained it as it has such excellent instructions and lots of handy hints for the polymer clay first timer onwards.To anyone reading this revue who wants another hobby to try (even in Australia) buy this book and you will be hooked.
   
   The mere fact that it is still in print is a sign of how good it is for any age. Easy to follow and great fun all you need is polymer clay your imagination and this book.



4. I have four of Maureen Carlson's books. They are all fantastic.
   This one is my favorite. Very clear instruction. Gets you started and wanting to sculpt all the time. I love it!



5. Indeed a marvellous book you should have as one of your clay-book collections. Maureen has good eyes and different angles when seeing new things, and new thoughts to convert them into brilliant figurines. I love her ideas of how making the snakes and the dragons, and her tricks to get new color mixtures are awesome.
   
   I almost bought her books entirely, and have no regrets so far. Thanks to Amazon for superb service, even though I must bear waiting for a month and so for my orders.
   
   My advice, you always can give your book collections to your kids when you no longer need them.

4 comments about Erwin Hauer: Continua-Architectural Screen and Walls.

1. If you want a book that can be used as a tool for deriving patterns and architectural forms, this is a great book to add to the library. Very innovative works.



2. this book is done very nicely and provides me with aesthetic and informative material !!



3. Excellent b+w illustrations and clear layout. Very informative and inspiring works.



4. The Greeks used the word LOGOS to refer to reasonable speech, articulated reasoning expressed in words. Our modern word LOGIC derives from this root. Erwin Hauer has, over the many years of his career as a working artist, elaborated a visible LOGOS, a logos not of words but of forms. These forms were initially realized to serve a commercial, architectural purpose -- they were built as walls or screens -- but the logic they embody will delight, or thrill, any observer who pays close attention to the display they present. One comes to suspect that this logic, and not just the commercial commision that occasioned them, is the driving force behind Hauer's investigation.

   The book is designed and produced with an eye towards clarity and precision, making it totally in sympathy with the vision it presents. Anyone who enjoys seeing an idea recognized, seized, and elaborated with intense concentration will enjoy this book.

5 comments about The Colouring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals.

1. Get this book. Not only does it contain all the recepies you could ask for, it is actually possible to ask the more artistically oriented suppliers of chemicals for a liter of, say, nr. 314 and they'll mix it for you.



2. The only thing I can say against this book is it should have more chemical explanations about the corrosion products formed as patinas, everything else is good.



3. I could read for hours and hours about the different colors that are discussed is this book. I would consider this book an excellent source for information on just about any color patina you are looking for on silver, bronze, brass or copper. There are several beautiful color plates, but not nearly as many as there are colors that are given. I am also very interested in specifics and would have like to have seen some color photos of the processes in action, but, I am now just making my own. Anyway, it is a great book and I am glad to have it in my collection.



4. Very nicely done, but I concur with those who believe additional photos are a must. A CD-ROM with high resolution images to go with each of the authors' experiments would be a useful upgrade to an otherwise astonishing book.
   
   I do feel that this book flags the hazardous materials very well, in fact, included are recipes which are subsequently not recommended by the authors based on the total risk or risk/reward ratio. The authors do assume some basic intelligence on the part of the reader.
   
   There are in addition examples of some very effective patinations, as evidenced in the color plates, which are achieved with relatively benign chemicals and methods; these should appeal to those who are not willing or prepared to work with more hazardous materials. Know your limits.
   
   The techniques employed are described clearly. To cap it off, recipes which give consistently good results are highlighted by an asterisk, a very thoughtful feature to help navigate through the abundance of esoteric and useful formulae.
   
   Bravo!



5. More than pleased with this purchase. These guys put serious time and energy into relaying info about patination. They leave no questions unanswered, as well as, they give tons of formulas to create with. The amazon price is the best out there!

1 comments about Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

1. I've just returned from seeing the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and now I can't wait to have the book. I saw the book while I was in the Met's Book Shop and it is absolutely great with so many pictures of the items on exhibit. If you can't get to the exhibit which is on thru Sept. 21st, this book is the next best thing!

5 comments about The Beginner's Handbook of Woodcarving: With Project Patterns for Line Carving, Relief Carving, Carving in the Round, and Bird Carving.

1. If you need an overview of woodcarving and were not very picky about the need for step by step assistance, this book would work for you. It does go over the basic cuts and offers text on a variety of topics in wood carving, i.e. types of woodcarving, tools, materials, painting, etc. It provides a number of patterns, many of them fairly cheesy and probably would not appeal to most starting out. There is a nice selection of bird patterns, but not much pictoral instructions on how to carve them. You would probably be better off with a different beginner's book with more appealing projects and then find books on specific woodcarving interests from there.



2. Like many beginning woodcarving books this book describes the basic cuts you need to practice and it gives some information on wood types. Beyond that, the only reason to purchase this book is if you need the patterns in them.
   
   Being new to wood carving I like the price of the book and I thought I would give it a try. Once I saw the patterns though, I changed my mind and bought another book. This is just a matter of taste but the cutesy mouse and the fisherman weren't what I wanted to carve and I feel that you really need to find carvings that interest you (especially while you are learning) to prevent boredom. Once again, if the patterns on the cover look interesting to you, then by all means get this book (if you are a complete beginner).



3. After reviewing the book, I returned it. I would guess that there is an audience out there that want to carve cutsey figurines but, ugh! Who would want them around the house? I have several carving books from which I have gleaned useful information but, frankly, this is subject matter deserving of a video demonstration. Until you see how a carver twists, turns, and taps the chisel to accommodate the grain of the wood, I just don't think you are going to get it. Not at least without chewing up a lot of valuable wood as the masters do doubt have.
   
   That said I have to take responsibility for my bad judgement in selecting this book as the author/publisher provided ample glimpses to the interior pages. So, my bad.



4. A terrific beginner book with lots of variety in types of carving. I've added it to my collection of references.



5. I am a carver -- mantle pieces and such -- and bought the book for a young man who wanted to try his hand at carving. It covers all the basics and even has some great patterns.

5 comments about 500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form (A Lark Ceramics Book).

1. I love this series from Lark! It provides me with lots of inspiration and it is a wonderful tool to learn new artists and their work. I have almost the whole series!



2. I've been wanting to get into ceramics for a while and this book was just the thing to get my creative juices flowing. It has many (500 actually) beautiful pieces to admire, with such a wide selection of styles. I love that it has a both beautiful and grotesque figures revealing so many artistic view points. It's definitely not a "how to" book, with just enough info to get a basic idea of how each piece was created but the beautiful photographs and wide variety of sculptures makes it well worth purchasing.



3. without being able to review the illustrations in the book, I was unable to make good use of the models for my beginning sculpting projects. The cover picture seemed somewhat simple, but the many complex figures contained in the book were too difficult to be models for my limited ability.



4. I am thrilled to own this book. I review it regularly for inspiration and ideas for glazes and forms.



5. My low score for this book is primarily, but not exclusively, a low score for the judging. I find it difficult to believe that almost no work in the classical tradition was submitted. The work in these pages contained almost no work of a traditional figurative nature. Both in galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as at art shows/faires, there is plenty of traditional figurative work being done now in clay and bronze. I can only conclude that the judges hold a strong bias for non-traditional work.
   
   There is also an alarming gap between what I will term "high end art" and mediocre. It's pretty obvious who the former are (e.g., Violet Frey, Beth Cavener Stichter); there are all too many in the latter category.
   
   It may be that your "call" for art went out to a limited audience (to university art departments and art schools, perhaps?) and failed to capture the attention of more professional artists.

3 comments about Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination.

1. I ordered this book for my husband's birthday and he was estatic. By far it is the best book we own. The many visuals are breathtaking. The text takes you into a wonderful journey. Highly recommended



2. Better late than never, & well worth the wait. Beautiful reproductions, some of which I'd never seen before, illustrate all facets of Cornell's brilliant, quirky career. This was supposed to have been the catalog for the retrospective that began it's rounds last year (I believe) but did not appear until long after it had left the Smithsonian. There are other books out there, but this one is the best I've seen thus far. If you are a fan, an assemblage or collage artist, this is the new bible chronicling the life of the artist with whom those techniques have become synonymous.



3. This catalogs and comments on the wonderful display of Cornell's work, on tour at the time of this writing. I had known Cornell's work only by reputation (and a certain amount of urba myth) before seeing that display. It stunned me; I've never had such a strong response to any other collection, ever. Although Cornell worked in several formats, his "shadow boxes" earned his reputation. Each one is a world in itself, filled with mystery and meaning.
   
   This dense book presents photos of the works in that tour, along with extensive commentary and biographical notes. The collection's boxes appear, of course, along with Cornell's work in two other categories: collage, and works that I'll call "albums." I admit that collage, even when exceptionally well done, generally doesn't move me. Collage elements enhance his boxes but do not, to my taste, stand well on their own. I found the albums tantalizing, though. Each one collected "natural" images from the popular media, collage, and Cornell's surrealist writings, all loose, in some kind of storage case. They were meant to create a unique experience for each viewer, changing in sequence, organization, and juxtaposition each time the pages' order changed. Displays under glass preserved the artworks, but blocked the museum-goer from experiencing the albums as they were meant to be experienced. I envy the preparators and curators who got the direct experience of this art in preparing the display.
   
   Unfortunately, this book's photographic representation of the albums also blocks the experience that Cornell intended - but I'd rather have the fixed depiction than none at all. The fixed and 2D representation of the dynamic and 3D boxes gives the same sense: a pale shadow of the boxes' magical presence. This book does as well as can be hoped, but no book can replicate the subtle optics and shifting perspectives of the original objects.
   
   I've only sampled this book's profuse text. If you can't see the originals, the commentary helps bring them to life. Notes on Cornell's career, times, and friendships also cast informative light on the works and how they arose. The gorgeous photos are so distracting, though, that I keep wandering away from the text. If you've seen the show, this will remind you of what you saw (there was so much), and deepen your appreciation of it. If you haven't, it will make you wish you did.
   
   -- wiredweird

1 comments about Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide.

1. This book is an English translation of Filippo Coarelli's three volumes on Roman archaeolgy published between 1985 and 2003. It is a valuable guidebook to the historian or to the experienced traveller, especially one who takes the time to examine in detail both ancient Rome and the City of early Christianity. The text is clearly written and the book contains numerous and excellent maps, drawings, in its recreation of the City's buildings, churches, and other structures that are so often featured in histories. This is not a general tourist guidebook but a scholarly archaeological survey of Rome and is probably best utilized in conjunction with a sound guidebook such as The Eyewitness Guide to Rome. The text is divided into useful sections grouped around the major historical sections of the City, beginning with the original city walls, and then (among others) the Capitoline, the Forum, the Palatine, the Colosseum, and other areas including the Aventine, Trastevere, and the Vatican, to the areas outside the City, including the catacombs and aqueducts. The book is an excellent resource for the Church historian interested in the great basilicas and other religous structures of the City. Coarelli's book will serve as a wonderful and excellent resource for years to come.

5 comments about Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art.

1. Book is in excellent shape, is full of awesome information, arrived very quickly and overall, I'm psyched. THanks.



2. This is a must have book for origami designer as well as folder.
   Robert J. Lang is obviously a great author.
   
   The delivery of Amazon is faster than I experted.
   The book was in good condition when I received it.



3. This book is amazing, if a little daunting. It will take some time but I hope to be creating my own patterns some day. Happy folding!



4. This book is a MUST HAVE for the origami enthusiast - it begins with excellent coverage of the basics and each chapter builds on the last. When you finish this book, you'll be able to fold anything, except maybe time and space ;-)



5. Dr. Lang delves into the hows and whys of origami design exploring origami the way Alton Brown explores food and cooking.
   
   The instructions for creating beautifully made koi decorating the cover are not included in their entirety, notably excluding the sequence for creating the scales. Instead, Lang describes the principles and techniques for creating textures on paper, leaving the creation of the fish as an exercise for the reader.
   
   If you're looking for a recipe book for cool origami designs, then this is not the book for you. Rather, this book is for anyone curious about just how the heck someone makes a cuckoo clock out of one uncut sheet of paper.

5 comments about Origami Flowers: Popular Blossoms and Creative Bouquets.

1. Origami flowers is a FANTASTIC book, but it is not for the novice, or for one that does not want to spend some quality time constructing the flowers. The flowers do in fact look like the real ones, but they are complicated. One flower took me several hours to complete. I would say this is a book for the advanced-intermediate to advanced origami artist.
   
   Beautiful flowers though!



2. The featured flowers are beautiful, but be forwarned: the process involves much more beyond folding. Scissors, glue... that's a given in almost all the patterns. For some, that's not pure origami, more paper craft. In addition, there are a few missing steps in some of the instructions. In fact, for 2 of the flowers, there seems to be chunks of instructions missing. Other than that, the usual project takes about 30-40 minutes for an intermediate paper crafter.



3. It is refreshing to look at the reviews and find that others have had the same frustrations with this book as I have. Yes, I agree the color photographs are absolutely beautiful and inspiring. They sure suck you in and are a powerful tool to entice you into buying the book. The artist is wonderfully creative with her use of the pentagon, hexigon and out-of-the-mainstreem starting shapes which makes this book so unique.
   
   It is definitely NOT for the beginner. The first flower I tried was the pansy. I have been a paper sculptress for years. I love origami, tea bag folding and just about anything having to do with paper. I had to seek the help of my Mensa member father in order to get this one right! I was ready to hold a book burning party and roast marshmallows over this one!
   
   If you do not use a thin enough paper you will have problems with some of the folding. Some areas get folded so many times that the piece becomes almost too thick to fold and I was using plain old printer paper.
   
   If you love a challenge, go for it! I certainly do not regret buying this book and I still pick it up from time to time just to see if my mind is more open to the techniques it presents. Hats off to those who found the instructions "easy to follow." I certainly was not one of them. If you need a reason to slit your wrists I highly recommend this book (hehehehehe - just kidding). Good luck!



4. Well, I shouldve done more research on this book, but I don't like it because it requires too many other things to be used other than oragami paper. And sometimes the images of the pictures didnt seem very accurate, so i got confused a lot.



5. I did not have much experience with paper folding, so the designs in this book are quite a challenge. Most diagrams are easy to figure out but there are several which had steps missing from them, but in general they are easy to understand, though by no means easy to fold, since this book seems like its targeted at the more experienced people intersted in origami. Of the designs that I managed to make, they did come out exactly as they looked in the book, and the unique concept of using not square pieces of paper but pentagons, hexagons and octagons, is really an eye opener.