Discover the gorgeous jewelry that can only be created with kumihimo wirework!

Whether new to kumihimo or looking to take your skill to the next level, Kumihimo Wirework Made Easy is the companion you need. Author Christina Larsen will show you how easy it can be to transition from traditional kumihimo materials to wirework with her expert guidance, comprehensive instruction, and inspiring designs. In this must-have resource, you'll find:

- A complete guide to understanding wireworking tools and materials specific to kumihimo wirework.

- Full step-by-step tutorials for 3 basic kumihimo braid structures perfect for wirework jewelry designs.

- Project instructions for 20 inspiring kumihimo wirework designs including earrings, bracelets, and pendants.

Kumihimo Wirework Made Easy has everything you need to bring the ancient art of traditional Japanese braiding to your modern jewelry designs.

The elegant style and delicate appearance of shaped silver wire enhances the natural beauty of beads. Now you can create gorgeous jewelry with basic wire techniques. Bead Fancy offers sparkling accessories that will inspire you to make a beautiful wearable art that will be admired by everyone.

Knitting with beads is a technique that has been used since the early nineteenth century, but has become increasingly popular in recent years. Now, with new methods offering exciting ways to experiment with materials and equipment, there is no better time to improve your skills. Knitting with Beads is a contemporary guide to a traditional technique covering a variety of different techniques, with beads threaded onto the yarn, as well as beads applied as you go along. these methods are developed further in a chapter on experimenting with year, beads and different stitch patterns, which offers readers the opportunity to develop their own ideas for using beads in their knitting. The projects section at the end of the book includes a wide range of items that allows readers to put these techniques into practice.

Comprehensive compilation of elegant, imaginative two-letter monograms-ideal for enhancing scrolls, certificates, awards and other graphic projects in need of calligraphic excitement. Easily reproduced, copyright-free letters are also perfect for use in art, needlework, crafts and other decorative projects.

For many years, Maud Lewis was one of Nova Scotia's best-loved folk painters. In the 1990s she was embraced by the rest of the country when the landmark exhibition of her work "The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis" travelled across Canada. By the time the tour was over, half a million people had become acquainted with her delightful work.

Between 1938, when she married Everett Lewis, until her death in 1970, Maud Lewis lived in a tiny one-room house near Digby, Nova Scotia. Over the years, she painted the doors inside and out, the windowpanes, the walls and cupboards, the wallpaper, the little staircase to the sleeping loft, the woodstove, the breadbox, the dustpan, almost everything her hand touched. Her house was a joy to behold, and it became a magnet for tourists as well as a focal point in her village. In 1979, after Everett Lewis died, the Maud Lewis Painted House Society worked diligently to raise funds to acquire, preserve, and display the house as part of the cultural heritage of the area as well as a memorial to their beloved artist.

In 1984, the house and its contents were purchased by the Province of Nova Scotia for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In "The Painted House of Maud Lewis," Laurie Hamilton, the conservator at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, shows how all the different parts of the house -- the building itself, the painted household items, even the wallpaper -- were catalogued, conserved, and prepared for exhibition. The preliminary stages of conservation treatment began in 1996 in a most unusual location: the Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, just outside Halifax., where conservators worked in full view of the public. The conservators used established techniques and invented new ones to complete their unique project and documented every stage of the restoration photographically.

The book also features more than sixty-five colour photos including several taken by noted photographer Bob Brooks in 1965 for the "Star Weekly." Today, anyone can visit the tiny house that has become a folk art phenomenon. The restoration story spans two decades, but the story of the Painted House continues as each new visitor to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia finds delight and inspiration in Maud Lewis's joyous vision.

Creativity is an integral part of human history, yet most studies focus on the modern era, leaving unresolved questions about the formative role that creativity has played in the past. This book explores the fundamental nature of creativity in the European Bronze Age. Considering developments in crafts that we take for granted today, such as pottery, textiles, and metalwork, the volume compares and contrasts various aspects of their development, from the construction of the materials themselves, through the production processes, to the design and effects deployed in finished objects. It explores how creativity is closely related to changes in material culture, how it directs responses to the new and unfamiliar, and how it has resulted in changes to familiar things and practices. Written by an international team of scholars, the case studies in this volume consider wider issues and provide detailed insights into creative solutions found in specific objects.

Framing a favorite picture, whether a gallery piece of a child's drawing, can be easy and inexpensive thanks to this revised and updated edition of a classic bestseller. This new and updated edition contains everything anyone might need to know about the craft of picture framing along with new sections on using power tools and framing fabric art. It also includes a complete directory of suppliers. 450 b&w photos. 20 drawings.

From an award-winning calligrapher and well-known arts educator and author: a generously illustrated text offering full coverage of the art of calligraphy from the left-handed writer's point of view, presenting every facet of the subject, from correct hand, pen and nib positions to composition and page layout.

Rattan stalks have been bent into furniture forms in the tropics for nearly a century. Design changes have provided variations from fancy items with bamboo before 1920, to streamlined, Deco-inspired forms of the 1940s, and practical, mass-produced styles in the 1960s and beyond. Today, each rattan style is recognized for its distinctive contribution to casual living spaces, indoors and out. In this book, over 400 color photographs of rattan furniture, period upholstery fabrics, and related art works are described in detail to present an inspiring variety of furnishings for every room in the house. Harvey Schwartz identifies the best pieces and explains what to look for in the market place. Beautiful floral bark cloth cushion covers and tropical scenes in prints and paintings are shown combined with fantastic rattan furniture to provide the best look for casual living.

A beginner's step-by-step guide to creating beautiful silver jewellery. Silver Jewellery Making is a practical beginners' guide to making silver jewellery. Seven step-by-step projects guide you through the core skills and techniques that will enable you to progress to making your own beautiful jewellery. The tried-and-tested projects have been developed by Machi and Janet, who have over 40 years of industry experience teaching others this amazing craft. The emphasis is on teaching good practice and acquiring the basic techniques and skills to give the reader a solid basis for developing their jewellery-making capabilities. Tools are introduced for each individual project, and their uses and correct handling explained. Troubleshooting tips explain how to overcome common problems that may arise. At the end of each project, there are examples of how the skills gained can be used to make other items. The book is perfect for those who wish to start jewellery making either on their own or as a supplement to beginners' classes.

A new approach to the work of self-taught artist James Castle that focuses on how his drawings and practice resonate with earlier masters Drawing on the collections of the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation and the James Castle Collection and Archive, this volume features more than 90 of James Castle’s (1899–1977) landscapes and architectural-interior views, including works that have never been published before. Broadening the discussion of Castle’s work beyond the common emphasis on the role of the artist’s deafness and isolation in rural Idaho, Larry J. Feinberg places the self-taught artist in a larger artistic and cultural context and foregrounds Castle’s prowess as a draftsman. He shows how the artist’s evocative and unconventional images use techniques such as a “bending,” intuitive perspective and subtle shifts of focus. Comparing the descriptive and expressive effects that Castle achieves in his soot drawings with studies by Rembrandt and showing how Castle’s manipulation of space has much in common with Piranesi and M. C. Escher, this study expands our understanding of the artist’s evocative and unconventional images in new and exciting ways. Distributed for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Santa Barbara Museum of Art (June 25–September 17, 2023)