For some time in the distant past, hand-lettering used to be a highly-regarded skill to master and was ubiquitous via publications and public signages. Although society relies heavily on keyboards and screens for communication today, a growing number of creative practitioners have been busy reviving the seemingly-lost art in recent years, in a bid to return the sincerity and warmth of the human touch to our predominantly digital lives. Brimming with character, hand-lettering serves as the bridge between old-school calligraphy and modern typography to bring nuance back into an age of uniformity. Rereleased in conjunction with Victionary's 20th anniversary, the 2021 boxset edition of 'Handstyle Lettering' comes with a beginner-friendly calligraphy pen-and-nib set crafted by renowned British companies Manuscript and D. Leonardt & Co. which--coupled with new projects, interviews, and an expanded step-by-step guide--serves to help aspiring creatives kickstart their hand-lettering journey.

Here is the first book that focuses on unique custom-made fireplace accessories as works of art by talented modern artist blacksmiths. Over 400 ideas for unusual fireplace designs reflect historical styles from Renaissance to Post-Modern. You will be amazed at the infinite effects that can be wrought from a bar of metal between the hammers and anvils of more than 100 master artist blacksmiths from nine countries. You'll learn to appreciate the forms that are used, from scrolls to carved animals, and to recognize their texturing, unusual handles and hinges, supports, and more. Fire screens, hoods, doors, andirons, grates, tongs, pokers, shovels, brooms, and their stands emerge as significant decorative items in today's homes. This is also a wonderful sourcebook for homeowners and designers seeking original art for their homes. You will marvel at the artistry, variety, and craftsmanship.

What should one know to choose an engagement ring? The answers are all here, with facts and practical advice that is easy to understand. Learn how to determine what you should pay, where diamonds come from, and how to judge their cut, color, clarity and weight. Learn about popular colored stones, different metals, and the many classic, modern, and unique ring settings. If you can't find what you want in the stores, design your own. Presented here are over 160 color photographs of antique and modern engagement rings along with a selection of ring sets and wedding bands. The 4-step guide makes judging what you like easy and the selection process a pleasure. After you make your choice, learn how to protect and care for your ring. This is the perfect gift for your fiancee, before the ring! Get the book and thank yourself on every anniversary.

Calm Calligraphy will teach you the ancient art of the Scriptorium - copying letters, words and phrases - which helps you focus your thoughts and relax your mind. Learn the beautiful letter forms with step-by-step instructions, then refine your technique by copying inspirational words and phrases in the dedicated workbook section. By practising the meditative art of calligraphy you will gain a deeper appreciation of the beauty of order and balance. Ease your worries, improve your concentration and feel your spirits lift with each stroke of your pen. Malleus studied with the most recognized international masters of calligraphy and founded the Antica Bottega Amanuense in Recanati, now the greatest Scriptorium in the world.

Just as macrame homeware has been given a contemporary, stylish makeover in recent years, here, Isabella Strambio does the same with jewellery. Ideal for beginners, this book contains 20 contemporary jewellery and accessory projects, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets and headbands. Isabella is committed to working with sustainable materials, to ensure that these items can make you feel good, as well as look good. She gives advice on sizing and resizing the pieces to suit, and attaching jewellery findings, fastenings, beads and so on. As well as providing 20 wonderful designs, the book also covers the knots that are needed, making it ideal for beginners or people who are keen to give the craft a try and create some truly unique, truly sustainable jewellery pieces.

All woodworkers worth their sawdust know that joinery - good, bad, or indifferent - tells the unvarnished truth of how well a piece is made and how skilled the maker is. As a result, joinery is always a hot, and sometimes controversial, topic because even the masters will agree that there is no one right way to do it. Over the decades, no one has proven better at teaching readers how to make beautiful, enduring joinery than Fine Woodworking. This comprehensive and practical book demystifies the all-important subject of choosing, designing, and cutting woodworking joints. It's packed with insightful information and tricks of the trade that will advance the work of novices and seasoned craftsmen alike. Because whatever your skill level, there's always room for improvement when it comes to joinery.

This dazzling text takes the reader on a journey through time, rolling back the years, revealing the elegant, streamlined, moderne art deco chrome wares received as gifts in decades past. Contained between these covers are no fewer than 600 photographs and illustrations displaying more than 700 examples of fine art deco wares with sparkling metal finishes, including table decorations, drinking service pieces, buffet service items, smoking articles, and lamps. These items were the products of large, well known firms such as Chase, Manning-Bowman, Kensington, and Revere. Histories of the firms and the industrial designers who created these objects, along with patent and design information on many of the illustrated wares, are provided as well. Also included in this thorough text are all of the details necessary to identify art deco design, differentiate between-and care for-a variety of metal finishes, and to determine value. Values are included in the captions for the items shown. A bibliography and an appendix listing the Chase giftware items designed by Harry Laylon round out the presentation.

Learn how to combine delicate watercolor illustrations with expressive hand lettering to create beautiful art and gifts. Self-taught artist Tanja Poeltl shares the tips, tricks and know-how she's learned on her creative journey so that you can fast-track your skills. Discover the materials you'll need in terms of watercolor paints, brushes, paper and pens, then get started with Tanja's exercises to learn the basic techniques of hand lettering and watercolor painting. In the Hand Lettering Know-How section you will start with some warm up exercises and practice letters, before learning faux calligraphy, bounce lettering, joining letters and more. In the Watercolor Know-How section you will learn how to handle the brush, and gain color knowledge as well as an understanding of tonal values, transparency and opacity, and learn how to create your own unique color palette. 20 amazing step-by-step painting and lettering projects then help you put your skills in action with ideas for a myriad of different applications. Create a moodboard, inspirational cards, seasonal gift boxes, a botanical table runner, a plant journal, floral greetings cards, fruity jar labels, posters, hoop art, party stationery, a birth poster, milestone cards, a height chart, recipe cards, an illustrated ABC, box frames, 3D flowers, and more - all beautifully illustrated in a modern yet timeless style. These inspiring projects are so varied and interesting, and will undoubtedly spark ideas for all sorts of other ways you can use watercolor and hand lettering together to create beautiful yet easy art. Even if you are a total beginner, this book will kickstart your creative journey with watercolor and hand lettering, showing you the techniques and giving you fun projects to try them out on. This accessible guide to easy watercolour and hand lettering techniques will teach you everything you need to make art that makes you happy! Self-taught and full of enthusiasm for experimentation artist Tanja Poeltl is your teacher and guide. She's taught thousands of beginners to find their creative voice through her workshops and classes, and can't wait to help you on your journey into the wonderful world of watercolor and hand lettering.

Jewelry is art that can be worn, and crafters who make jewelry like to personalize pieces to wear themselves or give as gifts. But many crafters are scared away by intimidating techniques or new materials, or they just don't have the time to devote to intricate designs. With The Big Book of Jewelry Making, crafters will learn that making your own jewelry doesn't need to involved complicated techniques, expensive tools, or a lot of time. The 75 fun and simple projects curated here all can be completed in just a few steps, and each features clear instructions and step-by-step photographs and illustrations to ensure you achieve perfect results no matter what your experience in jewelry making. Every crafter will find something to inspire thanks to the dazzling collection of earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, and more that are fashioned using beading, wirework, or polymer clay. Once you are confident in your skills, you can easily customize or adapt any of these projects into countless variations to showcase your own unique style.

The carved embellishments found on eighteenth-century American furniture pieces are what make them memorable works of art. This book directs the serious student through nine authentic elements from the colonial period. Each chapter is devoted to one element and provides pattern drawings, detailed instructions, and abundant photographs of every step. Learn how to execute the entire process from sculpting the surface to layout, roughing in the shapes and levels, and finally carving the details. The selected projects are chosen from historically important eighteenth-century furniture and adorned some of the best pieces ever made. Although the book tackles advanced topics, the instruction is logical and complete so that the serious reader, independent of skill, can successfully work through the steps.

The art of handcrafted metal clay jewellery is a fun and accessible way to create a range of stunning pieces from the comfort of your home. In this comprehensive guide, there are 30 main projects, each with extra projects to complete a set or to complement the main design, plus there is a wealth of advice on tools, materials and techniques, making it the perfect book for beginners. Step-by-step instructions, clear step photography and handy tips throughout will ensure confidence grows until you're happy to make alterations to suit, or to design your own masterpiece from scratch!

"...it's the colorful photographs (over 500!) of one-of-a-kind Hopi and Moroccan-inspired mosaic pieces featured in her memoir, out in October, that truly command attention, from ammonite fossils and ivory animal renderings to stunning lapis, coral, and turquoise designs." - Natural Diamonds North African-born Eveli Sabatie had a long-time fascination with Native American culture and history. As a young woman, she left her home in Paris in 1968 to move to San Francisco, hoping to learn more. A chance encounter with a Hopi traditionalist led to an invitation to Arizona, where she apprenticed with a master Native American jewellery-maker. For her, this was the beginning of a new world. Art can never be fully divided from the artist's voice, nor the natural world. When Eveli encountered red jasper while roaming the Arizona mountains, she knew she had to incorporate her local geology into her work. Yet raw materials are just one of many ways in which the world around Eveli shapes her art. This book is a direct and personal exploration of Eveli's work, following her arc of growth, challenges and internal workings. Eveli's jewellery is entirely created by her, from gathering material to fabricating the body of the piece, doing the lapidary work and finally adding stone settings and finishings. She works in a rustic, ancient environment, often choosing to use rudimentary and home-made tools over commercial techniques. This book explores her creative process through five sections: THE JOURNEY, a biographical overview of her time at the Hopi reservation in Northern Arizona, where she apprenticed under Charles Loloma; CLOUDS AND RAIN, exploring the influence of the Hopi and the desert on her work; BEING HOME, which talks in greater detail about Eveli's relationship with the environment; BEING HUMAN, a philosophical study of humanity through jewellery; and BRANCHING OUT, which features Eveli's other artworks, which are sought after by collectors from around the world. This is a profound reflection on the earth, through the medium of jewellery.

In contrast to much current scholarship on women and material culture which focuses primarily on women as consumers, this essay collection provides case studies of women who produced material objects. The essays collected here make an original contribution to material culture studies by focusing on women's social practices in relation to material culture. The essays as a whole are concerned with women's complex and active engagement with material culture in the various stages of the material object's life cycle, from design and production to consumption, use, and redeployment. Also, theorized and described are the ways in which women engaged in meaning making, identity formation, and commemoration through their manipulation of materials and techniques, ranging from taxidermy and shell work to collecting autographs and making scrapbooks. This volume takes as its object of investigation the overlooked and often despised categories of women's decorative and craft activities as sites of important cultural and social work. This volume is interdisciplinary with essays by art historians, social historians, literary critics, rhetoricians, and museum curators. The scope of the volume is international with essays on eighteenth-century German silhouettes, Australian aboriginal ritual practices, Brittany mourning rites, and Soviet-era recipes that provide a comparative framework for the majority of essays which focus on British and North American women who lived and worked in the long nineteenth century. This volume will appeal to a broad range of students and scholars in women's history, art history, cultural studies, museum studies, anthropology, cultural and social history, literature, rhetoric, and material culture studies.

India, Jewels that Enchanted the World presents for the first time the remarkable history and unique legacy of 500 years of Indian jewellery, from the 17th century to the present. The essays, all written by leading international scholars, explore the rich, distinctive, and unique heritage of Indian jewellery; the striking boldness of South Indian ornaments; the delicate refinement of the Mughal period; the dazzling jewels of the post-Mughal maharajas; the cross-cultural influences between Europe and India in the 19th and early 20th centuries; and the creations of leading contemporary designers whose jewels display the enduring beauty of Indian design and craftsmanship. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin organised jointly with the Indo-Russian Jewellery Foundation, this lavishly illustrated catalogue brings together royal, ceremonial, and personal Indian jewels to showcase the entire range and variety of the jeweller's art in India.

A Beginner's Guide to Chinese Brush Painting teaches this ancient art form in an easy-to-understand way--no prior experience necessary! As one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world, Chinese brush painting has been used for thousands of years to create images that harness the imagination, and capture the inner spirit of a subject--be it an animal, landscape or tree. All you need for this simple, but beautiful, art form is black watercolor paint, white paper, a brush and some creativity! An introduction tells you about the history of brush painting, and also gives tips for holding your brush, achieving different shades and collecting your materials. After that, the book takes you step-by-step through more than 35 hands-on activities--including basic strokes, putting them together to create an object or scene, the importance of leaving open space and even writing some Chinese calligraphy. With the help of this book, artists of all ages can learn to paint: Bamboo stalks, branches and leaf clusters A knotted pine tree and its delicate needles A snail with a spiral shell and little body peeking out from underneath A waterfall gliding down the side of a mountain And much more! You'll find that this activity will help you learn to center your mind and thoughts, and your masterpieces will be inspiring decorations or great gifts for friends and family. Get started learning this "soft martial art!"

Blacksmithing skills are greatly in demand in many rural areas, for making agricultural implements and other metal tools. This book is designed to help skilled blacksmiths who have little or no teaching experience to train others in forge work techniques, using easily obtainable equipment and scrap metal to produce tools such as hoes, sickles, hammers and axes.

In 1929, wicker furniture reached its peak of popularity, not surpassed until today's widespread enthusiasm for antique and modern styles. This is the largest catalog of the pre-eminent wicker and wood furniture manufacturer, Heywood-Wakefield Company. Heywood-Wakefield Co. furnished countless American homes with household and outdoor furniture, particularly chairs, for over a century. This book presents 925 examples of Heywood-Wakerfield Co. furniture in one volume, including chairs, sofas, beds, tables, bird cages, planters, desks, wardrobes, suites, and children's furniture. Collectors, dealers, historians and auctioneers will welcome this definitive source of the furniture styles, names, and fabrics as depicted here in their original presentation.

Literally a classroom-in-a-book, this engaging volume enables virtually anyone with a band saw, rotary power tool and a few of the most common cutting burrs to bring birds, fish, and even penguins to life beautifully! Professional artist-woodcarver Gene Larson demonstrates in words and pictures why he concentrates on simplicity of form, and how even a beginner can use a block of wood the way a sculptor would use a piece of marble. With a unique ability to reduce a complicated subject to its most basic components, Gene provides step-by-step guidance (from the wood block up) on the creation of shapes that have the look and "feel" of great works of art. Beginning with the selection of the right wood, stressing the simplicity that conveys and impression of so much more, and ending with a proper finish. Gene shows you how to create works he calls "sketches in wood." You and your friends will surely call them works of art.

Beautiful Bead Weaving proves that weaving has never been more straightforward. It demonstrates through a series of clear, simple diagrams exactly how to use needles, thread and beads to create your own expensive-looking jewellery in stunning textural patterns.The book also shows you how to set up and warp your loom, before discussing basic bead weaving techniques. A series of step-by-step projects will enable you to weave intricate beaded creations, including bracelets, necklaces, earrings and more.Modern looms make it easy to create beautiful and elegant beaded jewellery that you can keep for your own use, or give as gifts to family and friends.

The focus of this book is on functional seating, and the key argument presented is that functional seating needs to assist the person using it for the performance of seated tasks, enhance rather than detract from the person's posture and health, and it needs to provide aesthetic features that do not limit task or health. The book spans the period 3000BC to 2000AD and presents largely Western seating. This book is unique in its approach to seating because it draws together evidence that relates to seating that facilitates health and task while also addressing aesthetic factors. This evidence creates an understanding of how seats may be designed to not only promote bodily health but also allow functional optimisation of sitting and seating. This book is important to furniture and industrial designers, interior decorators, architects, those teaching seat design, health professionals attending and educating those who relax or work in the seated position, furniture historians, and members of the general public interested in the history of seating.

This concise guide has all the information you need to successfully makeyour ownjewelry using knotting techniques. Clear, step-by-step, fully illustrated instructions show you exactly how to knot between beads and attach various types of clasps and finishes. The book also explains how to evaluate, select, and care for pearls and gemstones; how to select findings and tools; the pros and cons of silk versus nylon stringing material; and more."

The traditional ornamental art of "flourishing." Complete instructions and examples help you create your own magnificent swirls, delicately shaded curves, harmoniously crisscrossing lines, from which birds, rabbits, deer, ribbons and other objects gracefully emerge. Over 150 copyright-free illustrations may also be applied to a multitude of graphic-arts and design purposes. Preface. Instructions.

Following the tremendous success of his first book, Tom Wolfe now offers his most popular wood-carving with step-by-step instructions. Tom attributes the popularity of his Pig Pickin' carving to nostalgia. This work harkens people back to a simpler time, when the hog harvest was a community event. Everyone shared in the festivities...and the food. Tom makes the directions clear and each step is illustrated with a photograph. Because the book starts with the bandsawing of the pattern and continues through the painting, even a novice should be able to complete the project. At the same time, the seasoned carver will benefit from Tom's technique and expertise, and everyone will enjoy Tom's anecdotes about country life.

The arts and crafts of the second half of China's Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) are represented, with a brief nod to the early 20th century and the Art Deco influence in Chinese design. Included are the tools of the scholar, ancestor paintings, and other new categories, in addition to Chinese furniture, basketry, and cabinetry. Newly fashionable Chinese furnishings and accessories from the 18th and 19th centuries are presented in nearly 600 full color photographs. Each piece is clearly described and set in its historical context. \nWhile appreciating the beauty of furniture designs of the late Qing dynasty, readers will be enriched by photographs of their places in ancient settings as well as in contemporary household interiors. Designers and decorators will be surprised to see how well these antique forms blend with and enhance contemporary decor. Values are also included.

This essential book will show you everything you need to know to create beautifully handmade scroll saw art and wooden signs. Featuring comprehensive sections on tools, materials, scroll saw basics, safety, and troubleshooting, equip yourself with the essential skills needed before you dive into the sign-making technique sections. From the basics, like cutting lettering, adding a graphic and painting to the more challenging skills of using epoxy resin, engraving and woodburning, you’ll have a blast building your woodworking skills and seeing all the possibilities of what you can make. This book includes step-by-step projects to try, as well as practice patterns. Perfect for housewarming and wedding gifts, nurseries, and other personalized keepsakes both for you and your family and friends, this exciting and fun guide to sign-making will inspire your DIY projects and original designs for years to come.