'A book full of interior inspiration, fabulous hints and tips, and bucket-loads of personality, just like the authors! The perfect gift for the interiors lover in your life.' Siobhan Murphy, BBC Interior Design Masters Finalist From the Instagram team that brought you the Story Of My Home hashtag competition comes the ultimate guide to home interiors. The Art Of Home will show you how to make the most of your space, whether you live in a rented flat or own a detached house. It's illustrated with photos of some of the most incredible, fun and vibrant spaces you will ever lay eyes on. With a chapter dedicated to every room (and the front door, of course), you'll find tips to help you get creative with your space, solve common problems, manage renovations and make your home look uniquely fabulous. You'll find plenty to inspire you, no matter your style, and there are clever ideas to suit all budgets and help everyone turn their home into a place they never want to leave. The Art of Home is written by interiors experts and founders of the Story Of My Home hashtag competition, Joanne Hardcastle - @hardcastletowers, Jack D March - @jackdmarch, Marie-Claire Jackson - @thegingerhareofyorkshire and Wendy Simpson - @the_yorkshire_homestead. In addition to sharing their favourite photos from the SOMH community, they also give you a sneak peek inside their own homes, to get you thinking about ideas for your own space.

Learn to make pens that are both practical - and beautiful! In this newly revised edition, author and expert pen turner, Barry Gross provides new pen kits and mechanisms with up-to-date techniques, along with the in-depth instruction and creative ideas for both the novice and the experienced turner looking for new ideas. From choosing a lathe to pen turning basics and even marketing your work - no detail has been left out! Also included is a section on casting your own acrylic pen bodies, so you can customize by embedding your own artwork and memorabilia. Instructions for turning pens made from Corian[registered], InLace, antler and other materials included.

'Somerville knows more about wooden barn construction than almost anyone alive.'-The Telegraph 'A joyful reminder of why nature, being outside, being together and creating beauty is so good for the soul.'-Kate Humble, broadcaster and author of A Year of Living Simply 'For all our advances, it's hard to deny the modern world brings with it new ills of disconnection and disenfranchisement, but here in Barn Club they've found their cure.'-Barn the Spoon, master craftsman and author of Spon Nature meets traditional craft in this celebration of the elm tree, beautiful buildings and community spirit. Barn Club calls on us to discover our landscapes more intimately and to explore the joys of making beautiful things by hand, together. When renowned craftsman Robert Somerville moved to Hertfordshire, he discovered an unexpected landscape rich with wildlife and elm trees. Nestled within London's commuter belt, this wooded farmland inspired Somerville, a lifelong woodworker, to revive the ancient tradition of hand-raising barns. Barn Club follows the building of Carley Barn over the course of one year. Volunteers from all walks of life joined Barn Club, inspired to learn this ancient skill of building elm barns by hand, at its own quiet pace and in the company of others, while using timber from the local woods. The tale of the elm tree in its landscape is central to Barn Club. Its natural history, historic importance and remarkable survival make for a fascinating story. This is a tale of forgotten trees, a local landscape and an ancient craft. This book includes sixteen pages of colour photographs, and black and white line drawings of techniques and traditional timber frame barns feature throughout.

This true story of Texas millionaire Tom Slick's quest for the Abominable Snowman and other cryptids--creatures unknown to science--reveals a life made for the movies. Fascinating stories of Slick's early brushes with adventure such as his stepfather's abduction by George "Machine Gun" Kelly in 1933 and his creation of a research facility near Loch Ness are followed by his later expeditions into Nepal and the Pacific Northwest in search of the yeti and its counterpart, the Sasquatch. The story of Slick's amazing, fanatic, and driven search for the stuff of legends takes readers on a whirlwind journey from the dense temperate rainforests of Washington State to the icy peaks of the Himalayas--and shows that sometimes cryptids leave the halls of the imagination and are found and captured, as proved by the giant panda and the Komodo dragon, leaving readers to wonder what more there is to be discovered.

The first highly illustrated, comprehensive guide to light straw clay - a high performance, low-impact, durable building material Light straw clay - straw mixed with clay slip - is a versatile, easy-to-use wall building material. Also called "slip-straw", its durability has been proven in beautiful, centuries-old buildings across Northern Europe and in modern high-performance buildings in North America. Building code compliant in the US and using "waste" materials with high insulation value and excellent moisture handling qualities, it's both high-performance and low-impact. Yet until now, there has been no practical guide to using the material in a wide variety of construction and renovation projects. Distilling decades of experience, Essential Light Straw Clay Construction is a fully illustrated step-by-step guide, ideal for both the DIYer and professional designer and builder alike. It covers: Material specifications, performance, and when and where to use it Estimating quantities, costs, and sourcing Illustrated, step-by-step guidance for mixing and installation, including "slip-chip" variations Detail drawings for various wall systems including stud, timber, and pole framing, Larsen trusses, I-joists, plus retrofits Code references, compliance, and best practice Finishing and maintenance techniques Additional resources. Lydia Doleman , a licenced contractor, taught carpentry and natural building at Solar Energy International in Colorado and was lead ecological builder for Portland's City Repair project. She's created beautiful, high-performance, low-impact buildings across the Northwest, from Portland's first permitted straw bale home and The Rebuilding Center's cob entryway, to a 3,300-sq. f light clay straw brewery. She's written for The Last Straw Journal and Permaculture Activist and appeared on NBC News and HGTV's Off Beat America . Lydia lives in southern Oregon.

In just three years, Instructables.com has become one of the hottest destinations for makers and DIY enthusiasts of all stripes. Known as 'the world's biggest show & tell', makers from around the globe post how-to articles on a staggering variety of topics - from collecting rainwater for lawn care to hacking toy robots to extracting squid ink. Now, with more than 10,000 articles, the Instructables staff and editors of "Make Magazine" - with help from the Instructables community - have put together a collection of solid, time- and user-tested technology projects from the site."The Best of Instructables Volume 1" includes plenty of clear, full-color photographs, complete step-by-step instructions, as well as tips, tricks, and new build techniques you won't find anywhere else - even material never seen before on Instructables. Some of the more popular how-to articles include: the LED Throwie - magnetized electronic graffiti that's become a phenomenon; how to make a cheap CNC milling machine out of plumbing parts, printer motors, and a rotary tool; innovative gaming hacks, such as how to add LED lights and custom-molded buttons to a video game controller; and, new twists on personal items, such as the Paper Wallet and Electric Umbrella.While the book focuses on technology, it also includes articles on creating cool furniture from cheap components, and ways of making your own toys. Anything but a reference book, "The Best of Instructables Volume I" embodies the inspirational fun, creativity, and sense of community that has attracted more than 200,000 registered members in just 3 years. Many of the articles include sidebars that show how other builders have realized or improved upon the same project. Making things is cool again: everyone wants to be a creator, not just a consumer. This is the spirit of the 'new handy heyday', fostered by Instructables.com, "Make Magazine", and others, and celebrated by this incredible book - "The Best of Instructables Volume 1".

Filled with detailed instructions and time-saving tips, this informative DVD demonstrates the steps required to obtain a flat and square board ready for any number of uses. Before any project can begin to take shape, the raw lumber must be cut, squared, flattened, and made ready to join to any other piece. Many lumber yards offer to process rough stock for their customers, but this expensive service is completely unnecessary if a craftsman knows the trick of preparing his own lumber with simple hand tools. Filled with the patient instruction of an experienced woodworker, this DVD is everything a learner needs to master the thriftier method of squaring lumber with a hand plane.