Whittling is more than just a way of busying idle hands - it is a pastime for those who love the texture of wood and a way of life for those who feel a special connection between people and trees. This beautiful and practical guide to the art of whittling offers the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern life and a means of getting back to basics and creating unique items from scratch. Inside you will learn about the ancient art of whittling as one of the earliest forms of artistic expression; the different types of wood to use in your work; the simple tools you need to get started; and the various cutting techniques. The Art of Whittling also preaches the idea of Danish hygge - translating to coziness and being with friends and family in a warm atmosphere. Here, author Niklas Karlsson gives us an insight into why the Danes are considered the happiest people in the world - and how you can bring some hygge into your own lives. More than just a manual, this book offers a contemplative view on a skill that is more popular than ever.

Celebrate the splendor of wood with these wood-crafting projects. From simple woven panels to making a functional yurt, Woodland Craft features an array of easy-to-follow projects that include crafts for the farm, garden, wood fuel, building and domestic use. Green wood - wood that has been recently cut and is therefore still moisture-rich - is the predominant material used in the projects featured in this essential guide for craftsman of all levels. With Woodland Craft: you'll learn all you need to know about tools and devices, both old and new. you'll browse through the directory of tree species and identify the best uses for each. you'll gain the insight you need to make practically anything out of this clean, crisp, beautiful element. Includes 700 illustrations and photographs

A smooth piece of wood, some sharp carving tools and the 37 tried-and-true relief woodcarving projects and patterns from the archives of Woodcarving Illustrated, are all that is needed for this popular form of artistic expression. By following the step-by-step instructions, woodcarvers can create everything from trivets and clocks, to signs and mantels in wood, or adapt some of the many patterns to create their own projects. Relief Woodcarving Projects & Techniques also features a stunning gallery of work. Readers will gain expert information, insight, and inspiration from today's top relief carvers, including Lora S. Irish, Kathy Wise, Jim Dupont, Cyndi Joslyn, Frederick Wilbur, Mary-Ann Jack-Bleach, Floyd Truitt, and Bob Duncan. Join them as they create an assortment of compelling carvings, in a variety of skill levels, for the home and beyond.

This is the ultimate guide to sharpening with traditional waterstones for all owners of Japanese knives. Provided are step-by-step instructions on proper knife sharpening accompanied by over 120 color photos, plus black and white graphics for clarity. Details on the care for all major blade types are also provided, along with expert advice on the use of solid, abrasive materials, and steel. Important information on care for the waterstones is also provided to keep your sharpening stones useful for many years. Readers learn how to make knives sharp and obtain their very best performance. The expert, Dr. Rudolf Dick, explains special Japanese knives, helps you choose the correct sharpening stones, and provides a detailed guide for sharpening practice. A chapter on the pinnacle of sharpening, polishing Japanese swords, completes the standard work for all users and friends of Japanese knives.

In a period of meaningless mass manufacturing, our growing appetite for hand-made objects, artisan food, and craft beverages reveals our deep cravings for tradition and quality. But there was a time when craft meant something very different; the Old English word craeft possessed an almost indefinable sense of knowledge, wisdom, and power. In this fascinating book, historian and popular broadcaster Alex Langlands goes in search of the mysterious lost meaning of craeft. Through a vibrant series of mini-histories, told with his trademark energy and charm, Langlands resurrects the ancient craftspeople who fused exquisite skill with back-breaking labour-and passionately defends the renewed importance of craeft today.

A guide to green woodworking, with detailed patterns to create beautiful projects. Discover hundreds of projects for working with unseasoned wood in this essential book. Ray Tabor, an unparalleled expert in green woodworking guides you through this old, traditional craft. Whether you are new to the craft and are looking for a simple project like a spoon or a bowl or want something challenging, you will find it here. The 300 patterns for the home and garden range from wattle gates to lemon juicers, from chairs, benches and stools to baskets, whistles and door wedges. Green woodworking involves the use of freshly felled timber (unseasoned wood), and embraces a number of traditional woodland crafts, including turning and carving. All patterns come with detailed dimensions in both metric and imperial. Each item has annotated black-and-white patterns, a brief description, historical information and details of the materials that should be used. Includes the simplest of woodland designs to more advanced, with something to suit every skill level. Both a historical record and a sourcebook for those looking to use their green woodworking skills to make traditional items of beauty, this is the perfect book for anyone interested in whittling, woodland crafts and woodworking.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations, thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The histories of East and West Germany traditionally emphasize the Cold War rivalries between the communist and capitalist nations. Yet, even as the countries diverged in their political directions, they had to create new ways of working together economically. In Designing One Nation, Katrin Schreiter examines the material culture of increasing economic contacts in divided Germany from the 1940s until the 1990s. Trade events, such as fairs and product shows, became one of the few venues for sustained links and knowledge between the two countries after the building of the Berlin Wall. Schreiter uses industrial design, epitomized by the furniture industry, to show how a network of politicians, entrepreneurs, and cultural brokers attempted to nationally re-inscribe their production cultures, define a postwar German identity, and regain economic stability and political influence in postwar Europe. What started as a competition for ideological superiority between East and West Germany quickly turned into a shared, politically legitimizing quest for an untainted post-fascist modernity. This work follows products from the drawing board into the homes of ordinary Germans to offer insights into how converging visions of German industrial modernity created shared expectations about economic progress and living standards. Schreiter reveals how intra-German and European trade policies drove the creation of products and generated a certain convergence of East and West German taste by the 1980s. Drawing on a wide range of sources from governments, furniture firms, industrial design councils, home lifestyle magazines, and design exhibitions, Designing One Nation argues that an economic culture linked the two Germanies even before reunification in 1990.

When the stresses of modern life get too much, what could be better than gathering a few simple tools, heading into the woods and literally whittling away a few hours? The gentle art of whittling is a relaxing and absorbing hobby that can be enjoyed almost anywhere from round the campfire to in a cozy armchair at home. All you need is a good pocket knife, a piece of wood and your imagination. Projects can range from the delightfully simple to impressively intricate--it's up to you. Woodland Whittling guides you through the basics explaining what equipment you need, how to hold the knife, and what timber to use. The projects are then all described in detail with clear step-by-step photographs. Projects include: letter opener, thumb stick, ring tree and egg cup.

Representing the third generation of Vuittons, Gaston-Louis's wide interests and voracious curiosity were intimately bound with the future of the family business. A collector since his childhood, Gaston-Louis Vuitton (1883-1970) accumulated hundreds of objects over his lifetime. In addition to forming a collection of trunks - his first motivation and the one he announced publicly - his roving eye lit upon rare antique travel articles, locks and escutcheons, hand tools, perfume bottles, African masks, walking canes, vintage children's toys, books, hotel labels (usually fixed on customers' trunks), printed monograms and other typographical rarities. Together they form a rich personal evocation of curiosites industrielles, or quirks of the trade, as Gaston-Louis liked to call them. He described himself as an `unrepentant collector', delighted by the `joy of the treasure hunter, the toil of the collector, [...] an inexhaustible source of inspiration'. This is a collection that will capture the imagination of anyone inspired by bizarre and eclectic curiosities, or those with an interest in the cultural taste and interests of someone who lived through the height of the Art Deco period - indeed, someone whose life was defined by the rigours and the rewards of world travel. It exhibits the highest design and production values for discerning international voyagers in search of the sources of luxury creativity.

Little magazines made modernism happen. These pioneering enterprises were typically founded by individuals or small groups intent on publishing the experimental works or radical opinions of untried, unpopular, or underrepresented writers. Recently, little magazines have re-emerged as an important critical tool for examining the local and material conditions that shaped modernism. This volume reflects the diversity of Anglo-American modernism, with essays on avant-garde, literary, political, regional, and African American little magazines. It also presents a diversity of approaches to these magazines: discussions of material practices and relations; analyses of the relationship between little magazines and popular or elite audiences; examinations of correspondences between texts and images; feminist modifications of the traditional canon or histories; and reflections on the emerging field of periodical studies. All emphasize the primacy and materiality of little magazines. With a preface by Mark Morrisson, an afterword by Robert Scholes, and an extensive bibliography of little magazine resources, the collection serves both as an introduction to little magazines and a reconsideration of their integral role in the development of modernism.

Works of art in enamel are among the most attractive, colourful and revealing objects of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Enamel was employed to embellish a broad array of objects, including reliquary caskets, crosses, book-covers, croziers, censers and pyxes for the church and a wide range of tableware for the secular market. The Wyvern Collection comprises many pieces of prime importance from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Among the highlights in this volume are two extremely rare Romanesque enamels of c. 1160-70 from the Meuse Valley: the celebrated reliquary triptych probably originally belonging to the Bishop of Liege, and a beautiful phylactery (a reliquary designed to be suspended) with scenes from the story of the True Cross, said to have come from the famous abbey of Lobbes. Limoges enamels of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are particularly well represented, the 65 pieces making up what is undoubtedly now the finest and most comprehensive collection in private hands. The later painted enamels of Limoges, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, include remarkable examples of the work of the principal enamellers, most notably Pierre Reymond, and the spectacular horn of St Hubert, dated 1538 and signed by Leonard Limosin, which once belonged to Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill. The catalogue additionally includes other outstanding works of art such as an important Anglo-Carolingian chrismatory of the ninth century, a small group of enigmatic twelfth-century drinking-cups and sumptuous examples of German late medieval goldsmiths' work. Stained and painted glass roundels, Italian Renaissance ceramics, luxurious textiles and tapestries, and German and Italian armour are also catalogued. An appendix presents several important pieces, recently acquired, which supplement those published in the first two volumes. With more than 250 objects, all specially photographed, this is more than a handbook to an especially rich part of one of the greatest private collections. It is a detailed and authoritative guide to medieval and Renaissance enamels and other works of art, a stimulus to further research and a feast for the eyes. With 400 illustrations in colour

There's more to being Irish than kissing a Blarney Stone

Few places on earth match Ireland's romantic attraction and historical legacy. Every year, millions of visitors flock to the ancient sites and burgeoning cities of this enchanted island to immerse themselves in its rich literary, musical, and political heritage.

"The Everything Irish History & Heritage Book" introduces readers to the people, places, and events that have shaped the past and given rise to the unique culture of the Irish people. From the Iron Age to the economic renaissance, this comprehensive account familiarizes readers with Ireland's history and acquaints them with the climate, food, language, and sports that make it truly unique.

Features exhaustive coverage of:

• Celtic mythology and ancient folklore
• The Irish literary tradition--from "The Book of Kells" to "Ulysses"
• The potato famine and the Great Hunger
• The Irish in America and the immigration experience
• The Troubles and the road to peace
• Religion and family life

The perfect gift for fans of classic novels, crafting and puns. ‘There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my glue gun.’ This crafting celebration of literary classics will transport you and your scissors far from your kitchen table: allow your Mod Podge to smooth your way into the Gilded Age with ‘The Decoupage of Innocence’, or your craft knife to help you conceal an illicit eBook with ‘Lady Chatterley’s Kindle Cover’. Or simply create the perfect picnic accessory, to be enjoyed alongside some ginger beer with ‘Five Go to Smuggler’s Cake Topper’. From a shelf made of books to paper flowers, Christmas wreaths to table decorations, A Loom of One’s Own is a pun-filled celebration of crafting and writing that will appeal to book lovers or anyone who owns a glue gun.

Carving Kitchen Tools is the beginning of your woodworking journey and is a practical guide to creating your own beautiful utensils. From the all-important wooden spoon to butter knives, salad servers and spatulas, Moa Brannstroem Ott shows you how to create kitchen implements that will bring individuality and personality to your home. As well as this, Carving Kitchen Tools explores the variety of different woods, their properties and the whittling techniques to which they are most suited. With step-by-steps to illustrate the correct grips for knife and wood, tips on how to source your wood and details on the tools you need, this book is the perfect guide to this surprisingly simple and mindful craft. Projects include: Butter knives Frying utensils Straight spoons Curved spoons Salad servers Kuksa cups

Priscilla's contemporary mixed media artworks offer a refreshingly different approach to embroidery, taking stitch to an impressive new level within wire sculpture. Working both two- and three-dimensionally, Priscilla combines colour, stitch, shape and texture, layering to transform surfaces into beautiful, whimsical sculptures full of character, curiosity and charm. With her imaginative use of the needle and her love of retro vintage nostalgia, Priscilla has picked up on an enduring trend, exploring excitingly different ideas and pushing the boundaries with her original ways of working. The book explores a playful mixed media approach to creating 3D textile sculpture, using a variety of media to transform plain papers and fabrics through colour, texture and mark-making; including both free-machine embroidery and hand stitch. Paving the way for the reader to tackle the five projects that follow, which build in complexity.

George Bankart first wrote The Art of the Plasterer in 1908. It was then re-issued, with amendments, a few years later. Now available from Donhead as a facsimile edition, this impressive, well illustrated volume offers an artistic interpretation of the way plaster was used in response to stylistic changes. Bankart was an architect inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement who cared passionately about the craft of plastering and sought to complement Millar's earlier craftsman's book by producing a volume which traced the history and art of plastering throughout the United Kingdom. It explores in detail how plaster materials and methods were developed and used, giving a fascinating insight into some of the unusual substances added to plaster. For instance, he tells us that ancient stuccos sometimes contained fig juice, curdled milk, blood or beer to make them harder. The book also contains an account of wattle and dab as well as parge-work, using practical illustrated examples to give an excellent description and record of the subject. With over 400 illustrations, comprising black and white photographs and drawings of ceilings and the profiles of mouldings, this volume will be of value to craftsmen engaged in plasterwork, conservation professionals and all architects and architectural historians with an interest in this field.

In the past, studies of the history of bookbinding were mainly concerned with the exterior decoration. This book focuses attention primarily on the physical aspects of the binding and its construction principles. It is an expanded version of a series of lectures delivered by the author while Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 1987, supplemented with the results of ten years of intensive research in major libraries on the Continent, the United Kingdom and the USA. It surveys the evolution of binding structures from the introduction of the codex two thousand years ago to the close of the Middle Ages. Part I reviews the scanty physical evidence from the Mediterranean heritage, the early Coptic, Islamic and Ethiopian binding structures and their interrelation with those of the Byzantine realm. Part II is devoted to a detailed analysis of Western binding techniques, distinguishing the carolingian, romanesque and gothic wooden-board bindings as the main typological entities; their structure and function is compared with those of contemporary limp bindings. The book is illustrated with over 200 drawings and photographs and contains a comprehensive bibliography.

From the 17th century, ajami decoration was prevalent in the interior adornment of the houses of Damascene merchants and notables. This study, done from the stylistic, historical - as well as the technical, points of view, has resulted in a unique and valuable document on the history of Damascus decoration.