Frames often catch the eye and arouse the curiosity of visitors to galleries and museums, yet labels and catalogues rarely comment on them. Nicholas Penny conveys his interest in the history of frames, the design and techniques of frame-making, what frames do for paintings, and the part they play in the decoration and often the architecture of an interior. The emphasis is on the changing function and varied purpose of frames as well as the different styles of ornament, materials, finishes, and techniques used. This Closer Look guide is illustrated by frames from the National Gallery's magnificent collection. Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

A reprint of the original 1886 catalog of bronzes from the House of Barbedienne is reproduced with original selling prices in French francs and dimensions plus the line drawings which depict many of these famous works. Barbedienne was one of the foremost French foundries for the production of bronze sculptures in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

This revelatory book shows how the influential and controversial Empress Dowager Cixi used art and architecture to establish her authority Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), who ruled China from 1861 until her death in 1908, is a subject of fascination and controversy, at turns vilified for her political maneuvering and admired for modernizing China. In addition to being an astute politician, she was an earnest art patron, and this beautifully illustrated book explores a wide range of objects, revealing how the empress dowager used art and architecture to solidify her rule. Cixi's art commissions were innovative in the way that they unified two distant conceptions of gender in China at the time, demonstrating her strength and wisdom as a monarch while highlighting her identity as a woman and mother. Artful Subversion examines commissioned works, including portrait paintings and photographs, ceramics, fashion, architecture, and garden design, as well as work Cixi created, such as painting and calligraphy. The book is a compelling study of how a powerful matriarch at once subverted and upheld the Qing imperial patriarchy.

The Art Of Chip Carving is an easy to follow, step-by-step guide to one of the world's most ancient and widely practiced forms of woodcarving. Anyone, from the completely inexperienced beginner to the veteran craftsperson, can learn to use simple, inexpensive tools and techniques to carve striking decorative designs in wood. Chip carving is an especially good introduction to working wood for the inexperienced because of its low cost-of-entry, and because it puts the most essential concepts of woodworking front and center: safety, precision, and how understanding the nature of the wood itself leads to successful results. This guide is loaded with the technical information you need to start chip carving-the few tools you need and how to sharpen them, how to select and prepare wood for carving, how to transfer carving patterns, how to carve safely and precisely, and how to read and understand wood grain. Clay also teaches the basics of good carving technique, provides step-by-step guidance through two practice boards to build your skills, and then walks you through ten beginner projects that allow you to put your skills to use. The Art Of Chip Carving goes beyond any other how-to manual by introducing techniques and projects for learning freehand carving, and how to use the simple shape-vocabulary of chip carving to create your own carving designs in the style of traditional European folk carvings.

World renowned for its collection of Islamic art, the al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait also houses an important collection of ancient art. Splendors of the Ancient East presents a selection of ancient artefacts from the al-Sabah Collection, most of them reproduced for the first time. This selection is united by the personal vision of Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah. This vision is informed by a love of the beauty of these objects and an interest in the material culture of this region, from which grew some of the distinctive forms and design vocabulary of Islamic art. Covering a time span of some 4,000 years, from the Bronze Age up to the dawn of the Islamic era, this book celebrates some of the beautiful objects created in the Near East and beyond including Central and South Asia.

A revolution in lighting took place in the last part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century. Nadja Maril explores the dramatic changes in lighting technology and form in this amply illustrated, informative volume. Using color photographs and rare catalog material, American Lighting concentrates on domestic lighting, making it an important work for home restorers and decorators seeking to capture an authentic look in their homes. The informative text and history of the American lighting industry makes it a welcome, valuable addition to the literature for historians, collectors, and others, interested in the development of American design and technology.

These stylish craft books are highly accessible, with all techniques fully explained, and each project photographed from start to finish. Each book contains 25 beautiful and original projects.

This book is a comprehensive resource covering the principles and practice of the conservation and restoration of furniture. A review of the historical development of furniture introduces a wide range of structural types and materials that may be encountered, including wood, ivory, turtleshell, horn and metals, as well as decorative surfaces such as paint, japanning, lacquer and gilding. The nature and behaviour of these materials is explained and used as a basis from which to explore the mechanisms and consequences of deterioration caused by environment and use. Building on this foundation, the book shows how to develop and implement logical solutions to conservation problems.

Combining the practical knowledge and experience of a team of conservators active in the field, with theoretical and reference material from diverse sources, Conservation of Furniture uses and integrated approach to produce a book that will prove invaluable to anyone working in or studying this subject area.

This is a new, revised edition of an essential book on pyrography. It offers updated with current work practices and an extended gallery of inspirational work from the very best pyrography artisans. It features 12 design projects that are presented in clear step-by-step process. This new revised edition of Stephen Poole's detailed guide to pyrography will be updated with some current work practices and an extended gallery of inspirational work from the very best pyrography artisans. Stephen's book comprehensively covers the subject from the history of the craft, materials and equipment required through to all the skills to create 'burnt wood art decoration'. Starting with basic tracing, Poole explores all the techniques to recreate lifelike textures and shading to conjure up inspiring images of nature, still-life and atmospheric scenes. The author gives indispensible instruction specifically on pyrography for woodturned objects and how to protect and finish the work. Projects include: rolling pin, wooden spoon, earrings, brooch, frame, key ring, jotter board, breadboard, cheese platter

Joining metals is a fundamental process used in all aspects of modern life. It is vital wherever metals are used, which is just about everywhere. Small or large, simple or complex - no mode of transport or method of construction would be possible without the sound understanding of its theory and practice. Written for the home metalworker or model engineer, this book discusses the various methods of joining metals, including strength, testing and applications, and includes useful lessons from historical failures including the sinking of the Titanic, the Flixborough explosion, the capsize of the Alexander L. Keilland offshore platform, the Hyatt Hotel elevated walkway collapse and the Markham Colliery lift bolt failure. With over 100 diagrams and over 200 photographs, this book examines: Mechanical joining: bolting, riveting, clamping - Metallurgical joining: welding, brazing, soldering - Chemical joining: bonding difficult metals - Strength of joints: choice and analysis - Failure of metals and joints: stress, fatigue, corrosion - Design: use of theory and codes to avoid failure, and finally - Testing of metals and joints: destructive and non-destructive (NDT).

Woodturned Christmas ornaments are a delight to make and are beautiful pieces to hang on a Christmas tree or anywhere throughout your home during the holiday season. In this book, the author presents some of his favourite Christmas ornament designs. Each project is accompanied by detailed step-by-step instructions and photos, ensuring your success in every endeavour. The book includes information on making popular birdhouse ornaments and adding finials and mandrels to an ornament design. Nish has also included work from some of his favourite turners, resulting in a vast collection of elegant holiday decorations. Whether you're looking for something special to add to the tree this year or are searching for a gift idea, you're sure to find a design you like on these pages.

Over many years in a workshop, the knowledge and ability to perform a wide number of relatively minor jobs becomes second nature to a skilled engineer, but the amateur, no matter how great his natural talent, rarely has the opportunity to experience the same wide range of tasks. This book, by the experienced engineer Ian Bradley, contains useful advice and instruction for beginners on workshop practices including arbors and mandrels, belt jointing and splicing, shaft collars, finishing metal surfaces, G-clamps, surface gauges, cutting holes, special nuts, hand turning tools, the wobbler, case-hardening, and machining square material. This book was suggested to the author by his many readers and correspondents as a supplementary volume to his classic textbook The Amateur's Workshop.

Despite the growing numbers of milling machines in amateur workshops, a majority of model engineers still rely on a lathe and a drilling machine as the basic equipment.

The lathe, 'the king of machine tools', can be adapted for almost any function, but next to turning its most valuable use is for milling operations, either using the lathe itself to drive the cutters or by extending its scope by the addition of a separate milling attachment.

One of the most popular titles in model engineering books for almost sixty years was Milling in the Lathe, which first appeared in the 1920s and continued in updated and revised editions until 1983. This book replaces it, covering all the basic information it contained and adding to it from recent experiences and developments.

Chinoiserie, a decorative style inspired by the art of the Far East, gripped Britain from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. Despite taking its name from the French word for 'Chinese', the style also incorporated influences from other Asian countries, helping to shape the period's popular fantasy of the 'exotic Orient'. Wealthy consumers jostled to obtain imported wallpaper, lacquered cabinets and hand-painted porcelain, while domestic manufacturers such as Royal Worcester and Chippendale met demand with mass-produced items of their own. Though interest in the style waned as the Gothic Revival took hold, many examples of Chinoiserie have been preserved. In this beautifully illustrated book, Richard Hayman tells the story of this fascinating phenomenon, and explores the profound impact of Chinoiserie on the material culture of the West.

The art of welding wrought iron has been practiced by village smiths in their forge fires for centuries. Gas and electric arc welding are however comparatively recent developments. This introductory book explains the process as it has been developed and used in industry, and its applications to model engineering. Welding, by oxy-acetylene or electric arc, is a skill in increasing demand and one for which the basics can be learned without great difficulty. In this book, the author sets out the basic techniques and the art for oxy-acetylene welding, brazing, flame-cutting and electric arc welding with mild steel, cast iron, stainless steel, copper, brass and aluminium etc in sheet plate or cast form.

This text explains, historically and with illustrations, the origins and momentum of the German art movement of Ottonian book illumination. It shows through this movement how religion and political ideology were intertwined in Ottonian culture from about 950 to 1050.;Besides dealing with such great imperial books as the "Gospel Book of Otto III" and the "Pericopes Book of Henry II", as well as other liturgical manuscripts, this volume discusses the great art-loving bishops like Egbert of Trier and Bernard of Hildesheim, whose aims and personalities are expressed in the books they commissioned. The most important art centres of the Ottonian Empire - Reichenau, Cologne, Fulda and Corvey - are also discussed.

At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna became an epicentre for new thought. A multi-disciplinary environment emerged where music, writing and intellectual thought all flourished, often brought together in the capital's famous coffee houses. This was the time of Freud and Wittgenstein, of Mahler and Schoenberg, and of the Secession (1897-1905), the modern movement led by Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser that aimed to bring different arts together in a `Gesamtkunstwerk', a total work of art; of Jugendstil, Vienna's Art Nouveau; and of the Wiener Werkstatte, the workshop founded in 1903 by Moser and Hoffmann that revolutionized the decorative and graphic arts. There have been many exhibitions and publications devoted to this efflorescence, and even more monographs devoted to its key players. None, however, brings together a selection of visual material from across the different artistic disciplines as significant as this current volume, curated and authored by three leading scholars of the period. The book covers all areas of production: painting and drawing; decorative arts and crafts; applied art and book design; fashion, photography and architecture. In each section the illustrations take the lead, creating an invaluable visual reference point for all those eager to identify a given category of the arts within this period, particularly in the field of the decorative arts, from ceramics to glass, silverwork, furniture, jewelry; and graphic arts, from book design to posters and postcards. There are also many less familiar works in the field of fashion and photography, and a particular focus is given to the role of women in all disciplines of the time.

There's one resource we just can't get enough of: Time. In this issue of Make: , we celebrate that most fascinating and finite resource. First, build a miniature neomatrix word clock that colorfully spells out the time. Next, waste less time in the shop with a healthy helping of time-saving shop tips. Then, take a metaphorical trip to the past and dive into the history and theory behind modern mechanical clocks. Plus, 19 projects to make, including: 8 more crazy clocks to build 3D print an old-school bellows-style camera Program a wall-mounted display to track your social media stats Craft a 2-in-1 leather carrier for beer and wine for your next picnic Build a stylish motion-reactive LED table-top display and more!

The Teacher's Hand-Book Of Slojd, 1892, by Otto Salomon, was the primary teacher training text for the instructor of Slojd based education at the Naas School in Sweden. Slojd education, developed by Salomon, combines craft, creativity and the teacher's guidance with ..".the educative force which lies in rightly directed bodily labour, as a means to developing in the pupils (sic) physical and mental powers which will be a sure and evident gain to them for life."

In this valuable book Tubal Cain takes the reader beyond the superficial or the simply practical with explanations of the composition of steel, its additives, and the effects of different temperatures on its constituents. With a grasp of what changes are actually taking place in the metal the care needed in following the practical processes described becomes understandable and will lead to better and more consistent results. Flame, salt bath and furnace heating are detailed, with information on accurate measurement or recognition of temperature levels. For the average small workshop operative or model engineer the discourses on tool material, hardening and tempering will be of most use, and in this connection this book replaced the author's earlier Hardening and Tempering Engineers' Tools, providing a broader-based, more detailed and up to date examination of the subject.