Crafts and Hobbies: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creative Skills

by Daniel Weiss (editor), Reader's Digest Association, Susan Chace

An exceptional instruction book of over 40 crafts explained in detail -- leatherworking, candlemaking, basketry, stained glass, origami, quiltmaking, woodworking, winemaking, book-binding, and much more. Also includes specific projects for most of the crafts.

Genres: Reference, Crafts, Nonfiction, Quilting

456 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1980

Reviews

[Al Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the things I treasure most in my life, people always say you don't need books anymore because we have the internet- but over the past 15 years more and more the internet has gone from a place of collective knowledge and community to a personal shopper we never asked for- the information in this book is timeless and I cherish the crafts and technique shared by countless contributors to the book, it's priceless in my eyes! As a young adult who grew up watching books slowly be pushed aside for how-to television and YouTube videos (of which there are many quality contributors and it conveys knowledge in a way that text books cannot) opening this book and having the power of reference material is invaluable. It's much easier to have the book out in front of you, an object that has several pages of editors and has gone through a careful construction and production process- qualities that build credibility and build your trust- rather than trying to skip forward and back in a video- which is a medium we can only consume literally and is much harder to efficiently use as reference. It's just true that anyone is able to put up a "how-to" online even if they don't know what they are doing, which is valuable to a certain degree but more and more because of our consumer culture our hands-on skills and abilities are being forgotten, this book did an excellent job of illuminating a whole world of Crafts & Hobbies that I can honestly say impacted me significantly and dare I say changed my life (or at least my view of my own abilities and the value books bring to our lives.) By the way I am 23- not a crotchety old person who's complaining about "kids these days" finding this book in the back halls of my parents house brought me back to days when I was a child at the library looking up information in reference books about anything I wanted to do and not having to sift through the sea of google search results and the many many MANY advertisements trying to sell me things, distracting me from my quest for knowledge. Anyhow, I just treasure this book and recommend you get one if you're a maker young or old!

[Ashwija · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beats internet even today. A collection of wide range of art and craft hobbies one can think of.Explanation about the craft,it's history,pictures all in this book instead of searching through a wide array of articles on search engines.And then you have illustratives with diagrammatic explanations makes it all very easy to learn.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A general reference guide with brief easy to understand instructions of almost any arts and crafts project one can think of from candlemaking to preserving fruit to collage to enameling to basketry to winemaking and so on.

[Sooraj Raju · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books i have ever read. I started reading it first when i wasn't even able to read... :)I read it even now. Amazing...Awesome...

[Bonnie Ulrich-Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning more about quilting, but this book had crafts I never even knew about.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for selling the most Girl Scout cookies in my troop one year. It is nearly falling apart and well loved.

[Emmas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informational. Wouldn't recommend for beginners or young children. Projects more for intermediate or advanced artists.

[Cws]

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