The "Getting Started" section will give you a great overview and help explain some things for the very beginner. Next, learn some easy stitch patterns in the section "Basic Stitches." When you're ready to try your first project, take a look at the "Potholder Patterns" section, but make sure to read the "Pattern Information & Notes" first for some important stuff that pertains to all the patterns. The ebook is also filled with photos to help you along your way.Why Potholders?Potholders are a great project to work with Tunisian crochet because:• The back/wrong side is hidden between the two layers• Tunisian crochet makes a very thick final product• Working square shapes is easy for the beginnerHave fun, and happy hooking to you!

    Chock full of easy to understand instructions and full color pictures for the 24 recipes included, you are sure to succeed with this book, regardless of your skill level. With a few simple ingredients, and a little bit of time, you’ll be making bath bombs in an afternoon. You’re in good hands with this quick and easy guide to showing you not only the basics, but also more fun and challenging recipes like the Fizzy Pops, designed to look like tasty cake pop treats. Taking it a step further she has also included cupcake bath bombs with a sugar scrub topping. Who wouldn't love to make these? This book can be a project for yourself, a gift for a friend, or an enhancement to your knowledge in the world of bath and body crafts. Whatever the purpose, the reader will enjoy!

    So grab your beading thread and needle, and get ready to stitch up a storm with some stellar seed bead jewelry patterns!Whether you use soft lace or super chunky yarn, you can’t go wrong with these super cool scarf patterns. Try a new stitch or take a chance on a new shape – you’ll love the results and will want to show off your piece to all of your friends. Have fun and get knitting!

    challenges designed to really get you to think about your life, your art, yourself. In this book, the authors showcase some of the best challenges from their site along with over 25 new challenges to get your creative juices flowing. And the layouts inspired by the Dares, created by the authors and their amazing contributing artists, are the perfect jumpstart to get you thinking about your scrapbooking in a whole new way.

    From temperance quilts to the AIDS quilt, there’s a rich history of individuals and communities using fabric and thread to connect with others and express themselves, both personally and politically. Why We Quilt blends bits of this history with the stories and work of today’s leading quilters, highlighting themes of tradition, community, consumerism, change, and creativity. With a unique die-cut cover and a richly layered design, this book will enthrall designers, quilters, and all types of handcraft enthusiasts.

    With a refreshingly new approach to free-motion stitching, First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting encourages you to make something beautiful while improving your free-motion quilting skills. You'll find 24 projects and quilts that are light on assembly so you can spend most of your time stitching. A handy troubleshooting guide ensures success every step of the way.

    This art form has been developed by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. What I love most about this art form is that all the patterns are based on simple lines, circles and shapes. Anyone can do it. The beauty of Zentangle lies in the way these patterns evolve from their simple building blocks. Different patterns are put together to create small ‘tiles’ or square drawings. Zentangle art has been used by artists from all over the globe and from all art fields. They have incorporated Zentangle art into everything from mixed media, paper crafting, scrap booking to home décor projects. A simple search on Google images will reveal the vast world of Zentangle art! Zentangle art has also been used by kids all over the world to have fun and make paper toys. With this book Zentangle art can now be used by you to rest, relax, create and make art! This book is perfect for the beginner as well as the experienced tangler. We will go through the list of tools needed, basic tangles created by Rick and Maria, Zentangle Inspired Projects, creating new tangles and lots of worksheets for you to play with and have fun. So left brained or right brained, artist or scientist, child or adult join us in this wonderful journey as we discover and create awesome doodles and tangles. This book will take you from the tools needed to start your Zentangle art experience to creating some beautiful Zentangle Inspired Art pieces that will range from mixed media to home décor crafts. Let’s take a brief look at all we will cover in this book. We will discuss paper, pencils, tiles and log books to store patterns. Once we have all the basics in place we will move on to basic tangle patterns. These tangle patterns have either all been developed by the founders of Zentangle, Rick and Maria or are part of the list of official tangles. They are a great place to start your tangling adventure. Tangles can also be enhanced in several different ways. We will talk about four of these methods and share some examples. Next up we will add some color to the black and white world of Zentangle Art and stir things up a bit. We will go through several different ways in which color can be incorporated in your tangled art. Then we come to the art creation section of the book! In Chapter 5 I will share lots of worksheets for exercises and projects you can do yourself whenever you want. The worksheets come as an easy download and you can print as many as you want to use for yourself or share with family and friends when you introduce them to tangling. These worksheets come as a separate pdf which is available for FREE download for all readers. In Chapter 6 I will outline and give instructions for several applications of Zentangle art in the popular art and craft forms today. We will talk about mixed media art dolls, home décor items, book making, art journaling, card making, paper quilts, Artist Trading Cards and paper crafting. To finish up I will share with you a few of the tangles I have come up with and will show you how to create your own!

    Archaeologist and medieval historian Alexander Langlands reaches as far back as the Neolithic period to recover our lost sense of craft, combining deep history with detailed scientific analyses and his own experiences making traditional crafts. Craft brims with vivid storytelling, rich descriptions of natural landscape, and delightful surprises that will convince us to introduce more craft into our lives.

    Step-by-step instructions for creating papier-mâché monstrosities

    Using purchased metal stamps and sterling silver blanks, you can personalize your metal jewelry designs with words, textures, and creative designs. Lisa Niven Kelly, creator of the online Beaducation workshops and website, specializes in the technique and has been teaching stamping for more than six years to enthusiastic students. Although stamping is a simple technique, the right tools and skills will help you create professional and exciting results.Stamped Metal Jewelry teaches multiple metal stamping and texturing techniques, and the projects incorporate wirework and metalsmithing to create fabulous necklaces, beads, charms, bracelets, cuffs, and earrings. The book opens with an extensive section on stamping, wirework, and metalsmithing tools and techniques. With these skills, you can begin the inspiring jewelry designs with confidence.Nineteen projects cover a variety of techniques and designs such as creating charms, incorporating stamped links into beaded projects, making stamped links from flat wire and wire-wrapping them together, stamping on blanks and layering them, riveting, texturing metal, oxidizing, and more. In addition to Lisa's projects, the book features contributions by nationally known guest artists Tracy Stanley, Kriss Silva, Lisa Claxton, Kate Richbourg, Janice Berkebile, and Connie Fox.

    In this book, Sunshine Cobb covers all the foundational skills, with lessons for constructing both simple and complex forms from clay. Ceramic artists will also find a variety of next-level techniques and tips: designing templates and replicating pieces, lidded vessels, using molds, a variety of decorative techniques, and other avenues of exploration are all inside.Artist features and inspirational galleries include work from today's top working artists, such as Bryan Hopkins, Lindsay Oesterritter, Liz Zlot Summerfield, Bandana Pottery, Shoko Teruyama, Courtney Martin, Sam Chung, Deborah Schwartzkopf, and many more.  Take your hand building skills—and your artwork—to the next level with Mastering Hand Building. The Mastering Ceramics series is for artists who never stop learning. With compelling projects, expert insight, step-by-step photos, and galleries of work from today’s top artists, these books are the perfect studio companions. Also available from the series: Mastering the Potter's Wheel and Mastering Kilns and Firing.

    Learn to determine your cost of goods, set prices, identify the competition, and understand the ins and outs of wholesale and retail sales. Explore the various sales venues available, including independent craft fairs, Web sites such as Etsy, and traditional stores, and learn to maximize your visibility and sales in each one. Want to start your own website? Chapin shows you how to style and prop your crafts for photography and explains how the most popular Web marketplaces operate. You’ll find everything you need to turn your talent into profits.

    King of the whittlers.' Sunday Telegraph Barn The Spoon, as he’s affectionately known is a rare master craftsman in the art of spoon carving. In this book he generously shares his extraordinary skill, gentle philosophy and his life’s work – designing and carving beautiful spoons that are both a joy to use and hold.The simple, ordinary spoon is part of our everyday lives, intimately entwined with the acts of eating and socialising, from stirring our first cup of coffee to scraping the last bit of pudding from the bowl. And who doesn't like to spoon in bed? Barn’s spoons will take you on a journey into the new wood culture, from understanding the relationship between wood, the raw material and its majestic origins in our trees and woodland, to the workshop and the axe block, and into your own kitchen. Barn will show you how to use the axe and knife, from how they should feel in your hand to honing the perfect edge when carving your own spoons. Featuring sixteen unique designs in the four main categories of spoon – eating, serving, cooking and measuring spoons, Barn takes you through the nuances of their making, how each design is informed by its function at the table or in the kitchen, and the key skills you will learn – such as creating octagonal handles, manipulating grain patterns and mastering bent branches. Beautiful photography will inspire and act as a blue-print to help perfect your technique.

    Fortunately, Simple Soldering proves that does not need to be the case. This handy how-to guide is complete in its exploration of the craft of creating soldered metal jewelry, including tools, techniques, and 20 beautiful projects that beginners and enthusiasts can make at home.Author and teacher Kate Richbourg demystifies basic soldering for any home crafter, showing how to create sophisticated, polished, and professional-looking jewelry pieces through simple soldering techniques. First, she instructs how to set up a jewelry workspace that fits the confines of your budget and living space. Detailed step-by-step instructions walk you through the basic tools and materials you need, plus how to use them. A sample chapter gives a host of introductory exercises that teach solid skills, allowing you to test these techniques on a small scale. Finally, you'll discover 20 finished projects that include earrings, pendants, rings, bracelets, and clasps that may also include bead or wire embellishment.Kate also demonstrates how to combine and layer techniques to gorgeous effect. She also examines common mistakes, shows how to correct or adapt them, and gives advice on when it’s time to start over. Most of all, having taught thousands of classes on soldering, Kate has a "you can do it!" attitude that shines through to help even the most reluctant jewelry maker fire up the torch with ease.Paired with an instructional DVD, Kate’s expert teaching skills will help projects come alive, right in your own studio.With Simple Soldering, the art of metal working one-of-a-kind jewelry is now at your fingertips.

    Authors James Watkins and Paul Wandless, along with a group of distinguished artisans, demonstrate in detail how to build low-cost, low-tech, yet high-quality kilns. The plans range from an easy, affordable, and versatile Raku Kiln to a unique wood-fueled Downdraft Stovepipe Barrel one. These clever devices make it possible to produce rich surface effects from alternative reduction firing techniques. In addition to showing the basic procedures for using each kiln, easy-to-follow directions for many fast-fire methods unfold in color photographs: You’ll see how to achieve terra sigillata surfaces with direct chemical application, and how to do traditional crackle-glaze raku and smoke finishes.