Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist


Cay Lang - 1998
    An internationally exhibited photographer and teacher, Lang offers the wisdom of experience, combined with enthusiasm and gentle humor, to guide artists through the ins and outs of the art business. Practical and inspiring, this revised and updated edition offers two new chapterson using the Internet and the media to best effectplus provides step-by-step advice on preparing presentation materials; finding and dealing with galleries (as well as bypassing the traditional gallery system); handling rights, royalties, and taxes; an extensive resource list; and other invaluable information for both beginning artists and those ready to take the next step in their careers.

Sew Stow: 31 Fun Sewing Projects to Carry, Hold, and Organize Your Stuff, Your Home, and Yourself!


Betty Oppenheimer - 2008
    Whatever your experience and wherever the mess, you can sew up a cloth sack or organizer to fit your needs. Gardening tools, groceries, shoes, toys, jewelry, and more will find new homes in these colorful and reusable handmade alternatives to mass-produced products. With Betty Oppenheimer’s easy-to-follow instructions for 31 fun and functional projects, you’ll be inspired to break out your needles and create a more organized, bright, and eco-friendly home.

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera


Bryan Peterson - 1990
    Peterson stresses the importance of metering the subject for a starting exposure, and then explains how to use various exposure meters and different kinds of lighting. The book contains lessons on each element of the exposure-aperature, shutter speed, iso-and how it relates to the other two in terms of depth of field, freezing and blurring action, and shooting in low light or at night. A section on special techniques explores such options as deliberate under- and overexposures, how to produce double exposures, bracketing, shooting the moon, and the use of filters. Understanding Exposure demonstrates that there are always creative choices about how to expose a picture-and that the decision is up to the photographer, not the camera.

Knitting Mochimochi: 20 Super-Cute Strange Designs for Knitted Amigurumi


Anna Hrachovec - 2010
    But could the toy be a couch, or an old-fashioned television? Is that too weird? Not if the toy is mochimochi, the super-cute and strange knitted toys author Anna Hrachovec created after fallingi n love with the bizarre character designs that are popular in Japan. A mochimochi can be anything, from fearsome baby gators to pigs with beehive hairdos, from the toe-nibbling monster slippers to an assortment of itty-bitty hamsters, micro mountains, and human beans complete with comb-overs!And what knitter doesn't need a diversion from the usual socks, hats, and scarves? Many of these toys take less than an hour to make. Don't worry, even a beginner can learn to knit mochimochi. If your toy comes out a little lumpy, it'll only add to its personality!Whether it's a bite-free bed bug, a smiling smokestack, or a grouchy couch--these 20 toys are quirkier than teddy bears but every bit as adorable.

Bead One, Pray Too: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads


Kimberly Winston - 2008
    Every major world religion has a tradition of praying with beads and all are explored here, including the history and use of beads and specific prayers.Describes in detail and with diagrams how to make sets of prayer beads for personal use.

How to Sell Your Art Online: Live a Successful Creative Life on Your Own Terms


Cory Huff - 2016
    But with the explosion of the Internet, a new generation of savvy, independent artists is connecting with buyers and making a substantial living doing what they love. How to Sell Your Art Online shows any artist how to make a successful living from their work. Cory Huff dispels the myth of the starving artist and provides the effective business strategies necessary to make artistic creations pay. He helps individual artists find their niche; outlines the elements essential for an effective website; and provides invaluable advice on e-mail marketing, blogging, social media marketing, and paid advertising—explaining how to tie all these online activities into offline success.Most importantly, he shares the secret to overcoming the biggest challenge artists face when self-marketing: learning how to tell their unique stories. Every artist has a reason for making art, but can’t always find the right way to express it. Huff provides exercises artists can use to clarify the intellectual and emotional process behind their art, and teaches them how turn that knowledge into stories they can tell online and in person—and expand their reach through blogs and social media to build their art business. Drawing from the stories of successful artists, thoroughly describing how art is sold today, and providing tips on how to build connections personally and electronically, How to Sell Your Art Online illustrates the countless ways artists can take control of their creative careers—and sell their work without selling out.

Print Liberation: The Screen Printing Primer


Jamie Dillon - 2008
    Even if you're starting out in a scary basement or in the tiny bathroom in your cramped apartment with a $40 budget, Print Liberation will show you everything you need to know to get started. And if you're already in a rented studio with a few bucks to spend, this book can help you turn screen printing into your personal art or business.Seriously, this is a completely comprehensive how-to guide. You'll start by learning the history of the craft accompanied by graphic illustrations. Then, step-by-step photographs walk you through the ins and outs of all the main screen-printing techniques, including printing on dimensional surfaces, such as walls and goats (although the latter is not recommended). You'll even find advice about how to turn screen printing into a money-making venture, either by selling your work through galleries or by offering your services locally to make posters, T-shirts and anything else people might need.You can do it. Your imagination is your only limitation.

Crochet One-Skein Wonders®: 101 Projects from Crocheters around the World


Judith Durant - 2013
    Whatever your experience level, you'll find something here to delight you!

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt


Megan Nicolay - 2006
    This inspirational guide with DIY attitude has everything you need to know about the world’s great T-shirt: how to cut it, sew it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and best of all, transform it. • Features more than 100 projects (plus 200 variations) for customized tees, tank tops, tube tops, T-skirts—even handbags, a patchwork blanket, iPod cozies, leg warmers, and more. • Not a DIY expert? Not to worry. More than one third of the projects are no sew, meaning anyone who can wield a pair of scissors can put a personal stamp on her wardrobe. But the sewing basics are here too: backstitch and whipstitch, gather and ruche, appliqué and drawstrings. • And the mission statement for Generation T: Ask not what your T-shirt can do for you; ask what you can do for your T-shirt. And then Do-It-Yourself!

The Craft of Bookbinding


Manly Miles Banister - 1994
    Book sewing of all types (antique, flexible, lockstitch, whipstitch), plus how to make endpapers, attach headbands, case in, cover with cloth and other materials, add titling and decoration, much else. Updated list of suppliers. 254 illustrations and photographs.

Sewing Happiness: A Year of Simple Projects for Living Well


Sanae Ishida - 2016
    Each seasonal project, specially designed to promote health, creativity, relationships and more, provides gentle inspiration to live your best life. When Ishida was diagnosed with a chronic illness and lost her corporate job, she thought her life was over. But these challenges ended up being the best thing that ever happened to her because they forced her to take stock of her life and focus on the important things, and enabled her to rediscover sewing--her true passion.   Inspired to succeed at just one thing, Ishida vowed to sew all of her daughter's clothes (and most of her own) for one year. Sewing Happiness includes 20 projects plus variations (including Japanese-inspired home goods and children’s and women’s clothing) organized by season, and stitched together with Ishida’s charming personal story.

The Artist in the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week


Summer Pierre - 2010
    Based on the hit handmade 'zine, The Artist in the Office is an inspirational, interactive book for any artist living in the real world. It encourages small acts of creativity and a simple shift of perspective to help readers bring their artistic selves into the workplace and thrive in all aspects of their lives. Readers are prompted to undertake a wide range of liberating activities, from the mundane to the sublime, that won't put their 9-to- 5 job at risk, including: •Take lunchtime adventures to rouse your spirit: a bookstore, a flower shop, or a park •Pick one ordinary object each day and take pictures every time you see it: coffee mugs, shoes, office plants •Get up an hour early or stay up an hour later and devote the time to your creative work. Schedule it in like any other mandatory appointment or meeting •Collect doodles from Post-Its or notebooks and reassemble them in a sketchbook

Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs: 144 Circles, Hexagons, Triangles, Squares, and Other Unexpected Shapes


Edie Eckman - 2008
    But if it's hip to make squares, imagine the excitement of making circles, stars, triangles, and hexagons. Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs introduces crocheters to more than 150 designs of every size and shape. Full-color photographs capture the intricate details and color work of each motif, and clear step-by-step instructions are presented in both text and visual formats. With its unexpected range of shapes, designs, and color ideas, Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs will keep enthusiasts happy for a very long time!

Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter


Alison Hansel - 2007
    Charmed Knits offers dozens of patterns for items that evoke the mystique of Harry Potter - a Wizard Robe, an Invisibility Shawl, a Quidditch Sweater, Ron's Ragg Raglan, a Clock Blanket, Harry Christmas Ornaments, and more. Easy-to-follow patterns, color photos of the finished projects, and illustrations of special stitch patterns and design elements make it easy for all knitters - from beginners to those at Mrs. Weasley's level - to work knitting magic. Charmed Knits whisks you away on a wonderful journey. Along the way, you can pick patterns inspired by the Weasleys, stock up at Diagon Alley, show your house colors, conjure up gifts, or create pieces to help you feel at home in the magical world of Harry Potter.

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity


Felicia Day - 2019
    Including Felicia’s personal stories and hard-won wisdom, Embrace Your Weird offers: —Entertaining and revelatory exercises that empower you to be fearless, so you can rediscover the things that bring you joy, and crack your imagination wide open —Unique techniques to vanquish enemies of creativity like: anxiety, fear, procrastination, perfectionism, criticism, and jealousy —Tips to cultivate a creative community —Space to explore and get your neurons firing Whether you enjoy writing, baking, painting, podcasting, playing music, or have yet to uncover your favorite creative outlet, Embrace Your Weird will help you unlock the power of self-expression. Get motivated. Get creative. Get weird.