Product Description

"Embroidered Books" are enjoying a huge surge in popularity, and these precious items can be works of art in themselves. This beautiful guide by the acclaimed author of "Bags with Paper and Stitch" contains all the techniques for making a wide range of book styles, including books with sewn spines, wrap-up books, zig-zag books and wallet-style books, with both soft and hard backings and intricately constructed bindings. The books are then embellished with exquisite embroidery in many different styles - from a Wild West-influenced wallet book to a sewn book scattered with delicate flower petals. A wide range of materials is used, including all the latest specialist fabrics such as Lutradur and Extravorganza, plus hand-made paper and unusual found objects including seashells and driftwood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6420 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

Review
I cannot praise this book highly enough. It is tremendous. All the things a craft book should be - full of information, ideas and inspiration - the work is exquisite. On the practical side, the book contains all you need to know about book construction. There are numerous suggestions for embellishing book covers including digital imagery and printing. All are accompanied by detailed instructions. If you just try some of the projects from this book it would be worth the while, but I think you will want to have a go at most of them, which makes this book worth its weight in gold. Altered books have become very popular in recent years and this is the best of the books I have seen on the subject. This 128 page book is immaculately produced with high end printing, superb photography and clear instructions. --http://www.karenplatt.co.uk

About the Author
Isobel Hall is a teacher and textile designer who specialises in creating handmade paper and using it to make embroidered bags. She teaches papermaking, book-making and bag-making and also takes on commissions.

Customer Reviews

Good for inspiration - but some reservations
I bought this book because there aren't that many books that combine book making and textile art and also I liked what I saw via "Look Inside" - particularly the books with beaded and embroidered spines. Happily there are plenty of ideas - with instructions - for making books like these and there are lots more images of equally interesting books.

However, I do have some reservations, which as they concern things that may not be apparent from the information on Amazon, I'm passing on so that others can make up their minds whether this book is for them.

1. The technical section on book making covers 6 or 7 different styles of book - all of which are very easy to make. However in practice only 2 or 3 of these (eg Japanese stitched, Coptic stitched) are "proper" books (if I can put it that way), both of which have exposed spines. So be aware that covered spines (eg longstitch binding) aren't included - although you could probably figure out how to add one.

2. The book-making instructions are heavy on text with few diagrams and no in-progress photos. The instructions are clear but I know that I relied heavily on diagrams etc when I made my first books. If you also prefer to have pictures to refer to, one solution is to arm yourself with a back up book such as Suzanne Tourtillot Making & Keeping Creative Journals or Sue Doggett Handmade Books - which are both very accessible and will also give you lots more different styles of book to which you could adapt the ideas in this one. Isobel Hall references Shereen La Plantz Cover to Cover: Creative Techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals and Albums which is also good.

3. In the "embellishment" section there are some good ideas, including some textural techniques I haven't come across elsewhere. However, many of the projects are very specific as to the products to be used - eg Translucent Liquid Sculpey, Adirondack Alchohol Inks, DecoArt Sandstones, Stuart Gill paints, Evolon. I find this rather tiresome but I know some people welcome the certainty of having the exact recipe. Obviously some of the effects can't be achieved with alternative products and the products can be obtained by mail order (suppliers listed in the back of the book) so availability isn't a problem (if you don't mind having to do more shopping).