The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 51,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 12 Film Festivals
linked from http://steampunkbible.com/about/ - please click for the original or to order.
I placed an order at the public library a while back for Jeff Vandermeer’s The Steampunk Bible: An illustrated guided to the world of imaginary airships, corsets and goggles, mad scientists, and strange literature. I had to wait quite some time for it, and of course when there are other holds – it means you can’t renew the book. This, combined with my hectic schedule and lack of time to really curl up with this information-packed book means that I am not able right now to really review this book.
I honestly just haven’t gotten through it yet!
Music, television, fashion, jewelry, accessories, weaponry, film, books, sub-genres, theatre, events, costuming, illustrations, fantastical creations, makers, crafting, electronics, graphic novels, and I’m sure a few other dozen topics I missed are included in this book. There are clear, well-lit photos, great illustrations, excellent resources, and interesting profiles.
I hesitate even posting about this book without giving it a thorough review – but at the same time I didn’t want it to get lost in my own personal chaotic shuffle. I’ll be putting it on order, and hopefully in months to come when things calm down a bit (hmmm I’ve been saying that for several months now, haven’t I?) I’ll be able to come back and give this book a more detailed review. I will say just to start that it is not ‘easy’ to read. Normally even with a crazy schedule I can find the time to flip through a few pages, find the information I’m looking for, and then get sucked into reading until the wee hours of the morning. Despite my attempts at the same, this has not happened yet with this book… I have the impression that there is perhaps just TOO much information included for me to absorb at this point in time.
So, instead in the meantime I’ll link you to two other reviews, one glowing review entitled “The Steampunk Bible Should Be On Every Nightstand” from Wired.com, and another more critical view from blogcritics.com.
Have you read it? What are your impressions of the book thus far? Let me know in the comments below!
Image from Chapters/Indigo. Sorry if the image breaks in future - click for original or to purchase.
So, I’m still on the hunt for a good book that can teach me more about ribbon cockades and ribbonwork, in particular for millinery. However, while there are a lot of books with instructions about ribbon flowers, there doesn’t seem to be much on what I’m really looking for at this point. Boo!
The Secrets of Fashioning Ribbon Flowers by Helen Gibb is exactly that – a book on making fake flowers from ribbon. The book has clear illustrations and inspiring examples (mostly of examples using a LOT of individual flowers = time-consuming!) but the focus is entirely on flowers. The book starts off with some background, history, and supplies, then goes into individual flowers (sweet peas, cherry blossoms, gardenias, fuchsias, roses, etc.) and then into projects – bouquets, framed bouquets, lampshades, wreaths, topiary trees, broaches, pillows and more.
It’s a well-written and well-organized book. While a few of the designs relies on having access to a certain kind of ribbon or fabric (ie: off-white bias cut pink/peach ombre-dipped frayed silk for the carnations), many of the designs are shown in a variety of materials – for instance the folded roses are shown in a simple fabric ribbon, a metallic striped ribbon, and a metallic sheer ribbon – which I really appreciate because it shows how the same style can look very different when made up in something less than the expected fabric.
However, despite how good the book might be – it’s still not what I’m personally looking for. However, if you’re on the hunt for a good ribbon-flower-making book, with clear examples and good inspiration, consider picking this one up.
Image linked from Amazon, sorry if the link breaks in future! Click for original
While looking for ribbon working books, there were also a bunch of books I didn’t find as useful for what I was looking for, such as The Splendor of Ribbon published by Ofray (a ribbon manufacturer) written by Ellie Schneider. The book starts out with a bit of history about ribbons, and then goes into general techniques. While the techniques are illustrated – the illustrations and instructions don’t really help one another, and are somewhat confusing. I’m sure that some trial-and-error could be used to work out what the instructions are getting at – but there are other books out there that are far less confusing.
There are a number of projects in the book, ranging from tiny pillows to lampshades to decorative mini topiary trees. There is also a section on gift wrapping and a bridal section with a number of projects. Each of the projects refers back to the general techniques however, which makes the possibility of recreating the projects more difficult.
Generally speaking, I wouldn’t recommend this book (certainly not sight-unseen). Maybe check it out in-store first, or see if your local public library has it before making it an addition to your personal craft library.
Image from Chapters.ca - click for the original
In my ongoing search to find a cool pattern to effectively use my recently purchased Jelly Rolls, I picked up a few books, all by Pam and Nicky Lintott. This book, which I believe is their first on the topic, is a great book illustrating different quilt patterns using these cool, pre-cut and selected fabric assortments.
There are a number of different quilt patterns included, and they give the dimensions for the quilts they demonstrate – so if you want to make one larger you can estimate how much more fabric you’ll need, or alternately, how much you might have left over if you plan on making one that is smaller. Although I don’t always care for their colour choices (too bright, or too much contrast for my personal taste), they also have illustrations showing the quilt pattern. I find these somewhat easier to look at, evaluate the pattern, and see if it’s something that I might want to do.
I also like the addition of the variation quilts. I can imagine that for the designers, making two quilts that are the same except for a colour variation might become kind of boring, but I think this is a great idea for those of us who can’t really connect with a pattern if the colourway is distracting or doesn’t appeal to our sense of colour harmony.
At the back of the book they include a small quilted tote (use up all of those leftover pieces!) as well as a short section on quilting terms and techniques.
There are a few patterns in here that I really like – first the “bars of gold” -which I’ve known previously as Chinese Coins. It looks pretty simple, but I imagine doing it so the colours blend from one to the other just like they are displayed in the Jelly Roll. There is also a pattern for a Lone Star quilt – I’ve been wanting to tackle a Lone Star quilt for a while, and have another book full of ideas, but perhaps a Jelly Roll is a good place to start?
Ah.. now if only I had a workable sewing room and the time to sew!
Finished hat on my Styrofoam head (keep in mind the head is smaller than my own..)
In preparation for the Millinery class I took, I started looking at a number of books on hats. While my main interest was on hat-making rather than just beautiful books on hats themselves, a little inspiration never hurts!
One of the books I picked up was Hats in Vogue since 1910 – written by Christina Probert. It was published in 1981, and the age is showing in the publication – the most “modern” hats in the book are distinctly 1980′s – and having lived through the 80′s (however young I was), I find the level of taste of 80′s fashions really questionable.
The majority of the images are taken from the pages of Vogue magazine, so this book is as much about hats as it is about what Vogue found fashionable and interesting at the times when the images were published. A number of the images are paintings with little detail – more just an impression of the hat rather than something to really learn from. Some are very nice illustrations – much more useful. The majority of the images are photographs though, and in many cases the photographs are editorialized – so a hat becomes just an element in the fashion story rather than the story itself. This makes for a nice photo, but not the most useful photograph.
Ultimately, I took this book back – it just didn’t give me what I was looking for.
Oh… and I couldn’t find a photo of the cover anywhere online… so instead you get a photo of one of my hats from the millinery class!
(Along with an apology I’ve been such a bad blogger lately…. between vacation, a still-chaos-ridden sewing space, and a crazy-work-and-social-life, I haven’t been able to make DDD a priority!)
Photo of the cover
Another book I picked up (from my library- a great way of trying a variety of books before spending money on ones to add to my library) on my seemingly never-ending search for some instruction on how to make ribbon cockades for millinery is The Complete Photo Guide to Ribbon Crafts by Elaine Schmidt. Unfortunately the link on Amazon won’t let me grab the cover image for you! However, as luck has it, Google Books has a little bit of the beginning (all on bow tying I’m afraid though!) for free, so click the link to take a look inside!
Since I was specifically looking for books on ribbon cockades and flowers for millinery, I really thought that this book might be a bit TOO simple. After all, who needs a book to know how to tie a bow, right? However, unlike the other books I picked up, this one actually does have a few (albeit very simple 
) cockades along with over a hundred other projects (some valuable, some much less so).
To start off, the book includes sections on:
The sections I liked the best were the individual-petal flowers (in particular a beautiful orange wired-ribbon day lily) and the cockade like ‘rosettes’ – namely the ribbon wheel rosette, petal rosette, and star-point rosette. I actually started on one of the simple ribbon-wheel rosettes a while back, but with all of the renovation shuffle, haven’t been able to finish it yet! Boo!
Ok.. so here’s my plea to the readers of this blog… where should I look next for information on making beautiful ribbon cockades? Help!
Image linked from Amazon - please forgive if the link breaks in future - and click to purchase!
A while back I was looking for books on ribbon folding specifically to make cockades. One of the books I saw recommended online was The Artful Ribbon by Candace Kling. If I remember correctly, she teaches some workshops on cockade making, and has a great Etsy shop of the same. (If I’m mixing her up with another author, please forgive me… it’s late, and I’m not feeling especially research-y…)
Since I had started looking for books on ribbon work with the idea of making cockades for millinery, I was at first disapointed with this book, as there is next to nothing resembling cockades, and the majority of the flowers in the book seem most suited to attach to fabrics (like garments or home decorating) rather than standing on their own as a decoration that might be removable on a hat or bag.
However, upon further review of the book, I began to see how truly valuable it is. It is incredibly well illustrated and photographed to start out – and although time (or rather, a lack of time) keeps me from being able to charge right in and start making bouquets of silk ribbon flowers – I imagine that following the instructions would be very easy. There is also an abundance of information and research about materials, flowers, storage, care, and other information. This really does seem like a valuable resource for the home crafter.
Sections in the book inlcude:
My only complaint – and it’s the same as I have for most crafting books; the successful replication of any of the projects hinges heavily on the ability to source the right fabrics and materials. I understand that there’s no way to really replicate something, but at the same time, a lot of the projects are SO much more successful when done in certain materials rather than others. For instance, do you have a source for gold to yellow ombre lace-edge, wired ribbon? No? Then your daffodil won’t look the same… How about green pinstriped wired ribbon with stripes in dark green on a pale green surface? No? Then your leaves likely won’t look the same… I have found that ombre ribbon (let alone wired ombre ribbon) is very difficult to find locally, and the idea of shipping in ribbon seems just a little silly right now frankly. I’ll certainly keep my eyes open, and when I do find some – this definitly will be a book I’ll return to!
What are your thoughts? Do you find that a lot of sewing/crafting books rely too heavily on the “right” materials, or would you be perfectly happy with a polka-dot daffodil, if that’s the only kind of ribbon you could find?
I realize that I haven’t posted in a while, and I feel kind of bad about it – but work and the rest of my life has just been so busy lately! In fact, I picked up a few books on ribbon/fabric flowers a while ago, and other than flipping through them, haven’t really had much time at all to read – or for that matter, review – them!
So, am I back on track now? Not really. I don’t anticipate having a lot more spare time in the near future, but in the meantime, at least I can prepare a FEW little posts!
Image linked from Chapters - sorry if it breaks in future! Click to purchase!
First up, Fun-to-Wear Fabric Flowers by Elizabeth Helene Searle.
The cover art is deceptive – in the sense that it really doesn’t do the rest of the book and the rest of the photos justice. It seems a bit dated to me, while the book is only from 2006, and other interior photos don’t have that same vaguely 1980′s vibe… Take a look at the back cover instead to get a better sense of it!
Like most crafty/sewing books, the book starts out with a substantial section with the basic how-tos. Good for those who might be picking up a needle for the first time in a while, but I’m getting to the point where I just skip this section entirely. From there there are several individual projects, but many of them very, very similar, with variations only in fabric and size. The types of flowers the book covers includes:
I found the first half of the book a bit too simple, and a bit too “this doesn’t really look at all like a flower” – or, so highly dependent on having the perfect fabric, as to not really be do-able for what I have these flowers in mind for (millinery of course!). However, I really liked the look of the poppies (using six strips of fabric for the petals, a black yo-yo for the center and purchased stamens) and there is a good section on folded roses which might be useable.
(From the book, in my own words)
So… I would love to have some photos to show off in this post of flowers I’ve made from this book. But, alas, I haven’t had hardly any time to sew at all (one alteration and one quick robe that was already cut out pre-renovation…) so there’s nothing to share!
Linked from Chapters, sorry if the link breaks in time! Click for the original
After taking a look at Steampunk Emporium I thought it would be interesting to see what other Steampunk books are out there. Well – there’s a lot!
One of the ones I picked up was The Art of Steampunk by Art Donovan. This isn’t a craft book in any way; instead the book profiles a number of steampunk artists and their creations. The book starts out with a bit of information about steampunk, what it is, and how the author curated an exhibit at the Museum of the History of Science in the UK. The introduction is followed up with an essay on Steampunk by author G.D. Falksen.
The rest of the book is devoted to the individual artists and some of their creations. The book is mostly focused on showcasing the art, with a brief biography on each artist. The majority of the pieces (some functional, some simply for display) are beautiful, but with the high level of skill from the artists, the pieces are less inspirational than I was hoping for. I think this book really seems like an extension of a book found at a gallery or museum exhibit, and less of a stand-alone book to introduce people to the art of steampunk. With that being said, the book is certainly well-done, and the pieces selected within it are exceptional, and really show off that true artists (rather than crafters) are deeply passionate about this subculture!
Have you picked up this book? What do you think?
