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My goodness, I have a pile of craft books awaiting reviews. Why didn’t someone tell me I was getting so far behind?
Anyway. Something interesting happened when I first thumbed through Jane Dunnewold’s Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric (affiliate link). I went looking for the projects, and there weren’t any.
…Well, it’s not that, exactly. The book is full of projects. But they’re all methods for transforming fabrics. The book leaves up to you what you actually make with those fabrics. The collection of 20 (or so) projects using the fabrics that we’re used to seeing in craft books is absent.
And that’s when I realized: “This is such a useful craft book format! A reference book I can use to enliven all kinds of other crafts.”
You might recall this post I did on why Japanese craft books so often trump American ones in my opinion. One of the reasons was that ubiquitous project collection, and another, slim educational quality. So I’m delighted with Art Cloth. It’s all technique, and the educational quality is lavish.
Each technique not only gets a complete step-by-step photo tutorial, it gets deep and thoughtful text on how to avoid errors and get good results.
Not only that, the absence of a project set allows room for a fantastic array of techniques. Just to give you a snapshot, this book teaches you how to:
- Use dyes and textile paints to achieve a wide array of effects
- Remove color from fabric in select areas
- Create your own stamps and stencils for printing on fabrics
- Make “resists” to build reverse patterns on fabrics
- Build and use a simple screenprinting rig
- Apply metal foils and leafing to fabrics
There have been other recent books on decorating fabrics for crafting, but to my mind, this one offers far more value for the price because of the educational depth. I’m sure it’s not essentially difficult to dye or paint fabric. But doing this without accidentally ruining the fabric, or bathing my kitchen in dye? This is where you need instructional details, and Art Cloth provides them.
I could see myself customizing cloth for home decor projects, and Kanzashi, and clothing. That’s the beauty here – I can take the techniques in any direction I want.
Incidentally, Jane Dunnewold has written two other books on fabric decoration, which you can see here. And you can see some of her beautiful cloth at her Art Cloth Studios website. Oh – and I should say, Interweave sent me a review copy of the book.
Ooohh, sounds like my kind of book! I don’t need someone to tell me What to make, but sometimes How to make it is really, really useful. Winging it isn’t always the best option… ;-)
*wishlisted*
I love technique-only books. I very seldom make projects from books, I prefer to use the techniques to make my own projects. I've seen several other technique books lately, I hope it's a trend!
Me too!!
YES! I'm dying to get my hands on this book. My friend, Kathleen McTee is in this book! She introduced me to Jane's work in the surface design and screen printing classes I've taken from her. They have been some of the most fun art/craft classes I've ever taken. Creating your own fabric is hugely empowering and just darn fun. So glad to see the book is done in this way – more books need to be like this! :)
Well for Pete's sake. It would never have occurred to me that a lack of projects would be a Good thing, but when you put it this way…!
This looks so yummy, and I have recently done some sun dyeing and really want to do more. There are so many things to do with cloth! I was actually going to wear some, and I thought… that's so last week!
That is a cool format. It actually made me think of my mom's complaint years ago when MTV first came out – they gave music images instead of leaving that up to the listener. Now I love me some cheesy videos but I did see her point. Sometimes having specific images or projects can be limiting in terms of thinking outside the book. I myself get stuck in how things should look or how the pattern was laid out. I'm always excited when my brain stops and the reroutes itself into something new and interesting!
Well said, Rayna! And I think that the blogosphere shows us more infinite project variety than any printed book could afford to do. At the very least, I would love to see print books collect projects along a specific skill level, so as a buyer I have a better chance of finding more of them appropriate.
I've been drooling over this book ever since it hit Amazon….. yum!
: )
Gail
This is a great book. I just posted a tutorial on my site of the glue resist lesson from her book and I'm giving the book away. Deadline is Thursday, August 19.
http://www.bloombakecreate.com/2010/08/resistan…
These bright images seem to lend a great vibrancy to the tutorials. Looks like a great design resource to own, thanks for the insights.