Book Talk

Keep Busy!

Sigh…we’re entering that long dull stretch of time everyone dreads. So, to help you pass the time till spring, I’ll share some of the craft/hobby books that have recently arrived.

The first is every woodworker’s fantasy book, Great Workshops from Fine Woodworking. The editors have chosen an assortment of shops of serious woodworkers, and they are lovely. For the weekend carpenter are more practical ideas for using available space wisely and low cost adaptations of expensive improvements.

You will need something to put in your shop, so check out Andy Rae’s Choosing & Using Hand Tools. He discusses the various types of tools, their use, care, and even the proper way to hold them.

For those of you who want more power, David Thiel offers Power Tool Maintenance. Setting up, squaring up, cleaning and repair are covered.

Home from the Hardware Store: Transform Everyday Materials into Fabulous Home Furnishings by Stephen Antonson and Kathleen Hackett, is full of amazing uses for those cool looking thing-a-ma-jigs in the hardware store. From a plumbing part candelabrum, a drop cloth curtain, foil tape wall paper, to a robot floor lamp, you will see all those mundane objects with a new eye.

Vintage Paper Crafts, by Anna Corba, will have you going through those piles of paper in your favorite junk store. Using old sheet music, post cards, bills and pages from old books, you can create projects whimsical to practical.

Dust off the sewing machine, there is no end to the things you can make. Lily Shahravesh’s Canine Couture: 25 Projects: Fashion & Life style Accessories for Designer Dogs has projects for beginners as well as accomplished seamstresses. Really! Your dog does need that deerstalker hat!

For the quilters we have Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks from the Global Village, by Myrah Brown Green. Quilters are known for commemorating milestones with a special quilt and this will help. Symbols from different parts of the globe, both sacred and secular, with instructions, are included.

American Girl Dolls continue to maintain their popularity and you certainly want your girl to be well-dressed. Our latest addition is Sew Today’s Fashions for 18-inch Dolls, by Joan Hinds.  Clothes for sport- basketball, bathing suit, soccer uniform and warm up suit-, skirts and tops for school, dress up wear, and even a suede jacket are included.

Jewelry makers can produces spectacular results with metal clay. In Metal Clay Origami Jewelry: 25 Contemporary Projects, Sara Jayne Cole adapts origami techniques to the sheets of metal clay. She explains the techniques for working in this medium as well as the traditional folding techniques.

Now, I’m not saying that winter will drive you to drink, but you might consider wine making.  And it seems that you don’t even need grapes.  Check out 101 Recipes for Making Wild Wines at Home: a Step-by-Step Guide to Using Herbs, Fruits and Flowers, by John Peragine. Denmark wine anyone? (Main ingredient- Brussels sprouts!)

See, winter is almost gone…

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian