How Tea Cosies Changed the World


Book Description

Be drawn into a world of creative passion with the vibrant designs featured in How Tea Cosies Changed the World, Loani Prior's follow-up to REALLY Wild Tea Cosies. Loani's outrageous imagination has produced 24 new designs that transform the conventional tea cosy into a knitted piece of art. It's not just about tea cosies though: use the easy-to-follow instructions and try your hand at Loani's knitted purse, or expand your skills with the double-knitted scarf. Full of humour, flair and creativity, How Tea Cosies Changed the World will delight and inspire you.




Really Wild Tea Cosies


Book Description

From Loani Prior, author of the hugely successful Wild Tea Cosies, comes this entertaining, inspiring and easy-to-follow book featuring 20 even wilder knitted tea cosies. Loani turns this functional, homely item into a fabulously creative knitted sculpture full of vibrant colour and humour, something that will bring joy as well as warmth to your daily cup of tea. These tea cosies are easy enough for knitters of even the most basic skill level to make and assemble. Really Wild Tea Cosies also provides instructions on how to make ten knitted and crocheted decorations, such as flowers, leaves and fruit, which can be used to embellish your tea cosy, or worn on a lapel or scarf.




Pretty Funny Tea Cosies


Book Description

Loani Prior, tea cosy knitter extraordinaire, is back with more of her fabulously outrageous creations. Pretty Funny Tea Cosies contains 25 knitted cosies and pretty things, with the focus on the pretty: flowers, leaves, fruit, loopy stitches and beautifully knitted and woven fabric. Including basic stitches, techniques and patterns, Pretty Funny Tea Cosies is a must-have for knitters and crafters and anyone who has ever wanted to have a Tibetan Tea Warrior tea cosy.




Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop


Book Description

Help is on the way! In the tradition of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl, Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop shows how to banish those pesky dark Fairy creatures who are ready to thwart every last pleasure, be it gardening, country hikes, or even getting a good night’s sleep. In this charming guide, "fairy hunter" Reginald Bakeley offers practical instructions to clear your home and garden of these unsettling inhabitants, and banish them from your chicken coop and kitchen cupboard forever! In Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop readers will discover: Why a bustle in one’s hedgerow may be cause for alarm Why a garden fumigator may come in handy on evenings at the pub Why a toy merchant, a butcher, and a Freemason are among your best allies in the fight against the fey Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop is the only complete manual on how to identify, track, defend, and destroy those bothersome brownies, goblins, dwarves, scheming flowerfairies, and other nasty members of the fairy realm.




The Gentle Art of Domesticity


Book Description

Complemented by four hundred full-color photographs, a visual feast, celebrating everything that is wonderful about life and the domestic arts, explains how to apply a wide variety of practical skills in a creative way to transform the home, covering everything from needlework and cooking to gardening and homemaking.




The Urban Sketcher


Book Description

Make the world your studio! Capture the bustle and beauty of life in your town. Experience life as only an artist can! Join the rapidly growing, international movement of artists united by a passion for drawing on location in the cities, towns and villages where they live and travel. Packed with art and advice from Marc Taro Holmes, artist and co-founder of Urbansketchers.org, this self-directed workshop shows you how to draw inspiration from real life and bring that same excitement into your sketchbook. Inside you'll find everything you need to tackle subjects ranging from still lifes and architecture to people and busy street scenes. • 15 step-by-step demonstrations cover techniques for creating expressive drawings using pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor. • Expert tips for achieving a balance of accuracy, spontaneity and speed. • Practical advice for working in the field, choosing subjects, coping with onlookers, capturing people in motion and more. • Daily exercises and creative prompts for everything from improving essential skills to diverse approaches, such as montages, storytelling portraits and one-page graphic novels. Whether you are a habitual doodler or a seasoned artist, The Urban Sketcher will have you out in the world sketching from the very first page. By completing drawings on the spot, in one session, you achieve a fresh impression of not just what you see, but also what it feels like to be there . . . visual life stories as only you can experience them.




Public Sydney


Book Description

For the first time, see the making of Sydney and all its public buildings and places in exquisite drawings in this new book. For anyone who cares about Sydney, or cities in general -- whether a passionate city dweller, architect, landscape designer, planner, engineer or historian -- it offers a deep appreciation of the city's evolution.




Freehand Drawing and Discovery


Book Description

Features access to video tutorials! Designed to help architects, planners, and landscape architects use freehand sketching to quickly and creatively generate design concepts, Freehand Drawing and Discovery uses an array of cross-disciplinary examples to help readers develop their drawing skills. Taking a "both/and" approach, this book provides step-by-step guidance on drawing tools and techniques and offers practical suggestions on how to use these skills in conjunction with digital tools on real-world projects. Illustrated with nearly 300 full color drawings, the book includes a series of video demonstrations that reinforces the sketching techniques.




The Mammoth Book of Tasteless and Outrageous Lists


Book Description

Prepare to be even more revolted, flabbergasted, appalled and entertained by this incredible follow-up collection of bizarre but absolutely true trivia. Nothing is too distasteful for this astonishing compendium, including scores of eclectic lists to amuse, astonish and appal your friends. Entries include: 10 Road-kill Recipes History’s 10 Most Murderous Regimes 10 Historic Sex Toys 10 People who Married Their Nieces 10 Deaths by Sex 10 People Killed by Falling Animals 10 Ancient Remedies Containing Body Parts 10 Flatalogical Facts 8 Most Violent National Anthems 15 Premature Obituaries 10 Unusual Royal Deaths 10 Cruel and Unusual Punishments 10 Notable Executions 12 Elizabethan Insults




Chikankari


Book Description

Chikankari is one of the finest traditional embroideries of India, a symbol of Lucknawi culture and elegant courts of the nawabs of Awadh. Chikankari appeared in Lucknow in the late 18th century and its exquisite aesthetic and craftsmanship has sustained the tradition to this day, through changing patronage and market trends. Chikankari is not just about embroidery. Its legendary finesse is based on a creative blend of the delicate embroidery with very fine dressmaking and sewing techniques. This beautifully illustrated book showcases unknown gems from personal and public collections, and brings to life the history of this unique craft tradition. The various chapters describe the mysterious origins of the craft, the range of costumes, the inspirations behind it motifs, the time-honoured elaborate production process, and the bewildering array of stitches that raised this craft to a truly exceptional art form.