Reviews (6)

A Reference that Really Works
I have learned so much from this book. Holly Brackmann explains not only the how-to aspect of surface design in incredible detail & easy-to-follow steps, but also the how-it-works aspect of the processes. She begins her book with an all-important chapter on safety and then goes on to explain dyes, fibers & fabrics, followed by a chapter on color. Then she gets into explaining not only dyes (e.g., fiber-reactive, acid, vat, and disperse), but also discharging, screen printing, monoprinting, stamping, stenciling, resists, devore, textile painting, & embellishments. I love the clear instructions of the processes and the amazing photos, but what I love the most is that she empowers the user to explore and become profient in the processes. That empowering of the student is the mark of a great teacher.

TREAT YOURSELF!
Whatever your interest in textiles--weaving, quilting, or surface design--and whatever your level of expertise--beginner to professional--this well-written reference will be your most valuable tool.Many years of teaching experience and lots of research are reflected here.It is easy to read, easy to use and VERY easy on the eyes.Thank you Holly!

Instruction and inspiration all in one volume
Holly Brackmann's beautifully produced new book, The Surface Designer's Handbook: Dyeing, Printing, and Creating Resists on Fabric, is both a "how to" and a "why." Drawing on her many years' experience as a fiber artist and a college-level textile arts instructor, Brackmann covers the topics promised in the title of her book--and then some--in an encyclopedic manner. Chapters on the different topics begin with readable summaries of the historical and technological development of the process. Clear and detailed recipes and instructions for each process enable beginners to proceed step by step to successful and rewarding results as well as remind the more experienced of pitfalls to watch out for and enhancements to experiment with. The attractive arrangement of a hidden spiral binding is a practical element that enables the user to keep the book open to a particular page while working. Safety considerations, helpful hints, and other useful lists are set apart in different type and colored boxes for easy reference. The "why" comes in with the hundreds of excellently reproduced photographs of the work of Brackmann and many other fiber artists. These illustrations make the book an inspiration to artists as well as a delight for all others interested in the scope and range of textile arts today. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Design - Textile & Costume    4. Dye    5. Dyes and dyeing, Domestic    6. Hobbies/Crafts    7. Textile Arts    8. Textile Fabric (Applied Arts)    9. Arts & crafts design    10. Crafts & Hobbies / Dye   

Reviews (3)

Frustrating and very poorly edited
Did anyone actually do the problems given in the book?If they did they would have discovered that key strokes are missing and some dimensions are wrong.Awful, don't bother.

Editing?
The material is worthwhile, but the editors have let down the authors on this text. I found too many errors to be excused. Errors focused on spelling and missing keystroke information.
Beginner
This book is the best in the industry. There is no other book that can teach you mastercam mill from scratch, trust me i looked. I can't wait till they come out with their lathe version. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. CAD-CAM - General    2. CAD/CAM systems    3. Dye    4. Industrial Technology    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technical & Manufacturing Trades    7. Technology    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Engineering: general   

Reviews (7)

One of the best Shibori books written
Being a member of the Seattle Weavers' Guild, I've been lucky enough to have friends teach Shibori and other resist dyeing in our group.This book is terrific and details the 'how to' very well.I'm very pleased to have this book in my library and I have to say the price was excellent.

A "must have" resource book
This is an invaluable resource for any textile arts student.Or any shibori enthusiast.Detailed illustrations and exceptional photos help define and identify ancient techniques and MAY encourage elbow-deep participation among the adventurous. Gambatte!

Fiber Artists Respond to 'Shibori'
In the spring or early summer of 2003 the Surface Design Conference was held in Kansas City sponsored by the KC Art Institute. This conference is an association of mostly fiber or fabric artists that is held periodically for the membership. It was attended by artists from throughout the US and several overseas countries. Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Hobbies/Crafts    5. Japan    6. Textile arts   

Reviews (2)

Wow!!
This is some book.This goes beyond your normal techniques.It was mindblowing with the endless possibilities for manipulation of all sorts of fabrics.

The best book that's been done about contemporary shibori
Shibori is the Japanese word for resist-dyeing. There are three shibori techniques: tie-dye (those Sixties hallucinoform tee-shirts); clamp-resist (being pressed between two boards or tied tightly around a pole), and wax-resist (batik). It is an extremely old technique, perhaps the first to impose upon cloth a pattern that wasn't woven there. Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Hobbies/Crafts    5. Resist-dyed textiles    6. Sewing    7. Textile Arts - General    8. Tie-dyeing    9. Fashion design    10. Japan    11. Textile arts   

Reviews (1)

This book is awesome!!
I have been looking all over for books on transfer painting to cloth.This is worth it, especially if you can get a used copy.I wish I could find more books on the topic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Hobbies/Crafts    5. Painting    6. Quilts & Quilting    7. Textile Arts - General    8. Textile printing    9. Transfer-printing   

Reviews (5)

I love it!
This book has so much information for beginners and the more experienced. I've taken a few workshops and this book gives me what I need to continue on my own. I love her use of colors and textures. There are so many ideas! The patterns are helpful so we know how to best use our dyed yarns. I recommend this book to everyone who loves color, knitting, dyeing, textures.......... It has it all.

Very very fine book.
Just makes you want to dye your own yarn. Beautiful pictures and patterns. Easy to understand as well.

Inspiring Even If Your Not Ready to Try Dyeing Your Own Yarn
When I buy a gourmet cookbook I know I may never cook a recipe that has multiple steps and takes hours but I still enjoy reading the recipe and taking away the inspiration to create a fabulous meal for my family and friends.Like a gourmet cookbook, Elaine Eskesen's "Dyeing to Knit" is thoroughly enjoyable even if you are not sure you are ready to dye your own yarn.The book is filled with beautiful photos, wonderful colorcombinations, design ideas, and fun techniques that you can pour over for hours.
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Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Dyes and dyeing    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Knitting    7. Needlework - Knitting    8. Patterns    9. Textile fibers    10. Yarn    11. Crafts & Hobbies / General   

Reviews (1)

Excellent book for Dye Painting
This book is the quintessential book for showing many, many techniques that can be employed in dye painting cotton or silk fabric usingcold water dyes.Ann's methodical and orderly approach to showing all the different techniques makes the book a great reference for the more experienced dyer and also a great book for beginners.With this book and Ann's other book (Color by Accident) in your libary, you will have unlimited resources to dye your own beautiful fabric.This is the authoritative book for dye painting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies / Dye    2. Cotton fabrics    3. Crafts & Hobbies    4. Dye    5. Dyes and dyeing    6. Fabrics    7. Silk   

Reviews (1)

Beginners Basics
A great book for beginners. It covers everything you will need to get started and finish your first project. It will take you step by step through many different types of painting and dyeing. This book is a keeper that you can refer to time and again. It is easy to understand and well illistrated. If you want one book to get you started, try this one. It is the only book you will need. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Dyes and dyeing    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Painting    7. Quilts & Quilting    8. Textile Arts - General    9. Textile fibers    10. Textile painting    11. Gardening    12. Handicrafts   

Reviews (7)

Tie Dye The How to Book
This book was the best! I bought four, two historic, the other way to in-depth and not explanitary enough in simple, quick and easy terms- that was the one AMAZON asked me to write about... but I chose to write about this one instead! This book led me ( mother of a two year old boy-meaning-bath time reading only and dented attention span) by the hand - in easy pease lemon squeezy mode - to instruct 15 or more mothers AND their childrenat a nursery school!Thank you for applying yourself in sharing the knowledge.. for quick answers and quick easy read before the tie dye project- BUY THIS ONE!

Good, but not good enough
Virginia has a good starter book for tie-dye, but like the majority of tie-dye content - only skims the surface. I prefer Jacquard's "Tie Dye To Die For & Batik You Can't Resist" book at $5.95 vs. this how-to book. To be fair, I would purchase it to see her lovely tie-dye work, but as a "how-to" I might look elsewhere.
Best starter book
This book was the best starter book I've found on tie-dye.The steps are easy to follow and many resources are given on creating great tie-dye from scratch.I've met the author at craft festivals where they show the clothes.They are amazing people and create incredible artwork.Better than anything out there.The eldest son just inherited the business and I look forward to what new things they create.Their company is Harmony Enterprises and are located at:http://harmonytie-dyes.com ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Crafts & Hobbies    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Dye    5. Fashion    6. General    7. Textile Arts    8. Tie-dyeing    9. Needlework & fabric crafts   

Reviews (7)

Best Spinning book going
This has to be the most informative spinning book I've come across.For me it has been most helpful in detailing carding & spinning tips & tricks. Several 'ah-ha' moments while reading then spinning.I highly recommend this book for any beginner spinner.Totally inspiring to do more & push the limits!!

Indespensable, with great examples and exercises
Deb Menz's approach to using color in handspinning is firmly based on color theory yet fairly easy to understand and execute, with the help of photographed examples and formulas, exercises, etc.I own the Twisted Sister's book, which is good for inspiration but rather vague in terms of instruction and creating repeatable results.Menz covers handpainting, carding, combing and plying, and shows you how to use colors to achieve different results in each method.I feel that it's probably the only book I need on this subject, I love it!

Full of information, but why?
Debbie Menz is a fiber artist, and knows color like no one else.Yet I wonder why the processes have to be so lengthy and difficult?I let my grandsons--6 and 8 years old--dye some fiber this summer and spun it up randomly and ended up with wool looking similar to hers with minimal effort.The book is worth buying for the color theory, but I think there are less time consuming ways to produce the same spectacular yarns. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Engineering - Chemical & Biochemical    5. General    6. Hobbies/Crafts    7. Knitting    8. Needlework - Knitting    9. Textile Arts    10. Crafts & Hobbies / Dye    11. Spinning & weaving   

Reviews (2)

Definitely for beginners
The book is well written and has great illustrations and especially good information on products for the beginner.It really shows how much fun textile surface design can be however I must stress that if you have done much work with surface design at all, this book will not be very challenging.It is a great book for beginners!.

Great Ideas and Instructions
What a lot of great ideas in this book.The instructions were easy to follow, and the designs were so beautiful.I am just a beginner with designing for my home, but with this book I know I can do it.Thanks for the wonderful book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acrylic painting    2. Crafts & Hobbies    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Decorating    5. Dye    6. Furniture painting    7. Hobbies/Crafts    8. Stencil work    9. Technique    10. Textile painting    11. Crafts & Hobbies / Sewing    12. Decorative arts & crafts    13. Handicrafts   

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Fashion    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Textile Arts - General    7. Textile design    8. Crafts & Hobbies / General    9. Needlework & fabric crafts    10. PHILOSOPHY - PHLSPHY GEN TRD PB   

Reviews (5)

Lots of fun dying with this book!
I checked this book out of our local Library, hoping to learn a few things... I liked it so much, I didn't want to take it back to the library, so I had to buy it!
Could have been better...
I got this book for the 'secret to self-patterning yarns'.Okay, this really could have been done in a much smaller book, foccusing on just the dyeing technique.
yarns to dye For
I ordered this book for my daughter and I know she enjoyed this book and she has already dyed her wool of our sheep and she is knitting now and it looks lovely.Thanks for this good book ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Dyes and dyeing    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Knitting    7. Needlework - Knitting    8. Patterns    9. Textile fibers    10. Weaving    11. Yarn    12. Crafts & Hobbies / Knitting   

Reviews (2)

Essential to anyone interested in dyeing yarn
From indigo to synthetic vat dyes, the procedures, safety precautions and methods to create your own beautifully custom colored yarns is in this small but power-packed spiral manual. I myself had prepared an indigo bath once, and enjoyed watching the slightly yellow bath turn greenish yarn startlingly blue-jeans blue when shaken in air (Utterly fascinating. If you teach school chemistry or home school, this manual could be a semester of science work.)
Packing in everything from dyeing recipes to disposal advice
Any crafter who works with fibers and fabric and is interested in custom dye work will consider this little spiral-bound book an essential reference packing in everything from dyeing recipes to disposal advice and a color section of color-graduated yarn samples. The Dyer's Companion is no mere 'how to tye dye' craft book, but a serious fabric artist's guide to working with color in diverse materials.
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Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Dyes and dyeing, Domestic    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Textile Arts    7. Crafts & Hobbies / Dye    8. Handicrafts   

Reviews (2)

Lots of new ideas in this book
What I like about this book is that it is so visual - there are a lot of pictures and ideas. This book has inspired me to be more adventurous and try out new things. I like being able to see the different techniques and how they were put to use.

not as expected
THIS BOOK IS AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR OTHER PROGRAMS. WANTED A BOOK THAT EXPLAINED HOW TO DO MANY PROJECTS. THIS SHOWS PICTURES OF COMPLETED PROJECTS BUT DOES NOT SHOW HOW .EXAPLEA PICTURE OF A KALEIDOSCOPE BUT HAS NO EXPLAINATION OF HOW DO DO IT.IN ORDER TO PRINT OUT MANY PROJECTS YOU NEED TO PURCHASE OTHER SOFTWARE.WANTED TO DO A MONTAGE BUT FOUND OUT AFTER I ORDERED BOOK YOU NEED TO PURCHASE ARC SOFT. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Graphic Design    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Papercrafts    7. Photographs on cloth    8. Quilts & Quilting    9. Textile Arts    10. Textile printing    11. Transfer-printing    12. Quiltmaking   

Reviews (7)

Great pictures.
Out of all the natural dye books that I've pruchaced, this one has definately been the most helpful and the most used. The color photographs of the dye-plants used makes plant identification simple. Also the color photos of the cloth swatches after dyeing with all combinations of dye-stuff, mordants and modifiers makes a lot of the guess work disappear. This book has been my best purchase yet!

Very Useful, In a general way
This is a great book for beginners and old hands looking for a few new ideas to expand their color range.It has a large listing of plant materials and detailed instructions for different dye baths and it is one of the few books I have seen that treats both cellulose and protein dyes.My only dissapointment is in the color swatches, which are really just printed ink bloches on the sides of each page. Photographs would have been a much better inclusion.

Wild Colors from Natural Sources
I bought this book in order to learn about using natural dyestuffs.The format makes it easy for the beginner to explore natural materials available around the house and also for materials ordered from a dyers supply.Following her directions, I was able to successfully dye wool fibers using goldenrod, cochineal, logwood and daylilies from my yard.I highly recommend this book for the beginning fiber artist interested in natural dye sources. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Dye plants    5. Dyes and dyeing, Domestic    6. General    7. Hobbies/Crafts    8. Textile Arts    9. Handicrafts   

Reviews (2)

Recipe for success
This is a delight. The recipes for different effects are so clear, and the demonstration pieces show exactly what will (should) happen if you have more or less paint, do it in a different order, etc. I can't wait to make some sample pieces. It could have been even better with photos of the jobs being done, or stages and tools in the process. Very inspirational.

Gets your creative juices flowing!
Expand your fabric "stash" and create your own beautiful, easy to do hand painted delights.Sue Beevers's recipes are easy to follow & all the paints & suppiles are easy to find around your home & the local craft store.As a quilter I found this book to not only get my "juices flowing" painting delicious fabrics, but to also nudge me back to the design wall!This is an excellent addition to any fabric artist's library.Even if your time is limited, you can create beautiful fabrics very easily.Once you do one recipe you'll want to do them all!Wonderful book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts / Hobbies    2. Dye    3. Hobbies/Crafts    4. Quilts & Quilting    5. Textile painting    6. Needlework & fabric crafts    7. Painting & paintings   

Reviews (3)

Beautiful.
Yoshiko Jinzenji has made a beautiful book showing her magnificient quilts and pieces of fabric arts. An exquisite portrait of an exquisite mind
A piece of fabric is the pulse of life is written across our eyes by drape, shape, texture, and hue. Art forms, and perhaps art itself, have their own genetic codes-forms of doubling and redoubling that, as DNA does with the cell, determine a look, a feel, a character, an emotion. Lucky, then, are the pieces of fabric doubled and redoubled by the eyes and hands of Yoshiko Jinzenji. A few snips of color and weave become a mix of art and the irrepressible urge to adorn that make you want to dive off this world and into what you see. Beautiful!
This book is beautifully written and designed.The cover and paper used are artful.Yoshiko Jenzenji shares her passion for quilting in a way that weaves a common thread through cultures, locales, nature, and spirituality.I could feel my heart swell as I read through this book and as I looked at and studied the photographs.This is a book about her quilts and about quilting--but the photography and artistry of its cover and between its covers makes it a special treasure.I am excited to own this book and will be proud to display it.I am so inspired by Yoshiko Jenzenji's quilt work and passion for quilting.I became dizzy with inspiration!I will recommend it to every friend I have--and not all of them are quilters!I would think they would all want to BECOME quilters after experiencing this book.Yoshiko Jenzenji seemed to open her heart and her home with this book.I am thankful to her for sharing her passion and talent with the world! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Quilting    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Crafts & Hobbies    4. Quilts & Quilting    5. Individual artists    6. Japan    7. Needlecraft art (eg lace, quilts, etc as art objects)    8. Needlework & fabric crafts    9. Dye    10. Textile Arts    11. Hobbies/Crafts    12. Patchwork    13. Patchwork quilts    14. Patterns   

Reviews (5)

What a dissappointment
Tie dye is about color and feeling.The book is in black and white.How can you teach tie dye and batik in black and white.Waste of time!!!

Informative by disappointing as well
This is the kind of book that needs a lot more color illustrations. The information was great, but my problem is that the book did not inspire me very much and I think this kind of book should do that. practical book
A very straight forward practical book. Batik and Tie Dye Techniques focus' on the beginner's needs for basic tie-dye stuff. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Batik    2. Crafts & Hobbies    3. Crafts / Hobbies    4. Dye    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Textile Arts - General    7. Tie-dyeing    8. Crafts & Hobbies / General    9. Textile arts   

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies    2. Crafts / Hobbies    3. Dye    4. Hand weaving    5. Hobbies/Crafts    6. Resist-dyed textiles    7. Textile Arts    8. Weaving    9. Crafts & Hobbies / Weaving    10. Spinning & weaving