Making Stuff

cooking with a range / counting sheep / curing drunkenness / finding water / signalling with semaphore / identifying plants and trees/ making and taking tea / natural first aid / using an abacus/ navigating by nature / preparing antidotes to poisoning / predicting the sex of a baby / repairing clothes / curing warts / weather forecasting. Lost Lore is a celebration of the time-honored wisdom upon which we all once relied. It draws on folklore, tradition and superstition, and is packed with amusing anecdotes and historical extracts which illuminate the beliefs and knowledge of our ancestors. It brings to life the wisdom and practical skills that helped generation after generation, only becoming lost with the advent of mechanization and the technological age. Following in the footsteps of Lost Crafts, Lost Lore is a beautiful book that will once more immerse you in the pleasures of the past.

This charming book is an engaging introduction to a range of traditional crafts and activities. Almost 100 skills are described and illustrated, from trout-guddling to lacemaking, beekeeping to dry-stone walling. Whether wanting to learn a new craft, explore social history or reminisce about pastimes from a bygone age, readers of all ages will lose themselves in Lost Crafts. And with more of us choosing green and ethical lifestyles, there has never been a better time to rediscover these sustainable pursuits.

The crafts scene is thriving as Gens X and Y embrace hobbies (rejected as too middlebrow by their baby boomer parents) in order to create something beautiful, functional, and unique. With its sleek design and edgy tone, Super Crafty is the ultimate hipster’s craft guide, with a wide array of accessible projects suitable for all skill levels. The book offers dozens of projects for the home (Easy Etched Glass), wardrobe (One-Afternoon Skirt), body (Flirty Floral Pasties), family pet (Greta’s Tail Warmer), and more. Organized by genre, each chapter uses a rating system to indicate difficulty, cost of materials, and age-appropriateness. "101" sections offer basic instruction in sewing, working with vinyl, jewelry making, and other crafts. A resource guide helps locate supplies, tools, and further inspiration. The authors also contribute thoughtful pieces on the underlying aspects of craft, from activism to therapy, as well as lighthearted vignettes on crafting disasters and favorite art supplies.

In this wicked little book, Julie Jackson reinvents the age-old craft of cross-stitch, finally putting an end to all that saccharine sentimentalism and giving modern stitchers the chance to say what's really on their minds. Stitch up Bitch in Kitchen for a heartfelt housewarming gift. Spread cheer with the ever-festive Bite Me. Or whip up This Place Sucks for a cherished co-worker. This fully illustrated book includes 33 of Jackson's best patterns and easy-to-follow directions. Jackson outlines the simple tools and techniques needed and even offers encouragement and tips on how to create one-of-a-kind revolutionary designs from craft-store patterns with subversive sentiments all your own.

In today's consumer culture, virtually every possible need is catered for, and every style of clothing, accessory, and homeware is available at the local mall. It's all just a little bit too easy. The idea behind Making Stuff is to create a craft book for the twenty-first century. Rather than aiming at retired grannies with time on their hands, this book is for hip urbanites who are moving away from the wasteful ready-made mentality of Walmart, and are looking for something a bit more unique, a bit more responsible... something homemade.

The type of craft detailed in Making Stuff is a far cry from the usual macramŽd pot holders and crocheted baby booties. It is an eclectic mix of useful, funky, beautiful and outright weird things ranging from bread lampshades to denim skirts.

The first section of the book will explain the basics: how to knit, how to sew, how to do woodwork, how to make paper machŽ, how to embroider and cross-stitch and how to bake. The rest of the book will be a series of instructions and ideas that anyone can realize in their own home. Some of the ideas are: make a pinhole camera; knit a wrap; make a covered bead necklace; turn a pair of jeans into a denim skirt; knit a bikini; bake a lampshade; cross-stitched braces; make a sock monkey; make cool costumes; make dollhouse furniture.

These recipes and projects will be subdivided into sections according to the type of craft they fit into: knitting and needlework; for and with children; weird and wonderful; and creative recycling.

Using a combination of photography and illustration, alongside funky typefaces in a clean, accessible layout, the design of Making Stuff references the vaguely anarchic aesthetic of craft books of the 1970s without any sense of irony, finding an entirely new voice for a new generation of young people, who find inspiration in making something out of nothing.

Making Stuff brings a fresh, exciting approach to a sorely neglected genre. In the same way that cooking was brought into the public eye in the mid 90s by Delia Smith and Marco Pierre White, Making Stuff will be the book that brings craft back into the realm of cool

Kyle Bravo has assembled his HOW TO zines into a comprehensive book along with dozens of other instructional articles that tell you how to do...just about everything yourself. Topics include getting active, direct action, gardening, making a woodstove, solar box cooker, egg replacer, cooking ramen noodles in a coffee maker, how to make wine, homebrewing, building shacks, liberated lifestyles, squats, homeschooling, fixing a toliet, audio phone patch, how to make envelopes, shoe repair, silk screening, making rubber stamps, how to juggle, vegan photo developing, magic tricks, making puppets, how to patch your clothes, putting utensils on your keychain, how to sing, bird feeders, how to play guitar, putting out records, billboard improvement, how to fix your bike, basic car maintenance, building a bike cart, how to take pride in your body, how to sexually stimulate your partner, diy birth control, how to handle an overdose, self defense, knowing your rights, how to live a more fulfilling life, unschooling, starting a fire with friction, making glue from pine sap, making rope, wild food, natural remedies, firelogs from newspapers, rubbing alcohol campstove, composting, diy toothpaste, getting rid of fruit flies, greywater systems, composting toliets, making a hammock, making hanging and floating tents, saving money at the post office, making posters and stencils, packing for tours, places to dumpster dive, making a tape wallet, building a cart-bike, cleaning stamps, blockprinting, fixing a harmonica, diy flowerpots, avoiding dangerous household chemicals, preventing ear infections, how women can pee standing up, menstrual massages, and a few pieces for inspiration. I'm sure you can see by now why this is essential.