Customer Reviews

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew (1000 Series)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Thinking that it was a "how-to" book, I ordered this book based on my artist friend's recommendation. Instead, it turned out to be more of a photo-gallery type reference book. As I was going through the book, the wonderful memories of inspirational and mind-expanding visit to the Portland Museum of Contemporary Crafts (Oregon), Museum of Art & Design (New York), American Craft Council Fair (alternate crafts section) at Fort Mason (San Francisco, CA) came to my mind.

In every visit, I was fascinated and amazed with how ordinary or found materials can be repurposed, recycled, or even re-manufactured into an entirely different entity. I saw several of them again in this book, and from the same book, many more examples of material reuse from many different categories were shown: fashion, home accessories, book arts, mixed media, and interiors.

Each photo (1,000 of them) has a number and the name of the artisan. If one wants to know what materials were used, one will have to find it in the image directory at the end of the book using the number as the index. However, the image directory is a bit confusing and difficult to read because it was not in the expected columnar format.

Despite the shortcomings of the book's layout design and the misleading title, I have found it to be inspirational as it enables me to come up with more ideas for what I can use with my own found materials. And if I need more information, I can look up a list of resources in this book.

Overall, I find this book to be a good sourcing tool for scouts who are looking for exceptional or "green" items to be sold in crafts fairs, galleries or other retail venues. It is also an excellent idea-generating tool for those who want to create, design or maintain a "green" lifestyle by either recycling with found materials or buying the handcrafted objects from the artisans.

This book is a collection of 1000 artfully photographed items, all made from something else. The photos run the gamut from fine art to functional objects, clothes to accessories. It is a beautiful book and fun and inspirational to look at. I found myself reopening the book over and over as there is so much to see and be inspired by. This is a must for all who create and enjoy recycled art and craft.

I bought this book expecting a "how-to" book to do the 1000 projects, but this is not the case. It is, however, full of some very creative and extravagant art projects that are amazing. If you would like to know what they are made of, you have to search the resource info. in the back of the book. I find that to be distracting and would rather read about it on the same page as the picture. If you want a book to learn how to reuse, remake, restyle, this is not for you. If I had known just how over the top these projects were, I don't think I would have bought this book. I feel these are more for the serious artist than the person who likes to do re-purposing type projects, like me. It is a very good book, just not what I expected.

First off, this is NOT a how-to book, it is a collection of pieces from throughout the world. The layout is great with large, clear pictures and a large variety of works. And most importantly, it's very inspiring and thought-provoking.

I feel the book is incredibly well organized. I like the fact that the facts about what it is made out of is at the back so your imagination gets a work out trying to figure out what the artists have used. I think the colors that are put together on each page also work very well. And it is important to artists who work in these mediums get exposure. thanks for the great book.

DIY buyer beware, this is NOT a how-to book. It's a book of photos of other peoples "creative reuses". I would actually have loved to make some of these things, but there are no instructions. It's basically a picture book.

This is a photo gallery book. So don't buy this thinking its going to tell you how to recycle coffee cans into planters or lanterns.

Basically it sections the book off based on materials, metals, papers, etc and then shows different projects that artists have utilized these items. Its an awesome selection of odd art projects, but other than some inspiration, it doesn't help much. I was very disappointed when I got this from the library. I was expecting a how-to, but instead just got photos, it doesn't even explain any materials that were used. Just the photo and who made it, page after page.

I was so excited to get this book! I couldn't wait to see all of the upcycled art. But I was really disappointed to find out that the author only had pictures of the finished art- no info on how the artists did the work, what it was made from, or even what it was, like a title. And several of the 1000 "ideas" were the same items in a different color from an artist.

So I think the book had a lot of potential, but failed to deliver. The title was very misleading. That being said, there are some great pictures in the book, and it can inspire you to use more recycled items in art.

There are a lot of interesting, clever, and thought provoking ideas in this book, but my guess is there's more like 898 than 1000 . . . for example, different variations of a clock made from a bike gear were pictured four or five times . . . I know it sounds petty of me, but there's lots of artists out there doing interesting things and the author claims he went through thousands of photos, so I really wanted to see 1000 different ideas. That said, I absolutely loved the book. You won't be told HOW to make things, but you'll get a whole bunch of jumping off points for your own ideas.

I like the book although it wasn't what I was expecting.It is a coffee table book with photographs of various items that people have made from recycled goods. Some of it is pretty cool and some of it is a bit predictable. It doesn't show you how to make any of the items though!