Customer Reviews

Art Unscripted Retreat with Carol Duvall

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PageSage's newest DVD, "Art Unscripted Retreat with Carol Duvall", is an excellent addition to the company's line of high-quality instructional craft videos. I believe the company's director, producer, roster of artists and "The Queen of Crafts" herself raised the bar and set an even higher standard for the crafts industry. I'm thrilled to see that each new PageSage DVD builds upon, and gets better than, its predecessor.

In Art Unscripted, some of PageSage's favorite artists gathered to participate in a unique art retreat experience. Not only did the 7 artists teach a hands-on technique in their specialty, but each contributed their talents to an amazing final project.

I learned enough new things from each artist that I couldn't wait to get into my studio. I was as thrilled with all the helpful small tips that will make my art time more productive as much as the big I-can't-wait-to-do-that mixed media techniques that are still fairly new to me, such a carving my own rubber stamps and intricate metal embossing.

I especially enjoyed watching Carol interview the artists (Judy Belcher, Michael Jacobs, Sarah Hodsdon, Mary Jo McGraw, Magdalena Muldoon, Karen Thomas & Judi Watanabe) after their teaching segments.

I've also realized after watching a few PageSage DVDs is that it's an economical way to spend my crafting time/money. Hands-on classes from my favorite teachers provide incredible experiences, but they're a lot more than $30. Books are still one of my huge vices, but there are times when I'm following the step-by-step instructions and find myself struggling to make it resemble the picture. Art is visual, and being able to see exactly how an artist moves her hands is enormously helpful.

I got this DVD because I've loved Carol Duvall's show since I first saw her as a segment of another home-type show. She is a perfect hostess to guest artists: through her ingenuous questions, she leads them through their work and coaxes them from their shells and leaves her viewers with a good grasp of what the artist was trying to show us. This DVD is even better: Carol gets a sit down interview with each artist and then leaves them to do their jobs: showing us how to do some really cool projects and teaching us tons of skills and tricks along the way. We even get to see inside Carol's studio and listen to her suggestions on how to set up your own artist retreat; with some of the pitfalls that can occur along the way. The bloopers segment is a hoot and shows how well Carol can laugh at herself as well as with everyone else.
The variety of artists is wonderful: from bookbinders to assemblage artists and paper arts, metal arts and polymer clay along the way. The artists are known names in their fields and have books, DVDs and workshop teaching under their belts, so everything moves along smoothly.
I love how this DVD is interactive: if I see something in the gallery I missed along the way of viewing, I can click on it and it will jump back to the instruction, so I can catch up to what I need to know.
This is one of the first DVDs I've seen with a 'green' cover: made from recycled materials and no overpackaging as I have seen too much of in the info field.
Definitely a must-have for your crafting information shelf!
Oh, and did you catch that I love Carol Duvall and she's all over this DVD? Go get it!

So much info and done in an easy to follow format....with the easy capability to go back to individual projects.
Highly recommend for the "scaredy cat" wanna-be crafters.
YOU CAN DO IT!

Carol Duvall has been a part of my life for many years. It started with the HOME show and then watching and recording most of the Carol Duvall Shows. When I found out she had a DVD for sale I had to buy it. Guess what? She didn't disappoint her "fans". Carol has a way of making everyone feel like she's not only talking directly to you but that you're sitting across the table taking the class from Carol or one of her artist friends.

Thank you Carol for this wonderful DVD and for all the years of enjoyment and information. It was wonderful to "see" you again and thanks for everything you've done for Arts & Crafts!!

One of your fans,
J. in MN

























i

Civered a lot of crafting subjects, Very good for general crafting ideas.I was hopeing there would have been more stamping and scrapbooking .

Enjoyable dvd to watch, very diverse projects. Clearly something for everyone. The lighting seemed good and the instructors were likeable and seemed to be knowledgeable. My only complaint was the reason I had bought this DVD in the first place. The concept: an instructor teaches the viewer how to make a project and all the other instructors make the same project adding in their own twists. It was really hard to see what the other instructors had made. The camera was too far back to really see it.. I guess I should say, when the camera showed the instructor ending, the camera kinda stayed back to show others and it interupted everything for me. I just wanted to zoom right there and then.. to see what was shown.

The positive: the diversity of the projects taught.. wow! The instructors were just really good, the projects were good. I found myself suddenly wanting to use materials I'd never even heard of. Isn't that what crafters want.. inspiration? You definately get it in this video.

This is a great little DVD. In addition to being very instructive and interesting, it's got a lot of depth to it. I own several Pagesage DVD's and this one is a great addition to my collection. I've watched it several times now and each time I pick up something new that I missed the previous time.

ART UNSCRIPTED / CAROL DUVALL THIS IS AN EXCELLANT DVD
I ENJOYED THE DIFFERENT ARTIST AND THEIR DEMOS. I HOPE THIS
WILL BECOME AN ANNUAL EVENT