Garden Crafts: A Practical Guide to Creating Handcrafted Features for Your Garden [Hardcover]

Geraldine Rudge (Author), Jacqui Hurst (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

This unique new book is a practical guide to creating handcrafted features for your garden. Every major craft is covered, including mosaic, metal, wire, glass, pebble, wood, coppice work, and willow. There are ideas for both practical and ornamental features, including decorative pebble paths, hanging glass panels, mosaic pools, wooden whirligigs, driftwood furniture, and willow sculptures. Garden Crafts describes the historical origins of each craft, the diversity of objects that can be made for the garden, materials - new and recycled - and where to get them, paints and other finishes, design considerations such as placement and associated planting, and tools and techniques. Each chapter concludes with two projects to create for your own garden, complete with a list of required materials, step-by-step construction techniques, and beautiful color photographs of the finished project in a garden setting. (9 3/4 X 11 1/4, 148 pages, color photos)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sophisticated, artfully rustic, sometimes practical but more often purely fun, the sculptural garden adornments presented here are leagues beyond the cutesiness of many garden crafts. There are no flowery painted birdhouses or little welcome signs; instead we find abstract wire spider webs, weathered wooden benches, elaborate willow trellises, glistening stone mosaics, and shimmering structures of glass. The bulk of the book concentrates on the history of artistic garden adornment and showcases stunning examples, both historic and contemporary. How-to hints are included for a dozen projects, most of which require fairly advanced crafting skills, including a wildwood bench, whimsical mosaic people, and a massive slate urn built with the techniques of dry-stone walling. For the adventurous, this volume offers lots of unique ideas. --Amy Handy

From Library Journal

Craftspersons increasingly are taking their creations outdoors, maintaining traditions of garden decoration that go back to ancient times. While many crafters prefer rustic materials, some also use mosaics, glass, and painted wood. These projects by several artists for garden furniture and ornaments were made for specific sites and may need adaptation to fit into other gardens. However, all are interesting as examples of contemporary garden art. This is suitable for public library crafts and garden collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 148 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585740551
• ISBN-13: 978-1585740550
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,282,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars garden crafts by geraldine rudge, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Garden Crafts: A Practical Guide to Creating Handcrafted Features for Your Garden (Hardcover)

The photographs alone lead one down a yellow brick road withcreative garden keepers who like to combine handwork with the naturalart of plant. The projects include step by step instructions by the craftsman as well as practical information about where to place your project and how it will hold by to wind and rain. These are not " a trip to the crafts store and one hour of time " projects. They will require you to work with supplies such as glass or wire but the result will be something that personalizes your garden space in a substancial manner.