Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Fuzzy Felted Friends (Paperback)

by Saori Yamazaki (Author)
Key Phrases: felting needle, wool color, raw wool, Materials Raw, Materials Steps Raw (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Say hello to your new best pals. These felted friends hail from Japan—homeland of all things cute. Inside this book, you'll find over 25 translated patterns that combine the appeal of authentic Japanese content with the ease of English instruction. Cheerful photographs, step-by-step directions, and helpful how-to illustrations make it easy to whip up both water- and needle-felted projects. There's no knitting involved; simply treat raw wool fibers with either a felting needle or water and detergent to create these little creatures. Cute and cuddly, they're also useful! An elephant cozy warms a teakettle; a whimsical bird mobile adorns a nursery; wee mouse pincushions hold your needles; while piglets, giraffes, zebras, or sheep carry all your gear in handy totes and pouches. Practice with these projects and then adapt the techniques to design your own personal stable of felted friends.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811860663
• ISBN-13: 978-0811860666
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #181,546 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice Pictures-Weak Instructions, May 22, 2008

By	Denise "online shopper" (Long beach, ca) - See all my reviews

I was drawn in to buying this book based off of the cover photo which was exactly the type of work I wanted to learn to make. The description states, "step-by-step directions, and helpful how-to illustrations make it easy". However the instructions for most of these creations only had four steps and a few illustrations. The illustrations would tell you what size diameter you should make the body and head, but gives you no idea about what quantity of wool to start with or what specific techniques to use. The photos are adorable to look at, but as a "how to book" falls extremely short.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lot of felting without needles, July 20, 2008

By	Elizabeth Ray (Stockton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

I was excited to purchase this book, since I recently invested in the supplies necessary for needle felting. The cover of the book suggested that the projects inside would appeal to me. The book was ultimately disappointing, because other than the dogs on the cover and a few other projects most of the content requires wet felting rather than needle felting. Although some of the projects such as the bird coin purse look great, I don't have the materials necessary for wet felting.

This book would not be good for beginners because the instructions are vague, and consist mostly of patterns and dimensions. Little guidance is given on how to construct and attach basic shapes.

If you enjoy both needle and wet felting this would be a good choice for you. If you are only interested in needle felting then do not buy this book - choose one that is devoted solely to needle felting.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the few books I have ever returned, April 4, 2008

By	jtj - See all my reviews

I have only returned two books in my life, and this was one of them.

I purchased this book because the cover looked promising. When I received it, I realized that these two little dogs were the only projects like that in the entire book. As another reviewer also mentioned, the vast majority of the projects in this book are also for wet felters, not needle felters.

The real reason I returned it, though, was the truly horrible writing and directions. I realize that this was written by a non-native English speaker, but could the publishing company not have tried to clean it up a bit before releasing it to the unsuspecting public? I am already a fairly experienced needle felter, so I could have figured out how to do the (very few) needle felting projects on my own. However, a true beginner would have been totally lost and would probably give up on the hobby as a result of this hideous book.

There are a lot of good needle felting resources out there. I encourage the new felter to check out some other books and websites rather than buying this trash.