Customer Reviews

Mixed Media Explorations

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I own a fairly large number of books on the subjects of mixed media, collage, altered art and fabric embellishment. This is by far my favorite. Beryl's projects are gorgeous. Amazingly, she uses the simplest, least expensive and most readily available materials to create most of these masterpieces, such as brown paper bags, Tyvek envelopes, flower-shaped brads, price tags, etc. If you know someone who's about to get married, the wedding journal is a fabulous project that will blow away every other gift imaginable. If you never pick up a needle, a paintbrush or a tube of glue, this book is worth twice the price for eye candy alone.

I have admired Beryl Taylor's artwork for a long time, and eagerly looked forward to this book. Although I don't use fabric and sewing in my mixed media artwork, I am fully inspired
with the ideas presented here and will gladly refer to this book to "jumpstart" my creativity in the studio. The beautiful detailed photography does justice to her distinctive artwork, providing lots of ideas that can be translated into paper, etc.
Best of all, the artist brings contemporary verve and love of strong color to Medieval themes and motifs. A terrific book!

My 1-star rating is actually for the description of this book and not the book itself. Let me explain...

Based on the publisher's description of this book I thought it would be about mixed media projects in the traditional sense (i.e. paper-based collages with embellishments in paint, beads, scraps of fabric, etc.) I was really surprised when I received the book to find that all of the projects in it are fabric or sewing based. Perhaps this would not have come as such a surprise had I been familiar with the author's work, but I bought this book because it was one of the "Amazon Recommends" selections suggested to me based on my previous purchases of mixed media/collage/altered art books and because of the publisher's misleading description.

This is a beautiful book if you are interested in working primarily with fabrics & quilt art. The step-by-step instructions seem very thorough and there are lots of great ideas for working with fabric in inventive ways including some great tips for dying fabric and infusing fabric with paper.

Bottom line: if I were running a bookstore I would shelve this with books on sewing and quilting, NOT in the mixed media/collage section. I hope this helps!

Being a member of several Yahoo! groups, I had "heard" about various techniques to incorporate paper, fabric, and other mixed-media items, as well as read about various embellishing techniques, but I couldn't visualize them. This book not only presents great pictures of finished pieces, it gives you almost step-by-step illustrations and shows you the "how-to-do-it" parts too!

Ms. Taylor covers the basics for new artists, yet carries the ideas further so that advanced artists will, I am sure, find something they can use. The color plates are very clear, and there are a great number of them.

To me, this book is a real bargain, one that will go on my reference shelf to be used frequently. I would have given it 6 stars if that was possible.

This new book by Beryl Markham is a jewel of a read for any mixed media fabric/paper artist! Her creations are exquisite, delicate evocations of a heavenly world where everything is as perfectly beautiful as it is possible to make it. I am convinced that angels helped her with some of these artworks. There is a sense of patience, time, and careful, meticulous working in her pieces. In fact, these qualities are so exemplified, it can be exhausting to go through this book at one sitting! I found myself thinking: " How long for that project? Six months?" But I make this comment only to indicate the high quality and intricacy of the work. It is the her artistic imagination that is spellbinding. As a weaver and embroiderer and book maker, I could find countless applications for her ideas and techniques. Many craft books these days seem to be repetitive and thin, but this one is rich beyond words--Markham has done a substantial body of work for this book and it is extraordinarily beautiful. She is a mature artist who has mastered a broad range of techniques and used them to support a unique and shimmering vision, that while decorative, is also just plain stunning!

Beryl shares her secrets in this book. I first noticed her work in "Cloth Paper Scissors" magazine and wished for more information about her techniques and here it is. I learned some great altered art/collage techniques. Great colored photos, uncomplicated instructions and fantastic inspiration.

I think that the first reviewer meant to give this book 5-stars since she highly recommended it. Read her review and dismiss the two-stars rating.

I own this book and it is candy to my eyes. Stunning work - excellently depicted so you can see the details. Well worth every penny you spend to add this to your library.

I am not in the habit of buying books willy-nilly, but I just had to have this one. It is beautifully presented, the photographs are large, close up, and excellent. The techniques I was already familiar with, as well as the new one I learned from this book, all sent me off on a wild tangent of experimentation all over again. This is not a beginner's book, and if you want to recreate some of Beryl's projects, I think it would be fair to say that this book assumes the reader to have a fairly high level of expertise with machine stitching, hand embroidery and embellishment (sequins, beads etc), collage, assemblage, design and layout. The instruction sections are not particularly detailed, and do not have step by step photos, but in a way I can see that it would force you to figure it out yourself and therefore be even more creative. This is a BEAUTIFUL book, TOTALLY INSPIRATIONAL, and I am delighted to own it.

What a beautiful book! I have been an artist for years, but recently have begun to explore this type of mixed media, altered, collage work. The photography of the projects is awesome. Real eye candy. The inspiration from the projects is priceless.
I will say, my husband, who is a graphic artist, loved the lusciousness of the pictures and graphic layout - but he didn't really "get" the projects. A little too feminine or not enough function to the form I guess.
I wish it had been a hard back book, rather than soft cover. I'm sure my will be "worse for the wear" after spending a little time in my studio.
All in all, a lovely book, full of inspirational projects, well written and worth it's price.

I love this book. After reading it from cover to cover and trying some of the techniques, I find myself going back to it to try new things, look over all the pictures, and find inspiration.