Wirework (New Crafts) [Hardcover]

Mary Maguire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Series: New Crafts

These stylish craft books are highly accessible, with all techniques fully explained, and each project photographed from start to finish. Each book contains 25 beautiful and original projects.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A glance around any posh urban design store indicates that wirework is making a comeback, perhaps because its simple lines can work just as well in a cottage as in a city setting. As the 25 easy-to-follow step-by-step projects in this book demonstrate, hand-formed wire objects may be charmingly rustic (such as the wall-hung spice rack) or elegantly utilitarian (such as the graceful copper bowl). But the effect need not be stark: even if you didn't think you wanted wire accessories in your home, the scrolling delicacy of the picture frame, the clean geometrics of the woven wire chair seat, and the lacy elegance of the garden lantern may hook you.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Anness (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859671489
• ISBN-13: 978-1859671481
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some nice projects, but..., November 21, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wirework (New Crafts) (Hardcover)

There were some very nice projects in this book. However,detailed instructions are lacking severely. In fact, the amount ofwire needed for each project is not in the materials list. Sometimes you get lucky and the instructions state to cut a certain number of pieces a certain length. I need an idea of how much wire I need to have in a continuous length. (Try "Making Wire Jewelry" by Clegg & Larom for great jewelry projects with step-by-step instructions). Also, the authors seem to be fascinated by chicken wire. Far too many of the projects use chicken wire; from the look of the cover photograph, I really didn't think this would be such a sculpting book. And forgive me for being snide, but there is even a *pipe cleaner* project. I was really hoping for more examples of the fine work done on the cover. However, it does have some great projects, and the chicken wire stuff is very nice. I am exaggerating here - I guess there are only 3 chicken wire projects. Combined with the pipe cleaners, and silly projects like the "Pocket Clips" (really, I can't begin to explain them), the toilet paper holder (yes, really!), and the bicycle toy, I was really disappointed.

But there are a few gems. There is a votive candle chandelier that is fabulous, along with the bowl seen on the cover. The toast rack is too cute. There are no jewelry pieces in this book. If you are looking for a solely wire book (as opposed to wire mesh/chickenwire), this book is not for you. It really is a nice book, but just not what I expected. But then again, for the price, it is a nice little book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous! Wonderful projects abound in this book!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wirework (New Crafts) (Hardcover)

I loved this book! Photos are beautiful--instructions are easy and understandable even for the beginner. Projects are varied--from the chandelier to the seascape mobile to the wine bottle carrier. Great how-to instructions for every technique.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, but...., October 10, 2011

By 

Laura-lee Podmore "poddygirl" (Trinidad and Tobago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wirework (New Crafts) (Hardcover)

This book has several projects that I dug into right away. I am a newbie to wire working so the fact that I was able to complete a few projects means it's user friendly. The measurements used are very exact, which is obviously necessary to get the correct fit for each piece - and they are all spot on. But that part was a little more than I bargained for...I was expecting just to bend one or two pieces of wire, not several all meticulously measured, then bound together. But remember, I'm a newbie so I got frustrated with that process pretty quickly. I enjoy more of a free form artistic wire work type thing...plus I suck at math...so if you want to adjust any of the measurements for larger or smaller pieces get out your calculator! The work in this book is beautiful and there are color illustrations for each tutorial. The only other minus to this book is that I am used to working with wire thicknesses measured in gauges and this book does not list them...everything is listed in cm or inches. So again, break out the calculator to convert! I would put this in the "intermediate wire worker" category.