The Artful Ribbon: Beauties in Bloom (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When viewing the magnificent floral forms that Candace Kling creates, it's sometimes hard to believe that they are actually pleated, gathered, ruched, and twisted ribbons--not the real thing. Her gorgeous ribbon flowers appear to be extremely intricate and complicated, but her extensive directions and diagrams take the mystery out of recreating everything from roses to pansies to poppies to daffodils. After nearly two decades of researching antique ribbon work, her knowledge of vintage pieces is evident in much of her work and in her finely tuned sense of color. The many photos of vintage ribbon-work flowers, not to mention those of her own artistry, are themselves worth the price of the book.

From Library Journal

In years past, ladies' bonnets and other accessories were adorned with delicate flowers made from silk ribbon. With the decline in popularity of fancy trimmings, the art of making these flowers was almost lost. However, here is everything the ribbon-flower crafter needs to know about using modern materials in an old-fashioned way. Full-color photographs and diagrams describe materials, techniques, and finished products. Many products of collector's items from the 1920s as well as modern examples are included.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: C&T Publishing (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571200207
• ISBN-13: 978-1571200204
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,086 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #9 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Ribbons
  #22 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Lace & Tatting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter the Realm of Victorian Elegance with The Artful Ribbon, May 4, 2001

By	hamsterdance (TX) - See all my reviews

If you want to try your hand at textile Arts this is a good book to start with. Page after page of beautiful ribbon flowers are demonstrated meticulously with diagrams, stitching instructions and photos. As the author says in the Introduction, "For this text, I've tried to develop a fuller and more consistent instructional language both in illustrations and in words, giving the techniques easy nicknames where possible. The 'Invitation to Use this Book,' which follows, will get you started easily, answering your most basic questions. But don't skip the technical sections; they're filled with tips and tricks."

The first chapters after the Invitation chapter start out with simple projects. You'll practice creating simple baby rosettes and thereafter the projects introduce more intricate and ornamental flowers, stems, leaves, stamens and buds. There are plenty of diagrams on each page as well as photos - many of them full-page. For example, you'll start making a basic scalloped rosebud. From there you'll learn to embellish it such as a Scalloped Rosebud with Knots or create a Hatpin Rose, Flatbud or Carbochon Rosebuds with One or Double Rolled Edges. You'll learn to create a Dahlia. Or create full bloom roses with variations such as budded finish, off-center, off-center w/ zig-zag ruffles, internal petals and separate petals. And these are only a select few flowers and techniques you'll learn. Other chapters show various ways of attaching your finished flowers to fabric with other chapters on creating pompoms, knots or various lazy daisy designs, pansies, fushias and daffodils.

Leaves, stamens and buds receive just as much treatment as the flowers and help fill out the designs. There are chapters on textured finishes such as ruffled edges, hand pleating, scrunching, wet look and tips on getting your flowers into final form as well as knowing when they're finished. There are tips on collecting ribbons, buying them, washing and ironing them as well as a chapter giving extra tips and techniques on the various stitches used throughout the book. The final chapter discusses the meaning of flowers and inspirations for creating your own ribbon flower artwork.

Beginning and Advanced ribbon crafters alike will find this book full of easy to understand instructions, diagrams and photos. For convenience there is a list of mail-order sources for ribbon in the back as well as a Suggested Reading and an index. If you have any interest in this type of work at all don't miss this book.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE QUINTESSENTIAL RIBBON BOOK, November 10, 2001

By	lapellegrina "lapellegrina" (The Gulf Coast--on America's Sea) - See all my reviews

I have several books on the subject of ribbon flower crafting and most do a good job of teaching the basics, including this one. But what puts Ms. Kling so far beyond the others is her exquisite color sense. Speaking as a colorist painter, I can promise you that you will see subtle color relationships at work in her arrangments that demonstrate a very sophisticated understanding of value,tone and key. Her choices of which color next to what color (which is more important than just color itself!)are either exceedingly well thought out or dazzlingly intuitive -- an accomplishment made all the more complicated by working with ombre and two or more toned ribbons.

Ms, Kling delivers not only the information you buy the book for, but also page after page of visual delights.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW - INSPRIATIONAL, August 2, 2000

By A Customer

This ISN'T a ribbon embroidery book, its a book that demonstrates how to create dimensional (3D) flowers with ribbon.

AND WOW!, WOW!, WOW! - WHAT A BOOK! The Artful Ribbon is worth buying just for the gloriously beautiful photos which are high quality. BE WARNED though - you won't be able to resist having a go at one of those gorgeous flowers once you have even peeked at the inside pages.

Beginners this is definitely a book for you, but any skill level will enjoy this book. Candace Kling's ribbon width formula (if you can call it that - recipe perhaps? ) is wonderfully and excitingly simple. Rik Olson's deceptively simple illustrations are just fablous, depicting the subtle differences between flowers - Yep, you can even count the number of folds! WOW! I usually prefer photo demos, but Rik's 'pics' are extremely accurate and contribute to this book being the easiest to use, understand and actually create something from of all the craft books I have read, and I have read have read quite a few!

Definitely a book worth having!