From School Library Journal
Grade 2-6-A fun-filled, delightful book. In the foreword, Cheryl Henson, the daughter of Jim Henson, recalls how her parents set up their first puppet workshop in their basement and describes life in this home filled with creative activity. The introduction offers readers suggestions for setting up a work space, provides a list of safety tips, and describes specific techniques such as enlarging a pattern or working with papier-m?ch?. The chapters that follow each deal with one medium or technique. One discusses color and focuses on crafts that use light, such as suncatchers and "stained glass." Others teach about cutting, folding, tearing, and piercing paper; molds and models; carving; printmaking; mixed media (a truly amazing chapter); wood; sewing and weaving basics; dipping and dyeing; masks and disguises; jewelry; puppets; and music makers. Within the chapters, the projects progress from the easy to more difficult. The directions are clear and complete, yet children will feel free to improvise. A sense of joy prevails in the instructions for the wildly funny as well as the more useful activities. Witty illustrations are populated by Muppet characters making Muppet remarks. Full-color photographs of the completed projects are included. This is a book for schools and libraries, for children and teachers, and a gift to be treasured.
Marcia W. Posner, Holocaust Memorial and Educational Center of Nassau County, Glen Cove, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Back Cover
Suncatcher Bugs and Popsicle Hands, Groovy Glasses, and more! Drawing on the creativity and trade secrets of The Muppet Workshop, here is a wide-ranging collection of 100 inspired crafts. Turn brown paper bags and wooden dowels into a kid-size teepee, or rescue tin cans from the recycling bin and make them into your very own robot. There are costumes to sew, masks to cut out and paint, glamorous jewelry to show off. The crafts are organized by technique--each chapter focuses on a different skill, such as drawing, sculpting, quilting, beading--and projects are illustrated with full-color photographs and how-to line drawings. Kermit ads insider tips throughout, and Miss Piggy rates every project's level of difficulty. Complete one or complete them all--you're on your way to becoming an honorary Muppet Craftsperson.
About the Author
Stephanie St. Pierre has written over 60 books for children, including the Dell Yearling biography The Story of Jim Henson: Creator of Muppets. When she's not at her job as publishing executive, she enjoys creating crafts with her kids at their home in New York City.
Cheryl Henson, daughter of Jim Henson--creator of the Muppets--is a vice president of Jim Henson Productions. She is an ardent advocate of puppetry and is executive producer of the International Festival of Puppet Theater.
The Muppet Workshop is the magical place where original Muppet characters are created by a staff of talented designers and builders. The Workshop has created hundreds of Muppet puppets over the last 30 years.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Accordion Photo Album This photo album is a great way to show off your latest and greatest pictures. Fill it with photos of your best friends or your family, or make a photo album full of pictures of you to give to a parent or grandparent. You could also use it as a professional portfolio by gluing in photographs of your other creations (all of us at the Workshop keep a portfolio of our work for reference). With this project, you'll learn bookbinding--the simple accordion-fold method. As you will see, the accordion fold lets you either flip through the book or spread it open and display it.
1. Decide how many album pages you'll need and how big they should be. Plan to leave good-size margins of black cardboard around the edges of each photo (at least 1 or 2 inches).
2. Cut the desired number of thin cardboard pieces ("pages") to your page size. Place two pages side by side, leaving about 1/8 inch between pages, and tape the pages together with black masking tape, as shown. Continue laying pages and taping together until your album is as long as you want it to be.
3. Fold the pages back and forth at the taped joints to form an accordion shape.
4. Unfold the pages and place your photos in place on the pages. Put double-sided tape on the back and stick them in place.
5. Add some special touches:
--Use ribbons or other trims to make frames around your photos.
--Use a gold pen to write stories, captions, and messages.
--Add stickers to the page for captions or decoration.
--Cut out pictures from magazines and paste them around the margins.
--Draw a swirly pattern or write your name with white glue on the cover and sprinkle glitter on top. Let dry and brush off the extra glitter.
Excerpted from The Muppets Big Book of Crafts. Copyright (c) 1999 by The Jim Henson Company, Inc. Reprinted with permission by Workman Publishing.
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