Craftside

Archetypes of fermentation from the book Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin

If you are on the DIY fermenting food bandwagon or looking to give it a try, check out this chart on the archetypes of fermentation from the book Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen.

Click on this page from Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen to enlarge and read about the categories, microbes, archetypes and other examples of fermented foods and drinks.

More about the Quarry book:

Real Food Fermentation:
Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen

by

Alex Lewin

Preserve your favorite foods through every season with this comprehensive new book. Control your own ingredients, techniques, and additives. Learn a practical food-preparation skill you’ll use again and again. And express yourself by making something unique and whole!

Alex Lewin, a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, seeks to create a healthier and tastier world by spreading the word about fermentation and real food. He teaches fermentation classes and workshops and serves on the board of the Boston Public Market Association, working to create a year-round indoor market selling local food. He lives in Boston and San Francisco. Visit him online at http://www.FeedMeLikeYouMeanIt.com and http://www.RealFoodFermentation.com.

 

Knit webby wrap pattern from the book Hand Spun: New Spins on Traditional Techniques by Lexi Boeger

As the weather changes, sometimes it can be hard to figure out how much clothing to wear. The perfect solution can be a loosely knit shawl, just enough but not too much. Here is a great pattern for a lightweight shawl from the book Hand Spun: New Spins on Traditional Techniques.

Click on this page from Hand Spun: New Spins on Traditional Techniques to enlarge and read the full pattern for a lightweight "webby shawl."

More about the Quarry book:

Hand Spun: New Spins on Traditional Techniques

by

Lexi Boeger

In her newest book Hand Spun, art-yarn pioneer and Pluckyfluff creator Lexi Boeger offers yet another exciting collection of new and innovative spinning techniques. This well-rounded book also covers a handful of traditional styles for the spinner to master and then turn on their ear. The many uses of these beautiful one-of-a-kind yarns are demonstrated in Lexi's trademark, surprising, and inventive projects.

 

Sky color combinations from the book 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor

Clouds in the sky have got to be one of the prettiest things there are, and so when I spotted this page from 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor, I thought it would be great to share with all of you in case you too wanted to try painting four times-of-day skies filled with clouds.

Click on this page from 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor to enlarge and get a closer look at these different times-of-day skies and try painting them with the color combos.

1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor

Achieve precise color when painting landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and more

by

William F. Powell

Just when you thought there was no hope of ever finding a comprehensive color-mixing resource for oil, acrylic, and watercolor artists, along comes the 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor, a collection of Walter Foster's bestselling Color Mixing Recipes books, including Color Mixing Recipes for Oil and Acrylic, Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits, Color Mixing Recipes for Watercolor, and the most recent addition, Color Mixing Recipes for Landscapes. This incredible collection comes in a user-friendly concealed spiral-bound format that is tabbed for quick and easy reference. You'll also find two removable color mixing grids: one for oil or acrylic, and one for watercolor.

William F. Powell studied at the Art Student's Career School in New York; Harrow Technical College in Harrow, England; and the Louvre Free School of Art in Paris, France. His work has been represented in major galleries and reproduced in the form of illustrations, prints, and limited-edition collector's plates. He has been professionally involved in fine art, commercial art, and illustration for more than 45 years.

 

Rob Dunlavey draws "Crystal Cities" in many ways and styles from the book Drawn In

Do you draw in one style or do you mix it up and try different styles? I am stuck on pen and paper, but these pages from Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists featuring the art in the sketchbooks of Rob Dunlavey have me inspired to try some new mediums. And my plan to do that is to put together a cup with a few assorted markers, pens, pencils and maybe even crayons, and keep it where I sketch my ideas. You would think I already would have done that, but in reality, all those "fancy drawing implements" are all organized with the craft and art supplies rather than where I read, which is where I sketch my ideas because that is where I get my ideas: books, magazines and crafty blogs on my laptop!

Click on these pages from Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists to enlarge and read more about sketching in different styles.

And if you are like me and love to see other creative people's sketchbooks and read about their inspiration and creative process, you will surely love this book:

Drawn In:

A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists

By

Julia Rothman

and

Vanessa Davis

This book shares large full-color images and profiles each of the high-profile, amazingly talented artists that discuss their sketchbooks and how they use them. Sketchbooks offer a glimpse into private pages where artists brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, and keep track of their musings. Artists use these journals to document their daily lives, produce their initial ideas for bigger projects, and practice their skills. Using a variety of media from paint to pencil to collage, these pages can become works of art themselves. They often feel fresh and alive because they are first thoughts and often not reworked. These pages capture the artist's personalities along with glimpses of their process of working and inspirations.

Julia Rothman is a pattern designer and illustrator located in Brooklyn,  New York. To check out more of her fabulous art, check out her blog, Book By Its Cover.

 

Craftastic links at Craftside - plus, Qbookshop's having a Back to School Sale!

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a great weekend and have some good creativity on your agenda for the week!

Did you happen to try any of the six free projects that were featured in last Friday's post?

And in honor of the it being "back to school season," Qbookshop.com is having a (what else) Back to School Sale!

You'll find one of the world's largest collections of craft books at Qbookshop.com. There's still plenty of summer left to finish that mixed-media or needlework project you've been putting off, and they've got the books to help you get started. The Qbookshop.com craft library has your crafting needs covered, whether your passion is needlework, scrapbooking, sewing, beadwork or another hobby.

Here's the best news: for a limited time you can save 30% off the original price on your entire purchase of books about any hobby. After you place your items in the shopping cart, just enter Promo Code SUMMER6 and click the "Apply" button before checking out. Don't delay! This offer ends at midnight CT on Monday, August 27.

And of course, since it's Monday, here are some links to what my fellow crafty peeps are up to:

A Creative Dream
June takes a bird from a journal page to one nesting in a tree..and shares the pattern for you to make your own!

About Family Crafts
Will you play along with the current craft challenge? Create a pencil holder or two, decorate your pens and pencils, and then submit your projects!

Aileen's Musings
It's back to school season, and Aileen offers you a set of freebie bookmarks for you to save, print and color.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has redeemed her pincushion-making reputation with a new design!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Needle-felting is an amazing low-tech hobby, and Tammy gives you a review of a new needle-felting book Felted Feathered Friends.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Eileen shares an August-themed envelope for her hubby's birthday, along with how to make custom envelopes the easy way and the hard way.

Evergreen Glass Sculpture
Cherie makes a green glass sculpture with some pieces she has on hand.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi decided to make a test piece out of felt before committing some of her hand-painted fabrics to the project. And it turns out that she likes the test piece pretty much the way it is!

Resin Crafts!
Carmi has a brief post showing you how she dries flower for her resin pouring projects.

RockPaperInk.com
The National Parks Service: Selected by R.Roger Remington