(Part 2) Best decorative art books according to redditors
We found 230 Reddit comments discussing the best decorative art books. We ranked the 84 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
http://www.amazon.com/67-prizewinning-plywood-projects-competition/dp/0943822408
Is it this one?
This appears in the Agile Rabbit Book of Historical and Curious Maps. There's a fairly high-res version of it in the CD included with the book.
I should probably start posting random maps from this book for great karma...
Check out the wiki for many links and resources on the Japanese sword. I recommend you learn as much as you possibly can before attempting to purchase genuine nihontō. Read at a bare minimum The Art of the Japanese Sword. Many retail dealers in Japan will not sell to just anyone; a little bit of knowledge and respect will help show that you are serious about owning a genuine sword and are aware of the proper etiquette and maintenance required. Speaking of which, watch these two videos by nihontō book dealer Grey Doffin on sword etiquette. Committing a faux pas in the presence of a dealer is a very fast way to ensure they will not sell you anything. EDIT: oh, and dress neatly. That kind of thing matters.
Be aware that de-registration and export paperwork for nihontō takes several weeks and fluent Japanese language abilities. Therefore you will likely not be able to simply pick out a blade and fly home with it. Instead, the dealer will take care of paperwork and ship it to your home address, usually via EMS.
What is your budget? You should understand that an antique katana, polished, in shirasaya (no full mounts), papered by the NBTHK to Hozon level (the baseline), will usually cost several thousand dollars minimum. It goes up (way, way up) from there. I strongly discourage you from buying any antiques that do not come with NBTHK or NTHK papers, because unless you are intimately familiar with collecting and appraising nihontō (as it is evident you are not) then the onus is completely on you to know the quality and value of a given piece. There are plenty of overpriced, flawed, gimei (false signature), or other pieces that a dealer will happily unload on an unschooled gaijin. Papers will let you know that it is at least authenticated to a certain base quality level and specific school or smith.
An exception would be shinsakutō (newly-made blades, i.e. those from the 50s and later). These will as a general rule not be papered. However they will also have a higher baseline quality level than the worst antiques because of Japanese laws regarding licensing smiths. Unfortunately a newly-made blade (especially from the past 30 years) tends to be particularly expensive, with a polished katana in shirasaya tending to be $10,000 minimum.
Of course the sky is the limit. There are Tokubetsu Hozon papered antiques for $10,000–30,000, and Jūyō / Tokujū antique blades from $30k to hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are also shinsakutō by mukansa (above contest) smiths today that will run you $40,000+. But I am assuming that wasn't your target budget.
Where in Japan are you going? You may want to check out the websites of some of the dealers beforehand to get a sense of what they keep on hand, especially the ones that have some sort of English capability. There's a list of commercial dealers on this page though of course that's just an international sampling.
I don't know, what else can I tell you… the Dai Tōken Ichi (biggest Japanese sword dealer show in the world) is November 1–3 this year… also, visit the NBTHK museum if you'll be in Tokyo. Oh! And understand that you can find mogitō (decorative swords) and iaitō (training swords for iaidō) in Japan, some of them very expensive (e.g. $1,000), but these are not real swords and they have aluminum-zinc alloy blades. I would not spend a lot of money on such an item. Maybe $350 or so on an iaitō as it will look exactly like a real sword to anyone who isn't a collector, won't require maintenance, you can fly home with it, train forms with it, etc.; much better than a "wallhanger."
Regards,
Gabriel
My several month old list: Fashion Podcasts and Interviews
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I've been collecting a few podcasts to listen to in my spare time and came across an enormous amount when searching both on /r/malefashionadvice, /r/malefashion and /r/femalefashionadvice.
I thought it'd be nice to share a few I've found which were interesting and which other people can enjoy.
I know my fashion interests can definitely skew to the boring, so if you have any more suggestions please comment below!
Podcasts & Youtube:
Others:
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Sources and thanks to:
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/u/setfiretoflames booklist Well Regarded Fashion Books: A Community List
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Hey, want to get a nice coffee table book? Let’s make a list of some of our favorites.
Note: I don’t own all of these, some are off friends’ recommendations, and some are for books that haven’t even come out yet. They are mostly in Amazon links for ease of use, but none of the links are affiliate ones (and any that are found in the thread will be removed).
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style
Ann Demeulemeester
Blue Blooded
BEAMS: Beyond Tokyo
The Carhartt WIP Archives
Dries Van Noten 1-100
Hiroshi Fujiwara: Fragment
Maison Martin Margiela
Margiela: The Hermès Years
Martin Margiela: The Women’s Collections 1989-2009
Rei Kawakubo
Rick Owens
Rick Owens: Furniture
Take Ivy
Undercover
Vintage Menswear
Yamamoto & Yohji
Yohji Yamamoto
At least in our house, we've got stuff like: https://www.amazon.com/Dover-Creative-Tessellation-Patterns-Coloring/dp/048649165X
https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Haven-Mandala-Techellations-Coloring/dp/0486805220/
Therapeutic zone-out kind of stuff. Local participants aged ~30, ~50, ~55.
More info on how it's done and what you pretty much need is in this thread:
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=988062
> it's still a bit baffling to me just how taboo it is
You’d think it’s a crime or something....
I use ornament in all my projects. It varies from a simple set of moldings, up to figural elements such as floral capital, bas-reliefs, rosettes, etc.
You might find use of the book, Handbook of Ornament.
Oh, isn't that wonderful! I have yet to do a study of that myself. To be honest I am a little afraid of spending too long in the Gothic hands as I fear I would have very little company in my local society—I've already made my wife a calligraphy widow, don't want to make my friends gothic widows/widowers to boot. :P
Pity about the Koch book; I'll keep my eyes peeled and let you know if I come across anything worth looking for. In the meanwhile I have lots to keep me busy between researching Romans and some books I received as late birthday presents—most notably The Book of Kells by Bernard Meehan and The Lindisfarne Gospels - A Masterpiece of Book Painting by Janet Backhouse (not to be confused with the larger _The Lindisfarne Gospels ... also by Janet Backhouse ... sigh) as well as Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Illuminated Manuscripts ... and I also got a (used) copy of Ann Camps "Pen Lettering" which is somewhat more of a beginner's book, but is still interesting and methodical.
I have a giant stack of books to read and never enough time to read them. :P
The nice thing about producing works of the same size with the intent of binding later is that you don't have to worry about the binding just yet. It's obviously going to be something relatively simple since you are not making folios or octavos or anything—you just need to find a bookbinding guild and meet someone that is willing to do it for you, or learn how to do it yourself. ;)
I see the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook in many kitchens. I bought it and love it, my mom has a much older edition, my grandma has an edition... Yeah I say check it out!
Jewelry Making and Design is an old book but full of time-tested basic fabrication techniques. You might not be interested in the Arts and Crafts style of the jewelry but the design principles are sound and working through the projects will give you skills that you'll need for fabricating in any style.
Fantasia is great, and I've learned so much about doing skin tones working with it.
The books I have my eye on, but haven't tried yet are:
Fairy World Coloring Book Check out some of her other books as well.
Creature Incantante
Magical Beauties
Well, I believe this is a question of design. I learned the information I am going to share with you from this book
http://www.amazon.com/Islamic-Design-Genius-Geometry-Wooden/dp/0802716350
And through design classes.
In the West, the goal of "good design" or what makes things "look good" is the achievement of a concept called Unity. There are seven principals of organization that one can manipulate to achieve this Unity in a work.
repetition, harmony, variety, economy, scale, ect. someone fill in the rest.
But in the East, their methodology is different. They never leave this concept called Unity for too long, they merely extrapolate unity geometrically, using an underlying grid of circles, which can take an infinite number of expressions. (Look in that book I linked if you wanna know exactly what's up. Note: this isn't exactly the flower of life, but it does seem suspiciously close.)
It's also interesting to note that Yoga means Unity. I think the viewing of unified art may be entheogenic.
!!!!!!!!!!! I love my inner child
Fanciful Faces it just looks so pretty!
I also have FAT LADIES IN SPAAAACE which amuses the heck out of me.
It's okay to Drink and Color right?
Those three are on my under $10 list, the rest of mine are on my Book wishlist.
I have other coloring books but those three are the coolest in my opinion. =D
I have Fanciful Faces published by Creative Haven (artwork by Miryam Adatto). I just started it, but I love that I can use so much color in each page. Fanciful Faces on Amazon
Right now, I am really enjoying the Creative Haven books on Amazon. Right now I'm enjoying the heck out of this one. There is some mild bleed through but I just put some printer paper in between the pages and that solves it.
Do you have a link for the hidden object books?
What tools and techniques are you using to make rings now? Do use a torch to cast or solder rings? Do you do wire wrapping? Have you ever tried making a ring from a silver coin?
The basic metalworking and jewelry making techniques in Mcreight's books apply to ring making, even if you didn't find anything specific to ring making. What specific types of designs are you looking for?
I found this book very interesting and useful:
https://store.doverpublications.com/0486217507.html
You can find used copies cheap online, and since it's in the public domain you can probably find a digital version for free that you can load onto a phone, tablet, or laptop. Here's a link to one:
https://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/jewelrymakingdes00rose_2.pdf
Since it was originally published over 100 years ago it has really old fashioned designs, many of which are quite beautiful, and it shows how to make them.
I've also seen this book around, but don't own a copy:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0873495438/
Please give us more specifics so we can help you.
Thanks, and good luck!
Omg omg I actually just added some to my list yesterday and they are all so pretty you can chose! If I had to though I'd pick this one
I summon /u/nkotbfanatic, I think she would like this, because Despicable Me! :P
Life is about using the whole box of crayons!
Awesome contest!!
I love my inner child and really want this coloring book or this one is even better
Thanks for contest
OMG OMG OMG!! I was hoping so much that was what the surprise was going to be when you said you were going to dinner with a surprise! CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so awesome!!! <3 <3 <3
Happy Dance
I have This on my "assorted nonsense" wishlist.
No worries. I don't always trust wikipedia anyway:-)
According to Janet Backhouse's Lindisfarne Gospels four men are named in the colophon as contibutors: Eadfridth of Lindisfarne wrote it, one bound it, one provided gold ornaments, and Aldred provided the gloss.
I can recommend the previously quoted book as well as Michelle P. Brown's Painted Labyrinth.
I got these book at a ridiculously cheap price from amazon. I noticed the last book is still available at bottom price...
If you have the inclination there's ways to think about your cat situation that might make it more "cat proof" while giving your boy places to play and hang that will help him adjust to apartment life (and help you sleep). Catification is a great book for life with cats! Not just about how to make a space more cat fun and friendly but also cat psychology and why they do what they do.
i've been eyeing this for a few months!
first buy a quality chisels, if they are good you gonna have them for life so it worth spending money on them, then learn how to sharpen them then just try carving again and again.Start with simplier patterns then move to the more compicated patterns and dont get frustrated if it not gonna work out on the first try..!and if you are looking for some design, handbooks of ornaments are very handy..
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Ornament-Dover-Pictorial-Archive/dp/0486203026
Custom made chopsticks, a calligraphy set for writing Kanji, a Kimono, this giant encyclopedia of Japanese family crests, and all manner of other things.
It's diagrammed in his newest book the just came out: http://www.amazon.com/Origami-Animal-Sculpture-Inspired-Instructional/dp/4805312629#
Definitely recommend buying it, and the price is quite reasonable.
As soon as I found out about the Buddha Board I knew I wanted one.
It is a special board that allows you to paint with water. When the water dries, the image vanishes. It is supposed to be a zen thing to show you to paint just for the sake of painting, since the image will disappear. It is also supposed to be a symbol that everything is temporary.
I also use coloring and collect as many coloring books as I can.
This is this first time I have ever tried to enter hyperlinks in a comment and I hope it works. I could have just screwed these hyperlinks up royally, lol.
http://www.amazon.com/67-prizewinning-plywood-projects-competition/dp/0943822408
you can buy it new for just $129.31!
Thanks and sure. This is the book. I found it at a second-hand shop. But I think there are lots of books out there on this. But this one is pretty good.
No one has mentioned it yet, but I learned a lot from cook books.
These are not just lists or recipes, but instruction about techniques and methods and processes.
Some good ones are:
Having an actual dead tree book can be more convenient in the kitchen than a laptop or mobile device with an ebook.
If you can find episodes of Good Eats by Alton Brown he is really good at explaining things. Videos can be good, but a lot of times but really only when you know what it is you're looking for. With a book it is going to give you topics that you might never have thought of.
But for reals now, you are going to get the best value learning how to cook the basics. Your Instant pot is AWESOME for cooking dry beans. Get pound of dry black beans and 3 pounds of water (obviously you need a good kitchen scale). I just put the inner pot of my Instantpot on the scale, dump in the beans, tare it, then pour water in with a big cup till I have 3 lbs. Put in 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt. I also add granulated garlic and powdered onion and some cumin but you don't have to. Set your instanpot to manual for 45 mins and wait. Let it naturally release, if you manually release the pressure the skin on the beans will break, to me it still tastes the same but you have far fewer whole beans. Now you have a weeks worth of delicious, healthy black beans. No need for overnight soak or anything.
Small white beans (a.k.a navy beans) can be cooked the same and they taste different but just as good. Or you can add the extra ingredients and make pork and beans.
You can cook pinto beans with the same basic recipe, and they taste great too. When you want to take the extra time, then with a slotted spoon dish the cooked beans into a large frying pan with some lard or shortening and make your own refried beans. You smash the beans with the back of the spoon or a spatula, and use the bean broth to add liquid till you like the texture.
If you can't tell I like cooking beans in my Instantpot. I have a rice cooker but you can cook rice in the Instantpot too. Beans and rice is healthy and cheap!!! (cook them separately and mix them after cooking).