3 thoughts on “The Complete Photo Guide to Doll Making: *All You Need to Know to Make Dolls * The Essential Reference for Novice and Expert Doll Makers *Packed with … Instructions for 30 Different Dolls”
48 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Some Good information – mostly for beginners, September 22, 2010
This review is from: The Complete Photo Guide to Doll Making: *All You Need to Know to Make Dolls * The Essential Reference for Novice and Expert Doll Makers *Packed with … Instructions for 30 Different Dolls (Paperback)
I am giving this 3 stars, although if I could have had two choices I’d give it 4 stars for beginners and 2 stars for experienced doll makers. That said, there are some interesting techniques – especially the crayon on the hotplate face, which I’ve never seen before – and some of the book dolls were good ideas. Overall, I like the variety of dolls described and thought that was one of the strengths of the book. One thing that bothered me, as a long time cloth doll maker, was the loose weave of the fabric and big machine stitches on the cloth faces shown as examples. One of the first things a cloth doll maker learns is to use a tightly woven, top quality cotton fabric and to use the smallest machine stitches your machine can do without balking. This is so the seams don’t pop open when you turn them – and the doll, particularly the head of the doll, doesn’t stretch out of shape when stuffed. If you went by the photos – and I saw no text that contradicted this impression – you would think you could use a fairly loosely woven fabric and regular length machine stitches. You will end up frustrated and redoing your doll head many times if you try this. I thought there was a good variety of dolls presented, and the clay hands and feet instructions were quite good – you should be able to learn how to do that process from this book. I would suggest that you track this down in your local library before purchasing it, just to be sure you haven’t got this information in other books you already own. If you don’t own any at all, you may well be pleased with it.
I thought the idea of using lots of photographs of techniques was a good one – but if you really want to learn how to make a good quality doll – particularly cloth, but also clay – buy one of the first two Susanna Oroyan books. They are still the definitive “how-to” books of doll making, and include the whole spectrum of dolls from simple to silly to artsy to rag. Elinor Peace Bailey’s DVD is also a good investment if you want to focus on cloth dolls – although it does have a bias towards her own style, it’s easy enough to translate to your own style using the basic info. Patti Medaris-Culea’s books are also very good – but she makes a certain type of doll and her books are aimed towards that type of cloth doll specifically, with not much variety. The same is true of Barbara Willis’ book, her dolls are very “pretty,” but she has some great ideas for dressing the dolls. Li Hertzl’s book is my favorite for fun and funky dolls, lots of good ideas for going off the beaten path. There are a lot of choices out there, and more due to come out in the next couple of months, so be sure this is what you want before making the purchase unless you are okay with buying all of them.
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This review is from: The Complete Photo Guide to Doll Making: *All You Need to Know to Make Dolls * The Essential Reference for Novice and Expert Doll Makers *Packed with … Instructions for 30 Different Dolls (Paperback)
What a superb reference for doll makers everywhere. The authors have really gone to work on the sections in this book that cover so many different dolls. Make dolls with wooden bobbins, socks, fabric, felt, corn husks, twigs, paper and more. This book’s strength is its versatility. Its weakness is that many of these dolls could have been a bit better looking but dolls are lucky in that sense, it is easy to change the features. Well worth the money for its inventiveness. Easy to use thanks to good instructions and clear photographs. Learn the methods then create your own range of dolls. This review first appeared on Karen Platt’s book review website.
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This review is from: The Complete Photo Guide to Doll Making: *All You Need to Know to Make Dolls * The Essential Reference for Novice and Expert Doll Makers *Packed with … Instructions for 30 Different Dolls (Paperback)
I have many books on Doll Making if I could have only one it would be this one. I showed it to my dollmaking group and every one bought a copy. Mine is already well worn.
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Some Good information – mostly for beginners,
I thought the idea of using lots of photographs of techniques was a good one – but if you really want to learn how to make a good quality doll – particularly cloth, but also clay – buy one of the first two Susanna Oroyan books. They are still the definitive “how-to” books of doll making, and include the whole spectrum of dolls from simple to silly to artsy to rag. Elinor Peace Bailey’s DVD is also a good investment if you want to focus on cloth dolls – although it does have a bias towards her own style, it’s easy enough to translate to your own style using the basic info. Patti Medaris-Culea’s books are also very good – but she makes a certain type of doll and her books are aimed towards that type of cloth doll specifically, with not much variety. The same is true of Barbara Willis’ book, her dolls are very “pretty,” but she has some great ideas for dressing the dolls. Li Hertzl’s book is my favorite for fun and funky dolls, lots of good ideas for going off the beaten path. There are a lot of choices out there, and more due to come out in the next couple of months, so be sure this is what you want before making the purchase unless you are okay with buying all of them.
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|variety is the spice of life,
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|Best Dollmaking book I have owned,
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