It shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me that I have a bit of a craft/DIY book collection. From practical, old-school home maintenance guides, to kitschy ’70s craft encyclopedias, to beautiful, modern books filled with knitting and sewing patterns, my collection runs the gamut. But with so many great tutorials and patterns available online, why do we still need books? Victoria Hudgins, the author of Materially Crafted (and the blog A Subtle Revelry), argues that with the sheer volume of incomplete and often contradictory information online, it can often be difficult and time-consuming to figure out what you need to know to work with your chosen materials. So she wrote Materially Crafted to help fill this gap. Divided into chapters by material, the book walks you through the basic tools and skills you need to know to successfully complete projects with paint, plaster, concrete, paper, thread, wax, wood, clay, glue, fabric, and metal. That way when you come across an inspiring project image online, you can quickly refer to the relevant chapters here for advice on how to begin replicating it. After all, while it’s easy to pin projects you plan to make one day, actually getting started can be the real challenge.
If you’re short on ideas, Materially Crafted also includes advice on how to get inspired, plus a few creative home decor projects for each material. My recent cake stand project made me especially excited to see the instructions for a concrete cake stand (pictured above), and I was intrigued by the stitched wooden chair. My only complaint is that I wish there were more tutorials, but I think I’m just being greedy. Plus the end of each section has links to more projects online, including, I should disclose, my waxed tote bag in the “Wax” section.
Even without my tiny contribution to this book, I can honestly say that it would be a great addition to any craft library. It would be especially perfect for a beginning DIY-er, but even as someone who has done a lot of projects, I found a lot of new tips and inspiration.
Materially Crafted is published by STC Craft | A Melanie Falick Book. I was gifted a copy for review.
