Book Reviews


More Fabric Art Collage by Rebekah Meier is a treasure trove of techniques that will appeal to any mixed media artist. Many of the techniques presented in this book have been around for a while but the author does an excellent job of explaining the techniques in simple terms that will make it easy for any artist to get started. She does not address the problems that can arise from some of the techniques, such as getting fusible adhesive on your rubber stamps when embossing Fast2Fuse, or completely disintegrating your tyvek when ironing it! The techniques are presented in such a way to help you get started and to inspire ideas, but they are not in depth examinations of the process. The author suggests several ways to upcycle items found in your home or art studio, such as paper towels, aluminum foil, dryer sheets, soda cans, waxed paper and scraps left over from other art projects. With these ideas nothing goes to waste although you risk finding yourself wanting to save every last scrap that you might otherwise throw out! The author covers a really nice array of substrates/foundations, texturing mediums, and other art supplies such as transfer paper, and Rigid Wrap, and Mul-tex. There are numerous ideas in this book for using lots of techniques together in one cohesive piece of art which will appeal to all the technique junkies in the mixed media art world! All in all this is a very inspiring book and would be an excellent resource for an art group looking to work on a book study. The artwork shown in this book is a bit more sophisticated than that show in her previous book and is very inspiring. Rebekah Meier uses these techniques to create artwork that is layered, interesting and feminine. This is a book to return to again and again for ideas and inspiration.




As part of the book review program with C&T Publishing I decided I wanted to read and review Create With Transfer Artist Paper, by Lesley Riley.  This book is a great introduction to the variety of wonderful things you can do with Transfer Artist Paper (TAP).  Lesley's writing is warm and personable and she really clearly explains the various uses of this product.  I was not overly impressed by any of the artwork in this book but I did appreciate the variety of surfaces and techniques demonstrated by each piece.  There are some good basic instructions for editing photos using photo editing software. Lesley covers some of the pros and cons of using TAP on various surfaces so the user will have a good idea what to expect and how to deal with any complications that might arise.  I find it really exciting that you can use other art media such as pastels or pencils on TAP and that transfers can be layered on top of one another for additional effects.  This book will give you some great ideas if you are an artist who is interested in image transfers or is looking for a way to get your own artwork out of your sketchbook and onto another surface.  

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