Handmade Style: Japan: Projects and Inspiration for the Home

by Dorothy Wood and Lucy Mason

Japanese style is famed for its simplicity and elegance, and Japanese crafts for their exquisite workmanship. This book includes inspiration and instructions for 20 projects based on the Japanese... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081182814X
• ISBN13: 9780811828147
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

You can make Japanese-style home decor yourself

If you love Asian-style home decor, you can make your own lamps, screens, and much more.Some of the projects require some woodworking skill; my favorite in the book is a screen framed in wood and filled with handmade reed mats. It is very pretty and would suit many types of decor, but you need to be able to do the same techniques as required to build your own picture frame. If you sew, there are a couple of wonderful projects; a sashiko place mat (white quilting on blue indigo dyed cloth),an appliqued noren--which is a cloth door curtain hung on a dowel. The noren has a stunning design of floating carp done in scraps of a vintage silk kimono. but you certainly could use luxurious quilt fabrics. There are also some pillow patterns.One of the best projects is a "water garden" which is really a fountain. With a small electric water pump and the skills to build a wood box, you can make your own indoor fountain and add rocks and plants to suit yourself. There is also a bamboo coffee table base, a cedar wood bath mat tied with rope, a bamboo towel ladder and a simple bamboo soap dish. I give the book 4 out of 5 stars, not because I don't love it, but because you must have woodworking skills to do many of the best projects. Not everyone knows woodworking (when I went to school, girls were banned from wood shop. How times have changed.)

Great projects, many differnt crafts

I love Asian design have been waiting a long time for a book like this to come out. The book is in full-color and there are step-by-step instructions, accompanied by photos, for each project. The 20 projects for a wide variety of decorative and useful items in Japanese style use materials including fabric, bamboo, cane, reed, paper, wood, and stone. Conveniently there are templates and a resource list in back.A few projects require basic sewing skills and a sewing machine. These include elegant sashiko table mats, a bolster cushion, an appliqued curtain, raffia footstool and a floor cushion. Others require basic woodworking skills and power tools such as a miter saw, tenon saw or router. Some of these include a reed screen, peaceful water garden, wooden bath mat, exquisite lacquered tea tray, towel rail and soap dish. Some simpler projects that don't require any special tools or skills include a paper and rattan tray, woven cane lamp, momigami lamp, a beautiful paneled paper hanging, tall vases, paper mache bowls, concrete candle holder, and a shoe rack. My favorite project was the bamboo table with a glass top. These are great accessories for any home that features Asian accents or design and would be great finishing touches for a house done in traditional Japanese style.