Book Review: Kanzashi in Bloom by Diane Gilleland

Book Review
Kanzashi in Bloom
Diane Gilleland
Watsun-Guptill

Diane Gilleland is known in the 'craftiverse' as Sister Diane, the mastermind behind the wildly popular blog and podcast CraftyPod. Diane has an innate gift for taking a simple and striking idea and making it fabulous. I had never seen Japanese fabric kanzashi blooms prior to getting this book and I was immediately excited to try making some of my own. Diane offers 20 gorgeous ideas here that are beautifully photographed and meticulously stepped out so you can see step by step, petal by petal, how to recreate them.

I was utterly impressed with her considerable writing skills and the painstaking research she did to give this lovely art form a context and meaning for the Western crafter. Many craft books are pretty to view, but lack depth of information and high quality writing. Diane gives you both along with cleverly fashioned projects that leave you completely inspired. Every design has a brilliant variation concept. Not only are the projects well crafted, the book itself is a beautifully crafted work of art.

I can't wait to try the techniques out for some jewelry and mixed media designs. The best kind of craft book leaves you inspired to create. Diane has achieved that with a brilliant book that I think every crafter should add to their collection.

Margot Potter
The Impatient Crafter
Author The Impatient Beader series
Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed
Beyond the Bead

I do, YuDu!

Image and text copyright Margot Potter 2009

It’s been ages since we created a new The Impatient Crafter™ video. So on Saturday we hauled out the lights and the camera and got to work. Drew worked his editing magic and we posted it last night on YouTube, you can watch it below!

When the wonderful folks from ProvoCraft sent me a new YuDu home screen printing system to explore, we knew it would make a great video topic. We did this on the fly working from the instructions that come with the machine and we found it very easy and super fun. It took us about 6 hours to film since we were working in live time. I also spent about 2 hours fine tuning my sketch you see above, it took about ten versions to get to this one, and I'm really happy with it. Provo has images you can purchase and of course you can mine Dover books and other permission free sources, but I really wanted to make something from scratch. You can use this machine to screen print on a wide variety of materials and items, t-shirts are an obvious choice...but check out the YuDu site for some really fascinating ideas including book shelves, belts, shoes...

It’s an investment, but screen printed items look so much better than the decal style items you can have made online. If you've got a team or a troop or a group event or a fundraiser, why not make your own shirts? I’ve got a lot of plans for this machine...

While you’re here, please check out my interview with the inspiring Sister Diane of CraftyPod on branding. If you’re trying to navigate the complexities of creating a personal brand, we’ve got some insights to share with you. These days, in an ever expanding sea of talent, branding is the key to standing out. Diane is a savvy lady whom I greatly admire and I was honored to be invited on her pod cast. Thank you Sister Diane!

My muse awaits...so until next time...craft on with your bad selves!

xoxo
Margot