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Lettering:  Make
Your Own Cards, Signs, Gifts and More.
Amanda Lewis. Subject Headings:
Grades 3 - 7 / Ages 8 - 12.
****/4
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excerpt:
Use the suggestions and ideas in this book to create lettering projects of your own. Look at books, ads, magazines and posters to see how letters are used. You'll find that letters come in thousands of shapes and sizes. Be a letter collector -- if you see lettering you like, trace or copy it and keep it to use later. Experiment with different sizes, styles, tools and papers to invent new kinds of lettering. Most of all, enjoy the power in your fingers -- the power to communicate your ideas on paper.
THE "KIDS CAN CRAFT" series is known for its appealing and reasonably priced titles, and this new addition to the series is exciting. Lewis, a professional calligrapher, offers children an easy entrance into calligraphy by showing how to use double pencils with colouring for large signs and banners. She next demonstrates Gothic letters using a nib or felt markers.
Lewis's
instructions are very clear and much better than those found in the
Usborne book of Calligraphy Projects by Fiona Watt and Anna
Rowley (Usborne, 1994). She also explains Versals and shows how to use
them in bookmarks, labels, and gift tags. For each project, a list of
requirements is included -- and many of the supplies are modest in price
or found around the house.
Several projects
will catch the eye of adult calligraphers -- especially the 3-D letter
tower and jewellery made of baking clay. There's also lots of good
information on using coloured pencils, design principles, and layout for
the computer.
The projects are
much easier than those in the Usborne Book of Calligraphy
Projects, and both beginning and advanced students should find
success in completing them.
Highly recommended.
Lorraine Douglas is Youth Services Coordinator for Winnipeg Public Library, and is also a calligrapher and book artist.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cmeditor@mts.net.
Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364