Wise Craft

February 17, 2014
Stocker, a blogger who had a career in apparel and textile design before staying home to raise children, offers 60 projects in four seasonal chapters, with holiday nods going out from May Day (sheet music and paper bag floral cones) to Halloween (naked zombie Barbies, painted delightfully white). Most undertakings require only an open mind as a skill set, though a bit of sewing (patchwork jeans from thrift store shirts or the picnic blanket fashioned from men’s apparel) or crochet (glass fishing bobbers as casual décor or tree ornaments) skills will help. Even the most gifted repurposer should find inspiration in the woven chair back, crafted from yarn and a lucky side-of-the-road find (a set of mid-century modern dining chairs). “Sometimes,” says Stocker, “what seems blah at first glance just needs an open mind and a little love to be completely transformed.” A keeper for thrift-store divas and dumpster divers.

March 1, 2014

Stocker, author of the popular Wise Craft blog, specializes in easy-to-make crafts using repurposed materials. This collection features 60 new projects employing a variety of techniques, from hand quilting and weaving to papercraft and collage, intended to bring new life to worn-out objects. Stocker divides her projects by season, and each of the seasons includes holiday arrangements (Halloween, Christmas) as well as entries capturing the color palette and feel of a season (bold brights for summer, subdued and muted tones for fall). Few of the projects require specialized skills or knowledge, and those that do are beginner-friendly. Like most craft titles featuring upcycled or repurposed objects, the ventures can be hit or miss--taking the covers off a thrifted[?] book and using it as a trivet doesn't require much skill or creativity--but the majority of the ideas in this book are a lot of fun. VERDICT Crafting via repurposed materials is an ever-popular topic, and Stocker includes plenty of thoughtful, useful, and stylish projects in this collection.

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