Perfect for Artists book class, a bit more advanced than the scrapbooking fad/craze. Would encourage all true artists studio and student to buy!

I have made 2 of these books. Easy to follow directions for making the books.

This book is inspirational for anyone who enjoys creating different types of books. The projects are challenging and fun, while catering for beginners through to people who have had a lot of experience in book making. All instructions are easy to understand and materials required are fully explained.This is a fantastic book!

This book is really great for inspiring creative ways to make your art books, journals and memories books beautiful and inviting on the outside. It stimulates the artist to continue the themes of the content all the way through the book cover to cover instead of settling for a store bought, unembelished manual.

There are many diagrams, "how to" tips and project instructions that are easy to read and to implement. The photos are very good and there are plenty of them. The art books displayed are opulent and the draw you into that creative mood.

The resource guide/suppliers was a little too brief.

Although I sort of went crazy and bought several books on handmade books and paper crafts, when it came to actually selecting designs I wanted to try for Christmas gifts for my friends this year it was Book Arts: Beautiful Bindings for Handmade Books by Mary Kaye Seckler that had the most novel and attractive designs. Some of the ideas were similar to those illustrated in other works, but Ms Seckler's actual presentation was impressive. While some of the more elaborate designs in other books were attractive and clever, they left me as a major beginner a little daunted. Book Arts allowed me to produced satisfying results despite my status as novice.

Some of the actual patterns for weaving the signatures together were a little confusing to me. I'm used to fiber crafts like tatting and bobbin lace which have very complicated designs, so I felt that had the illustrations been a little clearer it would have been easier to do. Where the needlework was more straight forward, however, I found the assembly of the book more easily accomplished. Although I've yet to try all of the patterns, I hope to make each one at least once.

Of all of the styles offered, my favorite was the Geisha's Hideaway. It includes a small pencil box and a novel closure. I made a practice run with scrap paper and cardboard backs from tablets during a quiet episode at work and managed to complete the thing in about an hour. I've since made three others using brocade fabric and taking more pains over the precision with which I cut the covers and pencil box, and each took considerably longer, about three hours with gluing and clamping the materials. The results, however, were stunning.

I modified the author's version of the Chinese Star Book by making it a little larger and making a changeable story out of it by placing alternate outcomes from which the reader could chose into pockets at each stage of the story. I got the idea for the story from another book on making books, but chose Ms Seckler's design for the actual book.

By learning the basic techniques of each of the books and altering them to suit a desired purpose, the student should be able to come up with hundreds of clever designs. For those of you used to stamping and to scrap booking, the embellishments you might add to your product through your knowledge of those sources are legion, and you should be very satisfied with the results. .