The Starving Artist's Way: Easy Projects for Low-Budget Living

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The Starving Artist's Way: Easy Projects for Low-Budget Living

Author(s):

Nava Lubelski

Label: Three Rivers Press
Publisher(s):

Three Rivers Press

Studio: Three Rivers Press
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
Binding: Paperback
List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $12.60
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Follow these tenets of the Starving Artist?s lifestyle to create unique projects that prove that home décor, clothing, gifts, and accessories don?t have to be expensive to be spectacular. Whether you?re an artist or not?if you are brainstorming creative ways to make your pad look like a work of art, or if you are a crafty type looking for fun and original projects that don?t break the bank?The Starving Artist?s Way has something for you. With a wide variety of easy projects ranging from recipes to furniture, bath products to jewelry, this clever guide is your key to the best of funky chic and creativity on a budget, with more than 100 projects, most created exclusively for this book by New York City native and Starving Artist Nava Lubelski, including:

--At-Home-Absinthe, a version of the heady brew seen in Degas?s painting The Glass of Absinthe

--?Octopus Project? Fried Rice, inspired by Japanese installation artist Shimabuku

--Magnet Wall, evoking the Bauhaus aesthetic of Walter Gropius

--Pop Art Tomato Table, a stylish nod to the vibe of Andy Warhol

--Dada Photo Frame, in the quirky spirit of collagist Kurt Schwitters

--Magritte Silk-Screened T-Shirts, with images inspired by the Surrealist?s confounding paintings

With fun and informative sidebars about art movements and the artists (some famous, some just starting out) who make them happen, The Starving Artist?s Way is an insider?s scoop on art history and a do-it-yourself workbook all in one.

Customer Reviews

The worst craft book ever

This book is heavy on the art history references, and light on actual creative ideas. I guess the idea was to link the projects with well-known artists' styles, but it's overly wordy and these links are loose and uninteresting. The projects were totally lame and, without photos or drawings on most of them, hard to imagine or get interested in. The graphic design is even more banal, in fake typewriter font and two-color printing that's not even utilized well. A better version would have cut the copy by half (or more) and put in photos of the projects (or, come on throw us a bone--even a drawing of each one!) though some were so stupid even that wouldn't save them. Save your money.

some of it is a waste of paper.

This book is not bad. It has alot of references to many artists over the past few centuries and it was interesting to learn about some of the newer ones. This book also contains alot of clever ideas for inexpensive projects. My only complaints are: there aren't any colour photos, or real pictures of what any of the projects will look like - only drawings. And the way the author writes is extremely informal and the book is just one big joke. Also, the way the author relates certain artists to projects seems forced. It seems like she just looks for ANYTHING that could be sort of related or not at all to try to mention an artist at certain points in the book. It's sort of a waste of writing when she does this.
Overall, it's an okay book. It has some good projects and some interesting facts about some artists, which you don't usually find in a DIY book.

Fun ideas for crafty days.

I think the ideas are great, but I feel like I will go through twice the materials they suggest using because I will mess up the first time due to lack of instruction. This book would be better with photos or at least a sketch of what the project might look like.

What A Fun Book

I REALLY enjoyed this book. In fact, I initially checked it out of the library but liked it so much I bought it. What is surprising is that there are not a lot of pictures OR photos and I STILL liked this book. There are several diagrams so at least you get an idea of what how something is supposed to look. There was another book that had a similar feel, but this book is soooo much better. This is the book that , "Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec (see my review)"was trying to be. I like that the chapters are logical with an interesting layout that is easy to follow.

The chapters include Food (my favorite subject), Home Decorating, Wearables, Potions (soaps, bath, cosmetics) and Special Events and Gifts. I think there is probably something in this book that would address anybody's taste. I'm planning on making the Avocado-Mushroom Risotto tonight.

In addition to the great layout of the book, each project has an interesting tidbit about an artist, writer, painter or art concept and was quite educational and most interesting. Some of the projects include:

* Clocks from old things
* Diorama door table
* Bread-n-jam mini layer cakes
* Coin Necklace
* Oatmeal and Almond scrub
* Fortune Cookies
* New Year's Trash Hat
* Hanging Murphy Shelf

I give this book a 4.5 star, because it lacks photos and could use more illustrations. If they revise this book, I would recommend taking out some of the tidbits and putting in more pictures to make this a full 5 star book. Even though this book is for the "starving artist", it could easily be used by the starving student, starving college graduate, starving actress OR for someone like me who likes to stoke their creative side and have some fun.

great SOUNDING projects, but...

This book coulda' tossed in a few pictures of completed projects. This book didn't have a single photo to inspire or guide. Sometimes you just need to see it done to know it's possible!

But - that aside, I like the ideas inside. Gonna pick one out & start soon...

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