Born-Again Vintage: 25 Ways to Deconstruct, Reinvent + Recycle Your Wardrobe

Gustie L. Herrigel

Zen in the Art of Flower Arrangement: The Classic Account of the Meaning and Symbolism of the Japanese Art of Ikebana

Japanese masters have developed the techniques of ikebana over centuries and, while many different styles have evolved, they all share the same fundamental principles. The art embodies aesthetic considerations, knowledge of the natural forms of plants, and a profound understanding of the space around them. This book explains these principles by describing the lessons learned from master arranger Bokuyo Takeda and the underlying Zen symbolism in the art of ikebana. Readers will learn that training in ikebana is a process of achieving spiritual enlightenment and that the craft of arranging flowers is a form of meditation. These lessons provide a perfect escape from the stresses of everyday life and the incomparable satisfaction of creating beauty in the home.

Mastini Frank, Frank Mastini

Ship Modeling Simplified: Tips and Techniques for Model Construction from Kits

In Ship Modeling Simplified, master model builder Frank Mastini puts to paper the methods he's developed over 30 years at the workbench to help novices take their first steps in an exciting pastime. You don't need the deftness of a surgeon or the vocabulary of an old salt to build a model. What you need is an understanding coach. Mastini leads readers from the mysteries of choosing a kit and setting up a workshop through deciphering complicated instructions and on to painting, decorating, and displaying finished models--with patience and clarity, not condescension. He reveals dozens of shortcuts: How to plank a hull "egg-shell tight"; how to build and rig complicated mast assmeblies without profanity; how to create sails that look like sails. . . . And along the way he points out things that beginners usually do wrong--beforehand, not after they've taken hammers to their projects. Ship Modeling Simplified even includes an Italian-English dictionary of nautical terms, the key to assembling the many high-quality Italian kits on the American market. Model building is fun, and not nearly as difficult as some experts would have you believe. Here is everything you'll ever need to get ...

James Smith Rudolph

Make Your Own Working Paper Clock

Clocksby Isaac AsimovThrough most of history, people hardly felt the need of clocks. It seemed sufficient to consult one's own physiology to tell when one was hungry or sleepy, or to observe the general position of the sun in the sky during the day or that of the Big Dipper at night.Those who were meticulous enough to want something better searched for some regular motion that existed in nature or that could be contrived. In ancient times, the sundial was invented so that the passage of the shadow of a rod could be followed as the sun crossed the sky.Or else one could observe the extent to which a candle burned downward, or wait till a certain amount of sand had sifted through a small opening. Such devices could be used on cloudy days or at night, when the sun could not be seen and shadows were not observed.In ancient times, the best timepiece was the clepsydra, or water clock, which measured time by the regular dripping of water through a narrow opening. As water accumulated in the lower reservoir, a float carrying a pointer rose and marked the hours. The best water clocks were quite elaborate but few in number and fragile. They could not be relied on to tell time more closely ...