The Complete Book of Oriental Designs

The Complete Book of Oriental Designs contains over 250 oriental themed patterns that can be incorporated into many different projects. The line illustrations include borders, motifs, panels and patterns.

Source books and pattern books provide a source of inspiration and ideas. The basic designs can be taken and incorporated into a wide variety of projects, allowing the crafter or artist to take the basic source material and use it to create something truly unique. Unlike project books, which are often prescriptive in style, source books allow the reader to use the full scope of their creativity. Source books and pattern books are ideal for craftspeople including rubber stampers, card makers and people interested in papercraft in general. By tracing, scanning or photocopying the patterns from the source book, the patterns can be used as templates for designs to add to handmade cards and a wide variety of other projects.

Note: Each source book has its own copyright terms. Check this for any specific information about the copying and using the designs. The copyright and usage terms of The Complete Book of Oriental Designs allows for readers to make no more than 15 items from any one design.

The Complete Book of Oriental Designs contains 250 images. These are clearly presented outline images which are ideal for many purposes. The images include small designs and borders that are suitable for card making as well as full page designs that can be used for larger projects. All the designs, however, can be increased or decreased in size using a photocopier. The images are also presented on the accompanying CD and this means that they can easily be manipulated on a computer before printing. Images include flowers and blossom, oriental masks, people and birds.

One useful feature of The Complete Book of Oriental Designs is that it includes a range of different project ideas. These do not include step by step instructions, instead they give a broad outline of the project. However they offer ideas and suggestions for how the images can be used. The project ideas include the use of techniques such as glass painting and embroidery as well as the interesting idea of using glass painting outliner to make a raised surface on card and using this as a stamp. The projects have been completed by Judy Balchin (co-author of Papercrafts for Christmas) and Julia D Gray.

I enjoyed the wide range of images contained within The Complete Book of Oriental Designs and have lots of idea for how I could incorporate the images into projects. The CD that accompanies the book makes printing the designs simple and alleviates the need for a scanner or photocopier. The images are not categorized or indexed, therefore readers will need to browse the entire book to fully appreciate the range of images available. I appreciate the project ideas. The level of information provided for each project idea is just enough to let an experienced crafter know how a project was completed and the techniques required. A beginner crafter may require more information.

More Information

• Title: The Complete Book of Oriental Designs
• Publisher: Search Press
• ISBN: 978-1-84448-441-6

Note: Designs in this book are taken from the following books:

• Traditional Japanese Designs - Polly Pinder
• Oriental Flower Designs - Polly Pinder
• Chinese Designs - Elaine Hill
• Persian Designs - Jane Greenwood