The Harvest Craft Book

A small sized 80 page book containing 60 crafts and projects to make with gathered materials from nature. The gist of the book is that one will walk among fields, woods, and the general outdoors in the autumn months and gather found objects: dead natural materials to use to make crafts with. The author does not promote cutting living plant materials from natural settings. The book is written as an instruction guide for "harvest crafts" to celebrate the autumnal harvest, Halloween, and Michaelmas. Items may also be used on a "seasons table" as in the Waldorf school style. Unlike other books in the same series, the majority of these crafts will only be able to be performed by adults or very patient older children or teens. I feel that most of these crafts need the skilled and patient hands of an experienced crafter. Only a few items would be appropriate for children to play with or handle as most of the projects are delicate in nature and would fall apart if played with with anything but the most delicate hands. Most projects are to hang on a wall or from a window or to sit on a table and not to be touched. I cannot imagine myself making some of these as they look too fine and require very perfect materials and more nimble hands than I have. The author provides excellent directions and full color photographs of the finished project as well as drawings to illustrate difficult steps in the process. Although the author states that one may use any materials that are native to an area, some of the crafts will be impossible to make unless you live in an area that has these items (unless you can find the materials in a craft store and purchase them). There are many crafts that require straw in very good condition, and seeds and nuts that may not be available in your area. Some required items are lime tree seeds, pine cones, deciduous leaves, various nuts, cereal grains (wheat, oat), and corn husks. Here is the breakdown of the crafts: general: 3, straw items: 9, straw plait projects: 6, straw figures: 4, corn husk figures: 1, projects with materials from woods and fields: 19, project with deciduous leaves: 7, misc. items for festivals: 11. To me the most interesting looking crafts are in the festival section: instructions to make your own flower press (these can be expensive to buy in a store), writing paper decorated with leaves, window transparencies, a table transparency, and a crown made of dried leaves. I see this book being for people who love to walk amongst nature and collect little items and save them up for a time when you can make the project. The problem is that you may want to make something but be missing something such as a chestnut or a hazelnut. Or maybe you have the leaves but you have to dry them for a week before they can be used. This book is not only for the Waldorf student or parent but for anyone interested in taking natural found objects and transforming them into lovely crafts.