Thursday, March 18, 2010

Book Review: Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities

I just got my order of goodies in from skybluepink.com for my MIU workshop in April. Included in my order was the latest Tim Holtz book. I just couldn't resist. Even though I don't do any scrapbooking stuff, I do use the Distress Ink pads and some of the alcohol inks. I am groovin' on some of his stamp pads and some of the metal thingies that he sells. I am not big on his grunge board but am trying out his grunge paper. Will get back to you once I try that. I am such a sucker for anything metal.

I got the book here: http://skybluepink.com/books.html

The book is called A Compendium of Curiosities. It is a hard covered book with a spiral binding inside. It is very nicely organized. The techniques are step-by-step and easy to follow. Pictures are not big but clear.

Approximately the first half of the book is introducing you to the materials that are used in the book for the techniques that are to come later. You may have seen similar techniques done on his blog or You Tube vids.

If you do not use any of the Tim Holtz/Ranger products and don't plan to, then this book may not be for you. This entire book is based on his product lines and how to use them. You have his stuff, so what now? Even though you may not do the same type of art that is shown in the book, there are a lot of great background techniques that you can glean from this book that you can use in what you do. If you use some of the Tim stuff, you can substitute some of the rest. I have most of the stuff already in my stash. He also does a lot with metal embellishments. If you do a lot of ATCs, the techniques are great for that.

I am interested in the texture of the grunge paper. I am going to try that to see how it can fit into what I do. Wonder if it will work with fabric and metal. Might even incorporate it in with fabric paper.

Bottom line:

If you are a Tim Holtz fan, you will love the book because it shows you what you can do with his latest stuff.

If you have some of his product line, it will give you some different ideas on what you can do with his product. You can substitute the rest or veer off where your muse takes you. Just look beyond the scrapbook pages if you don't do the scrapbooking and look at the techniques. If you do the scrapbooking - all the better.

If you don't have anything by Tim Holtz and have no idea who he is, then you might want to pass up this book. If you are a total newbie, you might want to look him up on his blog first to see if you like his style.
http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/

In real life, he is a total sweetheart. I know he has a distinct core market. Would love to see him do more mixed media and assemblage.

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