This is one in the brand-new Handmade Greetings Card Series from Search Press and is a slim but lushly illustrated book of the type that has the crafty reader reaching for their tools. It is a fine introduction to the craft and has a number of simple but effective projects complete with staged photographs and copiable patterns and ideas for more. At the beginning of the book there is a section on what tools you need and here the author has gone a little over the top. As a keen maker of this type of card myself I know that many stunning cards can be created with just some plain sheets of metal, an embossing tool, pliers and wire. In my opinion too much space is devoted to the single technique of heating copper sheets with a heat gun and making them change colour which is a lovely aspect of the craft but is perhaps more for the end of the book in the section for more advanced readers and the same can be said of the use of a small anvil and hammer for flattening the wire.

This aside I loved the use of found objects such as shells and fossils, used as a base for rubbings and this makes some of the most effective cards in the book. The instructions are wonderfully clear for anybody to follow and all the projects are beautiful but the author's insistence on using too many advanced tools mars what is otherwise an excellent book. Buy it - but stock your craft cupboard with caution.


PS A tip from me - recycle the metal lids from coffee jars, margarine packs and others which may not be pure copper but come free and make wonderful metal motifs. Large catering size jars are a crafter's dream!