Egyptian Designs
Medieval Designs
By Polly Pinder  

     Here are two more entries in Search Press’s popular and useful Design Source Book series. With these two very competitively priced books (£4.95/$9.95), you can add a touch of Ancient Egypt or the Middle Ages to any craft project. In both books, birds, plants and people predominate and the designs are mainly quite large; I have already earmarked a few for some summer clothes, which will give you an idea of the size (fits onto A4). If you are planning a project like a wall hanging, T-shirt, skirt, curtains, or mosaic (use your imagination and supply the craft of your choice), then here are some attractive designs. However, if you are into smaller items such as greetings cards, painting on soaps or candles, jewelry, etc. then you will have to do a bit of shrinking on your printer or photocopier and then many of the designs will be too detailed. I think that it depends on the project, whether or not you will make maximum use of these books.

     One boon, though, is that you are free to use them for your personal use or sell the items you make for charity but these are not public domain, so no commercial use is permissible. School projects and displays on these periods would be much enhanced, for example, as the designs are just the right size and type. Plan your (largish) project and get stuck in!