Handmade Greeting Card Series
By Mandy Southan

     If you are looking for a new technique for making greetings cards that involves painting rather than cutting and sticking then silk painting might be the new hobby you need. Alternatively, if you already enjoy the craft and have a set of paints and lots of silk offcuts then this is a great way to use them up. Search Press have a whole range of these books showcasing the latest in card crafting trends and this one follows their typical format. The various materials needed are shown and described, several projects are depicted in easy stages with lots of helpful photographs, and at the end of each project there are some more similar ideas to whet your creative appetite.

     I am glad to see that no expensive and extraneous items are listed as essential here, which is one of the things I hate to see in a craft book, especially for beginners. As a silk painter myself, I can safely say that all the items listed are necessary and the instructions are excellent. This is a great book for beginners who want to make some attractive cards and the photography cannot be faulted. I will say, though, that although using steam fix paints is the best plan for decorating clothes and any larger, permanent items that are to be washed and used, the ordinary ones that can be fixed with a domestic iron are perfectly adequate for making cards and easier for beginners, as well as being more readily available. This minor gripe aside, I can recommend this book for anybody who is a total beginner; for anybody slightly more advanced, looking for a source of patterns, there are only six highly detailed projects.