Children's books on gardening and growing

I'm on the search for some good books to introduce plants and their growing cycles to my littles...

I did a quick search and found some links from other blogs to different books. I should qualify the following reviews by letting you know what I'm looking for in a good book:

• Shows plants, critters, stages of life and/or life cycles.

• Shows above ground and underground.    I want to introduce layers or levels to my kiddos. I'm hoping to create a collaborative mosaic that shows what's happening underground, above ground (in the garden/fields as well as in the city/country) and in the sky.

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"Rooting for You" by Susan Hood

"Rooting for You" by Susan Hood

 My impression:
Meh :/ - kind of cheesy; has a positive message, all the insects are cheering for the seed to grow. The seed seems kind of whiny and intimidated; he is scared of the dark, of the light, of monsters that may be under the bed(?), of monsters that may be over his head, above ground. In a couple of sections, the pages open up and fold out in different directions. There are plenty of bugs and creatures to spot both above ground and underground. One page vilifies a spider that's minding her own business underground.

Some of the pages fold out in different directions.

This book did show layers... I liked the way that the ground and above ground were presented in layers and levels. This style of illustration is similar to the look that I'd like the mosaic to have, so it may be a good book for discussing the illustrations. But, I don't think I'll be reading the book to the kiddos.

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"Miss Maple's Seeds" by Eliza Wheeler

"Miss Maple's Seeds" by Eliza Wheeler

 My impression: During my first thumb through, I wasn't too impressed with this book. However, when I looked through it again, I started to notice a few different things that could spark discussions. This book could be a good discussion starter for seed saving and where plants come from, as well as different landscapes/ecosystems/environments.

These pages show both my favorite illustration (all the different seeds),
and favorite line, "Take care, my little ones, for the world is big and you are small."

 This book did show many different landscapes and environments for different seeds to grow... For example, Miss Maple takes the seeds on a field trip to a river where frogs on a log, dragonflies, tadpoles and water lilies live. It's a fun introduction to what seeds are and how they might disperse, but leaves a lot of room for discussion.

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"My Garden" by Kevin Henkes

My impression: 
While not specific to actual gardening, the main character's imagination creates her own whimsical garden with chocolate rabbits and jellybean bushes. I like the idea of introducing this book to get the kiddos thinking about abstracting their garden mosaic designs to incorporate things that might not grow in a garden, as well as coloring flowers or things non-traditionally to free them up to the idea of creating in glass. For instance, we may not have access to as much yellow glass as they'd need to make a sunflower, so they could create a pink or purple or white one instead.

"My Garden" by Kevin Henkes

 This book did have really good illustrations... that could be interpreted into mosaics easily. While I don't want to have the kiddos copy the illustrations, they could observe them to talk about the criteria and qualities that make a good mosaic / image.

I like how the illustrations present subjects in untraditionalcolors or styles.

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"When the Root Children Wake Up" by Audrey Wood and Ned Bittinger

"When the Root Children Wake Up"
by Audrey Wood and Ned Bittinger

My impression: 
Absolutely GORGEOUS paintings! I adore the style and the story in this book.

The paintings that make up the illustrations are breathtaking!

 This book did not quite fit my criteria for the mosaic project I have in mind. Although, it would make for a good introduction to the changing of the seasons and I'm sure we could have a good discussion surrounding the story and perhaps work on a supporting project that got the kiddos thinking about subjects they may want to incorporate into their mosaic.

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"The Vegetables We Eat" by Gail Gibbons

"The Vegetables We Eat" by Gail Gibbons

My impression: 
I love the way this book explains and defines words related to vegetables and producing food. It even goes into how we grow food in a garden, on a farm, as well as touching upon how food is processed, shipped and made available in grocery stores or farm stands. Some of the vocabulary: perennial, annual, leaf, bulb, flower bud, root, tuber, stem, fruit, seed, fertilizer, shovel, rake, starter plants, harrow, plow...

A look inside: classifying vegetables by anatomy, producing vegetables in a garden.

The illustrations will be helpful references for looking at different vegetables and drawing them. I think I'd like to add it to my personal library.

Food production, from farm to store.

 This book did... explain a lot of vocabulary, showed a process, categorized vegetables by anatomy.

Do you have any good children's book recommendations?
Please let me know in the comments below!

Making Your Own Earwires

After spending what I felt was too much on the components for making earrings,

and being frustrated because the components were never quite what I wanted,

I decided that I needed to figure out how I could make my own!

Tools:

• Use 20 gauge (0.8mm) wire, which is sturdier than 22 gauge (0.6mm), and fits most pierced ears. (18 gauge wire tends to be too thick to fit through traditional pierced ear lobes.)
• BIC Softfeel™ Pen with a round shaft and a rubber pad to grip the wire
• flat file, or even better, a cup burr to file the ends of the ear wires and help prevent infections from the scrapes that jagged edges could cause. A cup burr can be inserted into a Dremel™ tool or Flex-Shaft™ drill. Then, you simply put the end of the ear wire into the cup and turn the drill on. The cup burr files the end of the ear wire into a nice dome that fits nicely through pierced ears without scraping and causing infection. A cup burr that is larger than the wire makes it easier to fit the end of the ear wire into the cup.
• round nose pliers
• chain nose pliers
• flush cutters
• bench block and hammer
  

Begin by cutting a 3" piece of wire and pulling it straight. Make a small loop with the tip of your round nose pliers, at one end of the wire. This loop will be the spot where you attach any embellishments. The wire now resembles a head pin.

Now, move the round nose pliers to the other side of the loop. Nestle the pliers against the edge of the loop, and bend the wire over the pliers to almost a 90° angle. Hold the loop of the wire, so that the long piece of wire points at you. Place the pen about 1/2" away from the bend in the wire and roll towards the bend, creating the hook of the ear wire.

Make any minor adjustments, so that the wire looks right and cut off excess wire about 1/4" past the bottom of the small loop. At the very bottom of the straight wire, make a slight bend away from the loop.

File the tip as described above. Hammer the front of the ear wire to add a more elegant feeling.

I learned this technique from the book, "All Wired Up," by Mark Lareau.

I've looked through several different wire working books, and this one is a really great beginner's book. It describes all the different tools you'll need, touching upon basic techniques and delving further into intermediate techniques as well.

A peek into the table of contents:

• Introduction -
• Materials & Tools - The author really stresses that the only things you really need are wire, your hands, pliers, and flush cutters. He thoroughly explains different wires and the important factors to consider when choosing a wire. Then, he goes on to explain the three essentials : Round Nose Pliers, Flush Cutters, and Chain Nose Pliers. Other tools he explains as useful, but non-essential are : Wire Straightening Pliers, Flat Nose Pliers, Bench Block and Hammer, Jewelry Bead Crimp Pliers, Tool Magic® Rubber Coating, and needle files or Cup Burrs.
  
• Getting Started - A short list of "To Do's," including working with clean hands, watching your posture, how to hold your pliers, and straightening your wire.
  
• Basic Wirework Techniques - Making loops of all sorts for headpins, opening and closing loops, wrapped loops, and scrolls (or spirals).
  
• Basic Wirework Projects - Donut pendant wraps, Donut embellishments, and freeform coil earrings.
  
• Findings - Wrapped wire bails for turning beads or crystals into pendants or earrings, and Fancy Headpins (triangle, heart, and star).
  
• Ear Wires - Plain ear wires, Plain ear wires with a bead, Fancy ear wires (incorporating the techniques used in making fancy head pins).
  
• Clasps - "S" Clasps, with and without a bead, Hook and Eye Clasps, and the "Strongest Wire Hook and Eye Clasp in the Universe!"
  
• Cages - Wirewrapping Marbles, Wire Capped Bead, and Wirewrapping Cabochons.
• Gallery of Comtemporary Wirework - Pictures incorporating all of the techniques learned in previous chapters (and more) intended to inspire you to get creative!
  

Looking for some Inspiration?

Or maybe just want to learn some new techniques?

Recently, I read through The Penland Book of Jewelry - Master Classes in Jewelry Techniques:

The Penland School of Crafts is located in the Southern Appalachian region of North Carolina and has been teaching crafts (lovely art) for more than 75 years.

From their website: "Penland offers one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking, textiles, and wood. The school also sponsors artists' residencies, educational outreach programs, and a craft gallery."

But even if you cannot make it to the school in person, Penland has put together a series of books that offer intermediate-level technical information. This book is the third in the series and includes not only a wonderful, inspirational gallery of pieces created by Penland artists and instructors, but also features 10 projects and detailed instructions for creating breathtaking jewelry pieces of your own.

Featured artists and techniques include: Marilyn Da Silva (Nontraditional Color on Metal), John Cogswell (Forging), Jaime Pelissier (Alloying), Rob Jackson (Fabricating with Steel), Heather White Van Stolk (Casting), Jan Baum (Die Forming), Tom McCarthy (Alternative Stone Setting), Maria Phillips (Electroforming), Mary Ann Scherr (Etching), and Douglas Harling (Granulation).

Each section begins with a sampling of the artist's work in the technique being focused upon. The featured artists have all written introductory essays to accompany the tutorials. Following the detailed lesson is a gallery of other artists' works selected by the featured artist.

If there were no lessons at all, the amazing pictures alone would be reason enough to get this book! Full color, highly detailed images allow you to examine the work closely, giving you "an insightful look at the creative process."

Glass-making 101

From Stained Glass Step By Step, by Patricia Ann Daley:

I love this book for its plethora of information, from the process of making glass to types of glass to leading and foiling methods of assembly. The projects focus on different types of assembly. A list of projects includes: a Fleur de Lys Panel (Lead Came Method), a Butterfly Sidelight (Copper Foil Method), a kitchen wall clock, a mosaic-ed vase, a six panel lamp, and an Alaskan Totem Light (Sculptural Element).

The first 10 page chapter tells about the process of glass making, as well as describes the different types of glass...

First and foremost, glass is a liquid. Mind you, it's a solid liquid, because it moves so slowly that we don't notice it. However, if you were to examine a large cathedral window that has been standing upright in the same position for many years, you would notice that at the bottom, the glass has flowed downward and become thicker.
Glass is made from silica sand with 1% iron, soda ash, limestone and borax, plus added metal oxides for color: dichrome=green; copper/cobalt=blue; cadmium=lighter reds, oranges, and yellows; gold salts=deep, rich reds, gold pinks and purples.
Generally, most glass that is on the market today is machine-made. The process begins with a carefully measured dry mixture that is place in a crucible, a large "bowl," and then placed in a furnace to slowly heat the mixture to white-hot temperatures. After reaching the high temperatures, the glass liquid is ladled onto mixing slabs where the glass is twirled with a two pronged fork, similar to the way salt water taffy is twirled to mix it. The color changes to a bright orange and the consistency resembles taffy as the glass begins to cool.
The glass is now ready to be rolled, and this is the point where it is textured. The bottom roller gives the texture to the glass and is engraved with the texture. For standard glass, the thickness is now at 1/8" and the color of the glass mixture becomes a dull orange/red as it has cooled even more.
At this point the glass enters the annealing lehr, a conveyor line that slowly cools the glass by moving it from the hottest end of the "oven" to the cold, room temperature side. The glass is ready to be cut and packed into crates for distribution.

Types of Stained Glass...

from Creative Stained Glass - Modern Designs & Simple Techniques:

There are two main categories of stained glass: cathedral and opalescent.
Cathedral glasses are clear or transparent, while opalescent glasses are, well, opal.

Antique Glass is made to look old. If it is machine-made, it will have a slightly distorted texture but be fairly even in color and thickness. If it is mouth-blown, it will be more varied, and show distortions, some bubbles, and differences in color intensity.

Bevels are thick, flat, precut glass shapes that sometimes come in prepackaged clusters for inclusion into stylized designs. They act as prisms, refracting the light that passes through them into rainbows. Bevels are usually clear, but may be glue-chipped.

Glue-chip glass is a textured cathedral glass that has been treated with hot glue, which then peels away to create a pattern.

Iridescent glass can be cathedral or opalescent. It is coated with metallic oxides that produce a rainbow effect when light reflects off of it.

Hammered texture glass also comes in cathedral and opalescent. The "texture is similar to that of hammered copper."

Glass nuggets are small globs of glass which are flat on the bottom and rounded on the top. You've probably seen these in your local craft store in the floral aisle.

Ring-mottled glass is an opalescent glass that is mottled with small, circular patterns, similar to a tortoise-shell.

Ripple glass can be cathedral or opalescent and has a rippled texture.

Rondels are mouth-blown glass pieces spun into a flat circular shape. They are similar to the bottom of a wine bottle and are usually transparent.

Seedy glass has many seed-like bubbles trapped below the surface.

Wispy glass is made by mixing cathedral glass with another more transparent color.

Streaky glass is made up of one or more cathedral colors mixed together with a white opalescent color, creating a thinly streaked, multi-colored glass.

Wavy glass has the appearance of a "gently rippled lake".

So that's about it for the types of glass section of this book. I'm actually fairly disappointed with the descriptions given for the types of glass. I have been reading another book, "Stained Glass Step By Step" by Patricia Ann Daley, and I think I'll have to do another post that gives some of her explanations. They are a little more explanatory and make much more sense.

"Creative Stained Glass - Modern Designs & Simple Techniques" by Christine Kellmann Stevenson has a few intriguing patterns towards the back of the book and is heavy on leaded glass patterns that seem to mimic one another. All around, I wouldn't recommend this book, although it has gotten one (of one) good review on Amazon.com.