Easy Bazaar Crafts
Gerald Knox, Ed.
Better Homes and Gardens
1981
I know craft fairs are a thing, and many people like the idea of hand made items for gifts or whatever. Not to take away any of the skill involved in creating these….things, but why would anyone want to spend time making or buying this stuff? I can honestly say I have never needed a hand shaped purse. (Although there are times that I would think a purse with a raised middle finger would be kind of funny…)
This type of book obviously isn’t for me, but I also question why we would need a book specifically geared to the bazaar or craft fair types? They don’t look particularly different or easier than other crafts. How are these crafts different from other general craft books? If you make dolls, I would think you would want a book geared to that particular topic.
Craft books at ALB are now numbering over 200 in the archive. This has made Holly and I unwilling students of crafting books. I don’t particularly think one-size-fits-all craft books are a reasonable investment for a budget. Stick to the general categories: papercrafts/cards, knitting, quilting, jewelry, etc. I think you will get more bang for the buck in the collection. Caveat: Of course your mileage may vary. Your knowledge of your users/community trumps anything a crabby librarian in Michigan says.
Yours in crafting,
The Crabby Librarian in Michigan
The tiny furniture is kind of appealing, but everything else? No, thank you.
Yeah, it’s pretty cute.
I’m disagreeing. Some things need to have planar sides and right-angle lines. A bulbous grandfather clock and piano? U g l y.
1981 seems kind of late for the Aunt Jemima bandana doll.
The hand purse is grotesque.
That thing’s a purse?! I’d guess at maybe a pincushion, if it weren’t for the caption. (Yeah, I know, another outlet for aggression.)
I kind of like the bandanna babies. I could use one for a pin cushion and express all my anger and frustration at the world each time I stab it with my pins.
The tiny furniture would be useful in a dollhouse, and of course knitting and crocheting are good — though as Mary says, you’d just get a book on those.
The rest of it… it doesn’t even have the “virtue” of reusing junk like some other books. You’ve still got to buy all the supplies and then work your fingers to the bone, at which point the person you give them to means it when they say “You shouldn’t have!”
Just buy something they actually want (Looking at you, Aunt V!)
The “hand” bag is one of the creepiest crafts I’ve ever seen!! Eeeeeeeekkkk.
The toys are cute in a kitchy way but I have a hard time believing any kids would actually play with them… Now, well made Barbie doll clothes or slime, I could see selling well.
I have no data to back this up, but I personally think bazaars were more popular in the pre-internet days, sort of like a seasonal boutique.
Also, the hairless lady on the last page is staring into my soul.
When I was our local library board a decade ago, people wanted this type of book a lot and requested more of them. Of course I wasn’t involved in collection development but I passed the message along.
A lot of this stuff could be used as props in the next Annabelle movie.
Who was responsible for the photos? The blueness of it all in the first one is a bit much. Is there a good craft book on photographic layout and design?
I volunteer for an organization that makes thousands of dollars every year from its annual craft sale, and believe me, none of the stuff looks like this!
I have to admit, as a little girl in the 1980s I would’ve loved that hand purse.
What? I was a weird kid who grew into a weird adult.
Those are the tables I walk right past! People! It’s a bunch of fabric objects you can’t even dust!
The wooden items on the cover aren’t bad. The animals with the hole in the middle would be easy for a baby to grab, and wooden jigsaws are kind of neat, though I personally don’t know about a giant chicken…