Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1333943 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Library Journal
Bamboo is a ubiquitous craft and construction material in Asia, but it has never replaced wood as a material of choice in North America, the home of only one native species. It is increasingly being used for garden structures, however, and the projects in this book reflect that trend. There are step-by-step instructions for trellises and fences as well as small pieces of furniture and table items all well designed in the oriental style. Information on growing, harvesting, and working with bamboo is also included. Few books are available on this topic, so this should be welcome in all garden and crafts collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Long considered a food fit for exotic species such as koalas and pandas, bamboo literally comes out of the closet here to act as a bonafide home-furnishings material, which means that this graceful pole morphs into both indoor and outdoor accessories, from sushi trays and door mats to the low-curved Nanako garden border and an al fresco shower stall. Environmental artist Stangler does her best work in, first, expressing virtues and properties of this grass-family member, then to laying out in detail the instructions for 30 projects. The book's mood is at one with nature: a loose flowing text around color photographs, supported by black-and-white illustrations, step-by-step how-tos, and boxed commentaries on the nitty-gritties, such as a cutting list and metric equivalents, in addition to materials and tools needed. Enhancing the Zen mood are the informational sidebars--a chart, for instance, of the 11 varieties of poles for purchase as well as a full page on the giant clumping iron bamboo. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Drywall screws and cuteness
This is a "craft" book, in the debased modern American meaning of "craft", i.e. useless, shoddy trinkets. All joinery is with drywall screws -- yes you read correctly -- because tying knots made the author's hands sore. Couple thousand years of artistic and technical development down the tubes, just like that. One "project" requires no drywall screws, because it consists of splitting canes to make stakes, which you can then write "carrots" or "phlox" with a marker, and jam the stake in the ground, so you don't forget what you planted. If you need a book to tell you this you're such a dork no book can help! Craft and art, my eye. There is advice like this: "Multi-paneled fences, as described in this book, are built on site. Single panel screens can be constructed off-site and then installed." What does this mean? That you can build one panel, but no more than one, off-site? Gee whiz, good thing they told me, I built all the panels in my shop but then I got the book and had to burn all but one and rebuild the rest "onsite", cuz the book said so, duh. Why is slop like this even written? To take up room so as to disguise what it lacks. Bamboo technology has gigantic dimensions -- technical, historical, and aesthetic -- which I dearly hoped to see, but this is a "craft" book, i.e. the premium is on easily constructed novelties, just like most of our material culture. Drywall screws, what an insult.

Excellent bamboo craft book!
I was given an entire truck load of bamboo and had no clue what to do with it. This book really gave me some great project ideas! Has projects for large and small bamboo... I definitely recommend this book!

I returned it
This may be the only book I ever returned. There are plenty of projects in the book, but I found only one, an occasional table, attractive enough to even consider building (well, there was a coffee table that was OK too). I really like Asian furniture and thought there might be some nice plans in this vein (it is a bamboo book!), but there aren't. I was a little disappointed.

The information on cutting, bending, and flattening bamboo is worthwhile, but I bet it was only 20 pages or so; the the rest of the book is dedicated the various projects, many of them garden/outdoors.

Overall a decent book if you've never worked with bamboo - it'll get you started - but try to leaf through it beforehand to check out the projects if you're looking for furniture plans.