5 Alternative Craft Books You Didnt Know You Needed

I love books. Books that I can read(hello YA novels), books that I can learn from(biographies) and books that show me how to do crazy things with yarn, wood and craft glue...and bread dough...

Yes, I am talking about craft books. And not just any old craft books but alternative craft books. Martha Steward might be able to show me how to make a nice toilet roll holder(obv I can't be bothered making that) but will she help me crochet genitalia or cross stitch swearwords? 

Well these books might...

Here is my top 5 weird and alternative craft books I found on the internet

1. Crafting with feminism

by Bonnie Burton, Felicia Day

A tongue-in-cheek crafting book that shows you how to make  25 feminist orientated projects. This book gets mixed reviews online some criticizing it for being too 'fluffy' and not having much to do with feminism but others that are more favorable towards its fun feminist projects.

As someone who went along to a Feminist Fun Camp when I was in uni and also organised lots of crafty feminist activities, like making rally signs and screen printed tshirts while I was Womens Director at my uni, I appreciate the idea behind this book.

It is definitely going on my Xmas gift ideas list as I can already think of 3 people I would gift this too.

2. Crafting with cat hair

by Amy Hirschman, Kaori Tsutaya

There is a lady who goes to the same dog park as me who has a spinning wheel which she uses to spin her dogs hair and make jumpers, so I feel like Crafting with cat hair is definitely a book that would appeal to some people. 

This book is filled with with activities that will have you gathering lint off your clothes cleaner and fashioning it into picture frames, cat toys and tote bags. Apparently all these crafts are environmentally friendly and you will also save money by not having to buy yarn...

 3. Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF

by April Winchell

I used to love the Regretsy blog so much. Not because it was mean(I never felt like it was mean) to the makers but because it featured some of the weird and wonderful things that were found on etsy that you might never see otherwise. Regretsy got so popular that people were trying to get their items featured because it guaranteed huge traffic to their listings if they were featured.

Anyway this is a whole book of amazing things found on etsy and includes awkward boyfriend model photos, embarrassed dogs, crafty genitalia and other craft abominations/craft genius. 

 4. The Pantyhose Craft Book 

My great auntie used to make lifesized dolls out of op-shop clothes and stuffed pantyhose bodies. She painted faces on the dolls and positioned them in realistic poses. She made my family one of these dolls, which we lovingly called 'grandma', and grandma sat on our front porch in St Kilda all through my teenage years. St Kilda at the time was quite a crime ridden suburb of Melbourne, but while grandma sat on our porch we didn't have a single house break in. This is probably due to the fact that we would often open the front door to find family friends, post people and random salespeople completely freaked out because they have spotted grandma out of the corner of their eye and thought she was real...sort of Psycho style....

When I saw the creepy dolls heads on the front of this book it reminded me of grandma...the best security alarm we ever had...

Yes, all my family are weird. 

4. Trim Your trash

Vintage craft books are some of the best types of craft books. Many modern craft books take a more tongue in cheek approach. But many vintage books are totally serious in their projects to crochet bikinis, toilet seat covers and make things from your trash. 

Now, I am all for recycling trash, or rubbish as we call it here in Australia, but I am yet to see an heirloom recycled trash clown or beer bottle vase(although I do have a vintage bottle cutting kit I am yet to use).

5. Creating Art With Bread Dough

The internet was too full of amazing vintage craft books and I just couldn't pass this one up. I am not quite sure why you would choose to craft with bread dough over modelling clay or any other traditional medium but I am glad someone did....because this is amazing.

I also don't understand how you get through the making process without eating your creation...

Conclusion

When I started looking for weird craft books I dove into a lighthearted google search and then ended up trapped in a pinterest peculiar picture loop(I just kept being shown more and more and couldn't look away). 

There were books on crafting with human skin(???), Witch craft(crafting witch themed things), Jurrasic Towel origami and projects made from folded magazines. The range of random craft books gives me hope whenever i feel that maybe the world is getting boring. There will always be people out there making it weird!!

 New Collection

My new collection Craf-tea is now online and features fun pins, tees and totes for Sewciopaths, Procraftinators and Craf-tea folk.