Where do you go to get inspired? A quick flip through ReadyMade and Craft (sister mag of the also-fabulous nerdtastic Make) definitely does it for me. And they're both published right here in the Bay Area. Do I want to know how to create that basket of felted fruit on the cover of the most recent Craft? Hell yes I do.
I haven't checked out Craft yet, though I'd like to. Sad to say, one of my inspirations is Martha Stewart Living; I've done very few of their projects, but there is often something, like bending wire into homemake paperclips or weaving blocks, that just takes me out of my usual places into something new. (My mom gave me the baby blanket that my paternal grandmother made for me and it turns out it was from weaving block squares.)
Since I'm a knitter, I have a subscription to Interweave Knits, which usually has one thing each issue that I want to make. I'm a sucker for most knitting magazines, though there seem to be a whole new crowd since I was last shopping them. I love knitting books, though I've started to have favorite authors and ones I avoid like the plague: I adore Debbie Bliss and dislike Erica Knight.
i have to agree that the few times i've flipped through martha stewart's living the projects and recipes have looked mighty appealing to me. and those peeps know something about clean layout and design for reals.
I have been told by a few current and former Bay Area DIY people that ReadyMade kind of used and alienated a bunch of local crafters during the production of their first few issues, and that a lot of people in that scene don't like or support the mag. I don't know if it's true or not, or to what extent. I do know that I have to take them issue by issue & that the sort of stuff they feature is not the same as it was when they started... they have many more building and woodworking projects, relatively few small craft projects. I could totally do without the record reviews! (I'm also bothered by the implicit sexism in the magazine, where if you look at the pictures, girls are almost ALWAYS treated as an attractive accessory to the guy who is handling the tools. This is in their staged photography with models, and not a problem when they do features on real people, though I've noticed that most of the HDYGTFAJ? people are male. Even the little difficulty scale is male-centric. Etc etc. Like I said, I don't have every issue, so I haven't done a statistical analysis of this. They MAY be getting better, they may not. I don't think they have to be feminist, but I think they have pandered to a male audience a bit & should strive for balance, not making women look like "the people who coo over a cute guy when he's finished a project that will obviously get him laid." Maybe someone not interested in cultural criticism would not see these things, I dunno.) I really liked their recent "small spaces" issue, though.
Craft - the first issue was cool, but expensive; the second issue doesn't seem to be as good (in that most of the projects are either pretty simple or pretty silly or could be done in a much more efficient way), and I don't think I could justify buying it on the newsstand - it's only affordable if you have a sub. The blog frustrates me in that they often "scoop" me on the cooler things they post, but I think they also post some lame stuff, and I sometimes think that the blog editors don't know that much about certain things? But I get frustrated with seeing the same basic stuff everywhere & I suppose I could be more sympathetic towards people to whom this stuff is new (it's not their fault that only fairly complex projects and processes interest me these days). The magazine still has really cool stuff in it.
Like deschampsia, I really like Interweave Knits - there are some weird fashion things going on in there lately, really bad proportions on sweaters and such, but almost every issue has at least one or two good patterns in it. Sometimes their trendier magazine Knitscene has stuff in it that's kind of interesting. Somerset Studios can be fun for paper artists. (Unlike deschampsia, I hate Debbie Bliss and am OK with Erika Knight. I don't really love Rowan stuff at all - their yarn is nice, but overpriced in the US, their sizing runs really ridiculously small, and they feature too many items that are basically small-gauge stockinette stitch. But once in a while they publish something absolutely astonishing, and if you are very slender and *like* to knit on #3 needles, most of the designs would be flattering.)
I also like Martha Stewart Living, though I rarely buy it - they put out a mook of holiday projects this past year, for a reasonable price, that was full of adorable things. I'm going to try to do all my Xmas gifts out of it one year. Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion can be fun & is interested in the lifestyles of professional artists and crafters, often showcasing their homes and offices.
Bust has extensive craft coverage & some recipes & DIY fashion, but the quality varies widely from issue to issue - some issues will have two or three great ideas, but then they won't have anything good for a couple of issues after that.
I suppose as far as getting inspired, which was the real question (not "What do you, Miss Overly Opinionated, think of the following magazines?" :) - sometimes a magazine is inspiring, sometimes it isn't, and if it is, it is more likely to be an art magazine or something like ShojoBeat. When ReadyMade is inspiring to me, it's more often in the photos of other ppl's houses, which can also be fun in Real Simple, the defunct Budget Living (I have a few issues saved), even the IKEA catalogue. Often art books are inspiring - so are some craft books. I loved Traci Bautista's Collage Unleashed, as well as The Creative License by Danny Gregory, Sketchbook for the Artist by Sarah Simblett (whose artistic anatomy book is also really great). I also like to look at interior decoration books, anything from Living in the Arts & Crafts Style to Jeanette Kahn's In Your Space. (I may have just murdered her name, but she's the former publisher of DC Comics, and she's very into eclectic modern design, and has a huge collection of Naugas!) I particularly like "contemporary" interior design books not originally published in the US, so I can see a sparer, more European style (Cath Kidston's In Print is not really an interior design book, but the rooms shown in it are kinda like what I'm talking about). Matt Maranian's book Pad has been a favorite of mine for the six-plus years I've had it; it combines some cool projects with the "look at other ppl's houses" thing that I like (I want to see him do more projects for CRAFTzine!).
I like SOME episodes of Craft Lab, but I don't really like the new format, and even in the old format, there were episodes I didn't love. The best episodes are really, really interesting and good, but there are plenty that just didn't catch me as much. I can't think of any other shows I like as much - sometimes Knitty Gritty is great, ditto Jewelry Making, but again, some eps don't interest me as much. I often like episodes of Changing Rooms if I can catch them on BBC America - never got into Trading Spaces, really, because it seemed so provincial in comparison.
I'm curious about your knitting faves; for instance, I love Erica Knight's ideas, but once I started trying them I got very frustrated. Her patterns are frequently incomplete, the finishing is simplistic, and the materials are hell to work with. I've come to love Debbie Bliss because I am making tons of baby and kid things and her patterns are very well written and she has nice finishing (selvedges always included, for instance, so I don't have to add them on the fly).
Old thread, new comment! One plug for my current non-local mag: Blueprint. It's published by Martha Stewart Omnimedia, geared for 30-somethings. Not a DIY/craft mag persay, but like Martha Stewart it includes home-focused projects , like beautifying your front porch or making a beach cover-up. Totally inspirational layout and design; I hate those damn MS art directors who have my tastes nailed!
Comments
I have been told by a few current and former Bay Area DIY people that ReadyMade kind of used and alienated a bunch of local crafters during the production of their first few issues, and that a lot of people in that scene don't like or support the mag. I don't know if it's true or not, or to what extent. I do know that I have to take them issue by issue & that the sort of stuff they feature is not the same as it was when they started... they have many more building and woodworking projects, relatively few small craft projects. I could totally do without the record reviews! (I'm also bothered by the implicit sexism in the magazine, where if you look at the pictures, girls are almost ALWAYS treated as an attractive accessory to the guy who is handling the tools. This is in their staged photography with models, and not a problem when they do features on real people, though I've noticed that most of the HDYGTFAJ? people are male. Even the little difficulty scale is male-centric. Etc etc. Like I said, I don't have every issue, so I haven't done a statistical analysis of this. They MAY be getting better, they may not. I don't think they have to be feminist, but I think they have pandered to a male audience a bit & should strive for balance, not making women look like "the people who coo over a cute guy when he's finished a project that will obviously get him laid." Maybe someone not interested in cultural criticism would not see these things, I dunno.) I really liked their recent "small spaces" issue, though.
Craft - the first issue was cool, but expensive; the second issue doesn't seem to be as good (in that most of the projects are either pretty simple or pretty silly or could be done in a much more efficient way), and I don't think I could justify buying it on the newsstand - it's only affordable if you have a sub. The blog frustrates me in that they often "scoop" me on the cooler things they post, but I think they also post some lame stuff, and I sometimes think that the blog editors don't know that much about certain things? But I get frustrated with seeing the same basic stuff everywhere & I suppose I could be more sympathetic towards people to whom this stuff is new (it's not their fault that only fairly complex projects and processes interest me these days). The magazine still has really cool stuff in it.
Like deschampsia, I really like Interweave Knits - there are some weird fashion things going on in there lately, really bad proportions on sweaters and such, but almost every issue has at least one or two good patterns in it. Sometimes their trendier magazine Knitscene has stuff in it that's kind of interesting. Somerset Studios can be fun for paper artists. (Unlike deschampsia, I hate Debbie Bliss and am OK with Erika Knight. I don't really love Rowan stuff at all - their yarn is nice, but overpriced in the US, their sizing runs really ridiculously small, and they feature too many items that are basically small-gauge stockinette stitch. But once in a while they publish something absolutely astonishing, and if you are very slender and *like* to knit on #3 needles, most of the designs would be flattering.)
I also like Martha Stewart Living, though I rarely buy it - they put out a mook of holiday projects this past year, for a reasonable price, that was full of adorable things. I'm going to try to do all my Xmas gifts out of it one year. Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion can be fun & is interested in the lifestyles of professional artists and crafters, often showcasing their homes and offices.
Bust has extensive craft coverage & some recipes & DIY fashion, but the quality varies widely from issue to issue - some issues will have two or three great ideas, but then they won't have anything good for a couple of issues after that.
I suppose as far as getting inspired, which was the real question (not "What do you, Miss Overly Opinionated, think of the following magazines?" :) - sometimes a magazine is inspiring, sometimes it isn't, and if it is, it is more likely to be an art magazine or something like ShojoBeat. When ReadyMade is inspiring to me, it's more often in the photos of other ppl's houses, which can also be fun in Real Simple, the defunct Budget Living (I have a few issues saved), even the IKEA catalogue. Often art books are inspiring - so are some craft books. I loved Traci Bautista's Collage Unleashed, as well as The Creative License by Danny Gregory, Sketchbook for the Artist by Sarah Simblett (whose artistic anatomy book is also really great). I also like to look at interior decoration books, anything from Living in the Arts & Crafts Style to Jeanette Kahn's In Your Space. (I may have just murdered her name, but she's the former publisher of DC Comics, and she's very into eclectic modern design, and has a huge collection of Naugas!) I particularly like "contemporary" interior design books not originally published in the US, so I can see a sparer, more European style (Cath Kidston's In Print is not really an interior design book, but the rooms shown in it are kinda like what I'm talking about). Matt Maranian's book Pad has been a favorite of mine for the six-plus years I've had it; it combines some cool projects with the "look at other ppl's houses" thing that I like (I want to see him do more projects for CRAFTzine!).
I like SOME episodes of Craft Lab, but I don't really like the new format, and even in the old format, there were episodes I didn't love. The best episodes are really, really interesting and good, but there are plenty that just didn't catch me as much. I can't think of any other shows I like as much - sometimes Knitty Gritty is great, ditto Jewelry Making, but again, some eps don't interest me as much. I often like episodes of Changing Rooms if I can catch them on BBC America - never got into Trading Spaces, really, because it seemed so provincial in comparison.
I will stop yammering now. :)