The Muppets Big Book of Crafts

by Stephanie St. Pierre

Tucked away in a plain five-story building in Manhattan is a magical place--The Muppet Workshop, where inspired craftspeople combine a diverse array of skills to bring the Muppet world to life. Now The Workshop, along with Stephanie St. Pierre--who grew up making crafts with her friends the Hensons--presents The Muppets Big Book of Crafts , a collection of 100 great projects plus trade secrets.

Filled with full-color photographs and how-to line illustrations, The Muppets Big Book of Crafts is divided into chapters by technique and teaches the basics of drawing, sculpting, sewing, painting, dyeing, woodworking, quilting, puppetry, beading, and more. The results are amazing. A creepy-crawly spider piata filled with baby candy spiders. Elaborate tin can lanterns. A mosaic made of eggshells. Not to mention Groovy Glasses, Suncatcher Bugs, and Awesome Umbrae Scarf, a Wiggly Worm, and Marvelous Maracas. Throughout, tips, advice, and the running commentary of Muppet characters keep the book lively and entertaining.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

322 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book there are Lots of fun projects for children of all ages, including teens. Crafts that are not Muppet-themed could be modified so that they are. I think this book is a great resource because the techniques learned can be used to create from your own imagination also.

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit to having been somewhat dubious about this book. I grabbed it from the library shelf today as I had to return "Kermit Culture" early without finishing it, and this felt like a weird form of closure. What I was expecting was something like "The Muppets Make Puppets," which is cute but meant for a younger audience. When I began paging through this at home, I started laughing, and not only because my mother misheard the title as "The Muppets Big Book of Crap."

These seemed CRAZY advanced in some cases at first glance. How to set up an entire workshop. How to build an actual stage. Metal working. Quilting. Using an iron to create crayon-based stained glass. Rug hooking, wiring a lamp, hot wax candle pouring, building a loom... there was a lot in there that seemed really dang intimidating, just with a lot of Muppets in the illustrations.

Weird thing? Upon reading the directions, it was a heck of a lot less intimidating. While I'm still not honestly sure what age level this is meant to be (the kids in the pictures look maybe 8-10? I'm bad at that and this is from 1999), there is a sort of aura of as-long-as-you-don't-hurt-yourself-just-play-with-it-and-roll-with-what-happens. It's not an easy craft book by any standards, but it's strangely low pressure, which seems remarkably Henson-y. I'll also say after reading the most recent bio of Henson, I recognized some of these projects from the descriptions of his childhood and teenage years as well as some of things he used to create with his children, which added another layer.

On the whole, creative, worth browsing, possibly even a good beginning for an advanced kid, but I have no idea what age range to put it in.

[Elizabeth]

An old favourite. Nicely organized by genre. Several fiber arts & crafts chapters. Found via Amazon.com
Books › Children's Books › Arts, Crafts & Music › Crafts & Hobbies.. then search for "yarn" within category.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of differnt craft ideas for kids or all ages. I really enjoyed the examples that showcased the crafts that the Mupperts crew used in the show and movies.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book of crafts.

[Hollis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jam packed book of craft ideas for kids up to, say, late middle school.

[Tricia (McAllister) Houseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the crafts, and the kids (we were watching) LOVED the crafts

[Miss Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm totally going to make that beaker tapestry