Enchanting Woodland Birdhouses

Rating:
Summary: functional and stylish!!!
Review: Author Lucinda Macy's "Enchanting Woodland Birdhouses" is one of the finest step by step, do it yourself craft books that i've had the opportunity to use. Her excellent descriptions and pictorials make any of the projects inside a straightforward task to build on your own. Ranging from the simplest of designs, to those that will challenge even a skilled craftsman, there is something to be had for everyone. Furthermore, all birdhouses are designed to National Audobon Society specifications for their intended feathered inhabitants, making them not only beautiful, but very functional as well. Nature enthusiasts and hobbyists of all ages won't want to miss out on this treasure of a book, a great addition to any great library.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting Woodland Birdhouses
Review: I would like to share with readers that this is a wonderful inspiring book of projects. It contains unusual decorative houses as well as carefully designed functional houses for the serious birder. It not only indicates hole size, dimensions and describes why houses need cleaning for song birds--but tells how to keep toads in the garden as well! The functional houses range from simple ones that can be made at the kitchen table to woodworking projects for the beginner or advanced woodworker. The review that states that the houses are mostly whimsical is quite wrong, while the functional houses are indeed cute--they are extremely functional! The materials used are mostly free or recylced and the ideas and designs are different from any I have ever seen. All ages will delight in this book!

Rating:
Summary: What an inspiring book!
Review: If you enjoy nature walks and love the idea of using found materials, this book is too much fun! I found the projects fascinating and yet I came away thinking "I can do this." I also appreciated the way she used some store bought materials so you don't have to live in the country to try creating some of these charming cottages. And the lovely little illustrations throughout make it a pleasure to look through even if your aren't inclined to actually make any of them.

Rating:
Summary: What an inspiring book!
Review: If you enjoy nature walks and love the idea of using found materials, this book is too much fun! I found the projects fascinating and yet I came away thinking "I can do this." I also appreciated the way she used some store bought materials so you don't have to live in the country to try creating some of these charming cottages. And the lovely little illustrations throughout make it a pleasure to look through even if your aren't inclined to actually make any of them.

Rating:
Summary: An elixir in the class of the Harry Potter novels
Review: No praise can be too high for a book like this one that transports a reader - or even a mere browser - from the sterility of modern urban adult life to the enchantments of childhood, trees, birds and magical beings. I can't help but wonder if fewer prescriptions for nasty anti-depressants mightn't be written if people could only visit those realms more often. This is, in fact, a book that belongs in the same category of elixir as the Harry Potter novels.

When was the last time you followed a direction like this one, from Lucinda Macy's remarkable store of ideas: "To apply the acorn door light, flatten the back of the acorn . . . "? Or, in the capacity of a birdhouse craftsperson, considered five eucalyptus pods cut in half "for window decoration"?

Ms. Macy writes with admirable authority about the ways of birds in advising readers about using her "functional birdhouses". For example, "Birdhouses shaped like a shoe box or a human house are not the right shape . . .The door has to be the right shape and the right height above the floor." And, "Because bluebirds have the ability to fly into a hole and do not need a perch, I have replaced the porch with a decorative branch."

Who would doubt that she is every bit the expert, too, when advising -- in a section about woodland gnome houses -- that "[t]he gentle gnomes spend much of their time working in the earth with precious stones and caring for wise, old trees." Or when she observes, generously, "Since everyone knows mountain gnomes are larger than their woodland cousins . . ."

I am no more likely to actually make one of these ingenious little houses than I am to cook morel-filled puff pastries with veal sweetbreads for dinner tonight, but I am often soothed and delighted by reading recipes by master chefs. I will treasure my copy of this book by Lucinda Macy for offering equally wonderful avenues of escape from worry and overwork.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting is right!!
Review: This wonderful book is both a pleasure to look at, as well as providing thoughtful and thourough instruction on creating a variety of charming birdhouses and more fantastical fairy homes.It even has a section on toad homes, and the tradition of keeping pet garden toads. The material is detailed and fun to read and the artwork is truly original and charming and very fun to look at! I recomend it to anyone that really enjoys fine crafts, or just as a great coffee table book.