Doug Stowe - Böcker

Box-making expert Doug Stowe is back with a new spin on the classic box-making book. With an eye toward thoughtful design, this book walks the reader through the thought process they need to create beautiful and functional boxes.Designing Boxes offers many more design opportunities than would be possible in a book that attempts to be a “projects book.” Appealing to an audience that knows the basics of box making and is ready to expand their repertoire of projects, this book speaks to the woodworker who wants to develop plans of their own to meet their unique needs, express their own personalities, and gain confidence in their design skills.This is not your basic how-to book, but is instead, a bridge between how-to and why-to. Topics include: an exploration of the materials used in box making, the relationship between the material and the craftsman, how the tools and their relationship to the maker affect design, the growth of technique as it relates to the processes of design, and principles and elements of design storytelling. Projects include a variety of boxes as a gallery of how-to design information, as well as plans taking into consideration the idea of narrative and growth. Each section would include one or two boxes that help to illustrate the design ideas.

If you’ve ever wanted to make a guitar, you've probably been overwhelmed quickly. The Boxmaker’s Guitar Book takes you back to basics with the simple reminder that all woodworkers and maker’s know how to make boxes. From that building block, you can create a beautiful guitar that sounds good, too. With simple construction techniques, author Doug Stowe breaks down the guitar into its component parts so you can mix and match to create your own unique instrument. You’ll learn how to create sound holes, necks, frets, nuts, tail pieces, bridges, and all the pieces you need to complete your musical masterpiece. The 15 easy projects in The Boxmaker’s Guitar include more than just a flat-sided box—try your hand at a scissor-tail or K-body design, or even a ukulele. With a minimal investment of time and tools, you can have a sweet-sounding box guitar to strum on your own or give to a friend.

The Froebel Gifts are perhaps the world's first educational toys. Developed in the early 1800's by Friedrich Froebel, inventor of Kindergarten, the Gifts appear deceptively simple but represent a sophisticated approach to child development. Over the last 180 years these intricately conceived playthings have had a widespread impact, becoming interwoven with the history of art/design, popular culture, and education. Inspiring and informing the work of Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and others, Froebel’s Gifts influenced Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Einstein, Kandinsky, Klee, and more while Mattel used them in designing Tinker Toys, Color Cubes, and Unit Blocks. In Making Classic Toys That Teach, Doug Stowe, a professional woodworker and teacher, presents the history and valuable benefits of each gift while providing step-by-step instruction on how to build each toy and the box to hold them. Each of the 10 Froebel Gifts are featured: 1) balls of yarn, introducing color, shape and motion; 2) sphere, cylinder, and cubes on a hanging device; 3) divided cube building blocks; 4) rectangular blocks; 5) wooden cubes and triangular blocks; 6) geometric building blocks in various shapes; 7) colorful geometric shapes; 8) sticks and rings; 9) points – small colorful objects, like beads – that can be connected to create dotted lines, etc; 10) framework in the form of fiddlesticks or tinker toys. As the backlash towards our overly technological world increases, the philosophy of Froebel and an understanding of the value of his Gifts is part of the trend of more focused playtime and creative thinking for younger children that will help them make connections on their own regarding the world around them.

Introduce children to the craft of woodworking and watch their executive function skills thrive.The Guide to Woodworking with Kids is a culmination of craftsman Doug Stowe’s four-decade career in woodworking and nearly twenty years of working with students K-12 in his Wisdom of the Hands woodworking class at the Clear Spring School in his hometown of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This comprehensive guide offers step by step instruction for teachers, parents and grandparents to offer safe woodworking opportunities to their students and kiddos as a way of developing a wide range of valuable life-skills. Based in part on the philosophies of Froebel’s Kindergarten and Educational Sloyd, this book illustrates the importance of doing real, hands-on activities in school and at home that enable students to:Think things through for themselvesDevelop skill, originality and inventivenessExplore their own self-interestsPlan, organize and execute meaningful workPrepare to profitably employ leisure timeBe handy and resourcefulDevelop both character and intellectCreate useful beauty to benefit family, community and selfThe Guide to Woodworking with Kids is more than a woodworking book, it’s gives parents, grandparents and teachers the confidence, encouragement, and the insight needed to safely engage children in life-enhancing creative arts.