Fuzzy Kittens Craft: ♥ Japanese Craft Books

♥ Japanese Craft Books

Why do the most fabulous publishers disappear? I'm talking about the Japanese publisher Ondori. Ondori published some of the cutest, and prettiest crafting books ever. They published books on crocheting, knitting, needlework, and making stuffed toys. Yes the instructions were in Japanese but the patterns and illustrations were so good they were pretty easy to follow.

Lucky for all of us Ondori books can be found on Ebay, Etsy, and Amazon for reasonable prices. I have some Ondori books that I paid about $20.00 for but a lot depends on the seller and the condition of the book.

I'm not an expert on Japanese craft books but there is something about them that many crafters, needleworkers and sewers love. Aside from being in Japanese, you can tell an Ondori the minute you see it. Ondori craft books books are delightfully cute, beautifully photographed, and the patterns are easy to follow. Many including myself just like to look at them because of the photos. I hope you try some Ondori crafting books, you will enjoy them immensely.

OK, Ondori is no longer publishing but there are some great Japanese publishers who focus on craft. Spurred by the Zakka design movement and the dwindling sales of books and magazines in their country the ever creative Japanese have come up with "mooks". (cute little publications that are a cross between a magazine and a book). If you really get obsessed with these you can find many of them through Amazon Japan or YesAsia. (the interface for YesAsia is in English). You'll find a large assortment of craft books on including amigurumi, felt softies, needle felting, sewing projects, and quilting.

I did some searching and this site, buzzville, offers some helpful hints for tracking down these craft books. She writes about the publishers, how to search and what isbns to look for. She is lucky to own such a wide variety and has a gallery to show you her titles.

Japanese craft books differ very much from those published here in the states. Besides being in Japanese they don't seem as serious as those published here. Come on most of the time we are making fun stuff so why be so serious about it? And these books are loads of fun to look at. Many patterns in these books are rabbits, cats, cows, all kinds of animals, flowers, little houses, cute figures, etc. This blogger on Crafty Pod, offers the same opinion I do, although the books are in Japanese, the diagrams and the visuals are so good that it does not seem to matter that we can't read them.

This site has a huge archive of scanned covers of Japanese craft books. Most of the site is in Russian but at the top right is a link for English. Click on one the tabs like embroidery and then scroll to the book. Clicking More gives you the book info in English. Here is a tutorial if you need more help.

Understanding the terms makes searching a whole lot easier. So here are some terms to search with:

Bunka Shuppan Kyoku: Japanese publisher of craft books

Kawaii: (可愛い is "lovable", "cute", or "adorable" ans is seen in crafting to Kawaii fabrics.(a post on these in the future).

Keito Dama: Japanese knitting magazine from the Let's Knit series

Nihon Vogue: Japanese knitting patterns

Zakka: (from the Japanese 'zak-ka'（雑貨）or 'many things') is a fashion and design movement that has spread through Japan. Anything that brings happiness to your life and improvement to your home is what Zakka is all about. Zakka is about being cute, pretty, and attractive. Zakka is now being applied to contemporary handicrafts.