[tsterling]

It’s finally done! Thank goodness…turned into sort of a love/hate thing.

I finally finished my eBook on how to carve netsuke (at least how I do it…). It’s been two years (actually 10 years, including the first version) in the making.

The book is 361 screen sized pages in length, 18 megabytes, in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, and free.

You can find the link on the front page of my web site: My Webpage

Hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think about it…

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[Janel]

Wow! What a concept for a helpful book! I've got a soda straw, more like a coffee stir stick connection/modem speed. It will take three hours at 1 MB/10 minutes. Maybe I can do it at a friend's house.

I am eager to have a long look at it. Bravo! What an accomplishment. Thank you for this !


PS: I did take the three hours, and now have it! Thanks Tom!

[toscano]

Superb!!!
Congratulations on finishing it and thank you so much for making it available.
It seems my weekend is suddenly booked up

-t

[magnus homestead]

THANK YOU TOM!!

Your work is superb. Thank you so much for sharing with such a generous heart! I will have to have my son download this for me on his super speed connection. I eagerly look forward to it.
Blessings,
Magnus

[nebraskarod]

Fabulous - As a new caver of Netsuke this is an appreciated resource.

nebraksa rod

[Sebastián Urresti]

AMAZING BOOK! And very fast to download it, too!
CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS FOR SHARING MANY, MANY HOURS OF STUDY AND DEDICATION!

Janel, I think that here´s the answer for the bone Ukibori that I´ve been asking earlier

THANKS ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Sebas

[Doug Sanders]

I appreciate all the hard work that has gone in to your guide. Thanks very much for your generosity
Are you thinking of finding a suitable publisher for a bound copy, or will you keep things in a free .pdf file?

[tsterling]

Thanks for the kind words, everybody. I hope the book is useful and enjoyable.

Doug,

I thought about selling it, but decided the little money it was likely to bring in versus the pain and agony of burning CDs and mailing, international customs agencies, shipping and currency exchanges just wasn't likely to compute. I've approached publishers in the past, to startlingly little interest. A few years back I applied for a grant from my state arts commission to put it into print and was told it was just too "esoteric" an issue. Surprising to me, considering the weird stuff they did provide grants for that year.

Hence, I just decided a free download would be the best way to get the information into the real world, for real people. Netsuke have provided me with a lot of enjoyment over the years, a lot of really great carvers, collectors and dealers have provided help and advice to me, free of charge or obligation, so I figured I should try to pay something back to the world. Maybe if there was a little more of the sort of helpful attitude we carvers experience in our little groups, the world wouldn't be the sewer it is. Sorry for the rant...

[Doug Sanders]

thanks!
Don't worry about the rant- Goodwill starts at home AND this forum - every little bit helps. Now, if us generous and friendly carvers could run the UN...

[Dick Bonham]

Tom,
What a great book! A huge ammount of work! Thank you!
Dick

[robert weinstock]

Tom,
Thanks for all the work on the book. As soon as I have time to downlaod it, I will. I think lots of folks will appreciate it.
Bob

[Jim Kelso]

Holy smokes Tom! That was a project! How generous to share all of that. I've only taken the briefest look through but will peruse more later. Thanks!

Jim

[stonecutter]

wow, what a great book ! i just finished (a first) reading, and am amazed ... so many information, so many inspiration. thanks a lot for sharing this :-)

[Joe Aimetti]

tsterling, on Sep 21 2006, 02:51 PM, said:

Thanks for the kind words, everybody. I hope the book is useful and enjoyable.

Doug,

I thought about selling it, but decided the little money it was likely to bring in versus the pain and agony of burning CDs and mailing, international customs agencies, shipping and currency exchanges just wasn't likely to compute. I've approached publishers in the past, to startlingly little interest. A few years back I applied for a grant from my state arts commission to put it into print and was told it was just too "esoteric" an issue. Surprising to me, considering the weird stuff they did provide grants for that year.

Hence, I just decided a free download would be the best way to get the information into the real world, for real people. Netsuke have provided me with a lot of enjoyment over the years, a lot of really great carvers, collectors and dealers have provided help and advice to me, free of charge or obligation, so I figured I should try to pay something back to the world. Maybe if there was a little more of the sort of helpful attitude we carvers experience in our little groups, the world wouldn't be the sewer it is. Sorry for the rant...

Tom-

A great book for a beginner like me into this style of carving. It proves what I said when I first signed on about people selflessly sharing their hard earned experience with the rest of us. What you have given away is inspiration and knowledge. Very good Karma that will reward you many times over.

Thanks again

[Dick Kahle]

Tom

Let me add my thanks for the book. Being one with a soda straw connection it took nearly 2hrs to download and so far I have had time only to skim through the wealth of information contained in it. But I am curious as to ommissions of Maple and African Blackwood as being suitable for Netsuke? Thanks again for all your hard work. Dick Kahle

[tsterling]

Hi Dick,

The woods I included are only those I've had experience with. I have some blackwood but haven't carved any yet, although it looks like it should work fine. Janel has used some to great effect. Other than the dual heartwood/sapwood contrast, it looks about the same color, density and grain as ebony, so I never had a requirement for blackwood.

Most maple I find slightly too coarse grained for netsuke, and there are better netsuke woods with similar blond color. Most of the nice specialty maples like birds eye, quilted, flamed, yada yada just don't work well for netsuke in my experience. Netsuke are just too small and too detailed to benefit much from those. Not to say that fits for all netsuke cases, of course, nor are all bits of maple are created equal.

P.S. These are just policies and guidelines. The netsuke police have no jurisdiction over your choice of materials.

[Janel]

OOhhh, shiver! Netsuke police! They caught me at the last few conventions with carvings with no himotoshi, and then threatened to drill them in on the spot.

[tsterling]

Netsuke police! Once you've been accused there's no escape, no appeal and the jail term never ends. And by far the worst crime is himotoshi-less netsuke. I fear for you, Janel...

[Janel]

[Ed Twilbeck]

Thanks Tom I have down loaded the book and will make use of it. I am working full time at my job and very little time for carving but the book will help me. Thanks again Ed