Book Review: Let's Make More Things

Title: Let's Make More Things

Author: Harry Zarchy

Date: 1943

Publisher: Knopf

ISBN: none

Length: 158 pages

Illustrations: drawings and diagrams by the author, calligraphy by Hollis Holland

Quote: "This book is for people who like to make things...no experience is necessary."

(Baked or air-dried decorative clay bowls, like these tiny ones used to hold jewelry. This and other photos from Google.)

The one thing you might not love about this quaint little book is that the materials needed to make some of the projects can no longer "be readily procured at local five-and-ten, hardware or stationery stores." Corks, wooden spools, and thin wooden boxes are harder to find than they were in 1943. They can still be found (for a price), but they're no longer donated in bulk to primary schools.

Otherwise, Let's Make More Things explains how to make simple, mostly wooden, projects: bowls, boxes, curtain pulls, dollhouse furniture, racks, candlesticks, costume jewelry, trays. There are also suggestions for paper decorations, greeting cards, puppets, soap carving, clay models, plaster bookends, leaf prints, pipe-cleaner figures, stuffed animals, and other novelties. Zarchy even explained the fundamentals of tie-dying fabric and rebinding old books.

Simple pipe-cleaner figures.  

Let's Make More Things was a sequel to another little hand-lettered book called Let's Make Something. Either volume would keep children happily occupied through a year of wet weekends. Not all of the projects are as useful now as they were in the 1940s (who uses a shoeshine box?) but relatives who are lucky enough to receive these gifts from children will probably find some good use for them.

 

Pipe-cleaner figures plus beads. (Really elaborate pipe-cleaner figures, plus lots of beads and fabric, are often displayed on Etsy.)

And yes, if the adults happen to be going to a craft show, a little planning and supervision will allow the children to stock their own corner of the display with their own potentially profitable work. So, not only will this book provide clever children with hours of fun, but it should empower them to pay for their own supplies and have enough left over to buy a special present or throw a small, frugal party.