Get The TechniqueOne of our most useful resources here in the Crafts Dept. is an enormous collection of clip art books. For those that don't know, clip-art is basically copyright free imagery, and takes many many forms. I think of our clip art collection as a vast library of visual material and use it constantly as reference and inspiration, it's also a great way to learn because there's so much detail in every book. We have lots of books of historical engravings and illustration, books on lettering and calligraphy, all sorts of flowers and plants, many types of textile design, etc. The range of styles is so broad that you can always find a useful reference for any project- below are just a few examples.
Oh how I love Dover Publications. What an amazing breadth of material... I swear I never met a Dover book I didn't love.
The Pepin Press also publishes great clip-art and includes CD-Roms with hi-res images of everything. We also buy Japanese Clip-art books - which can be hard to find- from Kinokiniya, a much beloved Japanese book store here in New York.
And finally, one of my favorite things that we do here is create our own downloadable art for crafts projects to make available to our our readers. That's all archived here, and free, so take a look!
1 a few Dover titles
2 this art Nouveau book is like a combines botany and Art History lesson...
3 Examples of pepin Press books
4
5 Japanese clip-art examples. I have a special fondness for the Japanese taste for things scandinavian... ! (top right)
6 these also include CD-roms...
From: Elisabeth Klos | 5/3/10 at 12:20 pm
These books are amazing! Does copyright free mean that you can use the images in collages and other works of art? Thanks!
Elisabeth Klos
From: Taryn Sisco | 5/3/10 at 2:12 pm
I LOVE Japanese clip art! I get the most compliments on a pair of earrings I made with japanese clip art heat sealed on shrink plastic (which was my ultimate childhood obsession by the way). Thanks, these books are fabulous!
From: *gemmifer* | 5/3/10 at 9:33 pm
Copyright free means that you can use the images for personal purposes but that you can't sell anything that uses them.
I love love love clip art books! I remember in the early 2000s having trouble finding the Pepin Press books. I'm so glad that they're now available in more stores. The Petit Press books are so great too!
I've got the Spring version and the Scandinavian and Japanese are on my wish list. Taryn's earring ideas sounds like such a great use of the patterns!
From: Nicky Stokes | 5/4/10 at 1:22 pm
http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler/0430/
Dover also send a weekly sampler to your email address.
From: Marthastewart and clip art | DmkImages | 12/30/10 at 2:35 pm
[...] Clip Art resources « The Crafts Dept.I think of our clip art collection as a vast library of visual material and use it constantly as reference and inspiration, … [...]