Posts by Jessica Pigza

Special Weeks - Tulip Week - Girl in costume with tulips Image ID: 1682599Spring has almost sprung, and with it arrives the latest series of Handmade Crafternoons, co-hosted by crafty librarian Jessica Pigza and Crafternoon author Maura Madden! Meet fellow crafters, look at books and magazines from the Library's collections, and participate in DIY projects. This season we'll cross stitch on cards, create a watermark-inspired embroidery, and learn how easy English paper piecing can be. And, because our community of shared 

I'm just putting the final touches on the plans for this weekend's Handmade Crafternoon (the first of three this spring — see the other dates below!), and I'm pretty excited. We've created this event in collaboration with the amazing people at Creativebug, and we'll be joined by one of their teachers, Rebecca 

This snowy Saturday afternoon has brought to mind a couple of scenes from nineteenth-century children's books in the Rare Book Division. First, a scene of "Wintervergnügen" (winter fun) from Jugendspiele zur Erholung und Erheiterung (Tilsit, 1846). This is a two-volume work, one devoted to girls and one to boys. Sledding is categorized as one of the boys' games (Knabenspiele), but of course that needn't stop 

Happy Thanksgiving to you! In honor of the holiday, here's a page from one of my favorite drawing manuals in the collection, 1913's What to Draw and How to Draw It by E. G. Lutz.

This turkey (along with his tiny companion, the fantail pigeon) is just one of dozens of possibilities — like owls, elephants, pelicans, pigs, castles, cats, and men and ladies — you'll find in these pages. Want to see the entire book? It's been digitized and you can

Fall has arrived, and with that comes the next round of Handmade Crafternoons at the Library. This weekend's our first event! My co-host Maura Madden and I will welcome special guest Kelly Rand, Program Director at Hello Craft.

Kelly will talk about Hello Craft’s efforts to support independent crafters and share some of the savvy advice she put into her book Handmade To Sell: Hello Craft's Guide to Owning, 

Join us this Saturday, May 12, 2012, when Sis Boom creator Jennifer Paganelli comes to NYPL for the latest Handmade Crafternoon.

My co-host, Maura Madden, and I love how vibrant and sunshine-y Jennifer Paganelli's designs and patterns are, so it's perfect that Paganelli will help us to make summer party garlands and banners. And I'll have summer issues of home magazines from years past to browse and inspire you in other summer project ideas!

The event will take place in 

George M. Rommel, an early twentieth century animal husbandman and farm expert, was not one to shy away from novel solutions to agricultural challenges in America. In 1905, he championed the import from Bermuda of a breed of “woolless” sheep to address America’s “alarming appetite for lamb” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/5/1905). And he was always on the lookout for potential new uses for leftovers from agricultural enterprises. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that his book on agricultural refuse industries, 

Thanks to bibliophile George Arents, the Rare Book Division's holdings include an extensive collection of nineteenth century books in parts, and they are fascinating artifacts of their time. Little did I know, however, that I'd learn about a healthful and tasty lichen drink while reading 

Romeyn Hough (1857-1924) was single-minded in his devotion to trees. He was also a New Yorker, and when he embarked on The American Woods, he turned to the trees of his state first in what would eventually grow to be a 14-volume masterwork. The American Woods remains invaluable today due to the range and age of the tree samples Hough included, and the Library's Rare Book Division holds a complete set of this delicate and 

This is one of over a hundred such puzzling images you can find in Symbolorvm & emblematvm ex animalibvs qvadrupedibvs desvmtorvm centvria altera, a 1595 book printed in Nuremberg, Germany.

Emblem books like this one were common in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, and a typical example of this genre contained dozens of emblems — each made up of an image and some explanatory text meant to be approached as a small mystery to be solved by the reader (and often designed to impart a moral lesson). Because 

"Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea."— A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith*

On the coldest winter days, I must say I agree with Smith. And while reading through a little 1863 recipe book called The Book of One Hundred Beverages in the Rare Book 

Wondering how you'll carry your keys and such while out and about in your fancy pants outfit on New Year's Eve? If so — and if you are a lover of DIY — then look no further than these two books: Helen Crosier's Crochet & Tatting and other Needlework Crafts (1953) and Elizabeth Laird Mathieson's Needlework Library (1949).

From Helen Crosier, a double crochet evening belt done in neon white with pearl and sequin