Cover Image: Dude Crafts

Dude Crafts

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Member Reviews

If you are looking for a gift for the man who has everything then this is it.
A great book with a whole host of daft DIY crafts. If he makes any of these then I congratulate him on his ingenuity and skill.
A perfect birthday gift!

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A book of useful and not so useful everyday life crafts and hacks. Are they worth doing and cost effective? Probablynot, but the fun is in the trying and exploration isn't it.

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Really awesome ideas and a really good read.me and my stepsons had lots of fun attempting to make some, with varying degrees of success but lots and lots of excellent memories.

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Been honest...this is a really helpful book that I wish I had a phisycal copy to check it from time to time...however I hate that is threat like...this is dude book...just for the hardest and heavyst...I get, is like a joke, but stop been funny like 5 pages later.

<i>a digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley</i>

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Not interesting. Perhaps it would make a gift book for a crafter or woodworker. Otherwise, the typical audience is out of my scope.

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Dude Crafts is an illustrated tutorial how-to guide with tongue firmly in cheek. The projects are way out there and silly and/or campy. They range from bizarre: a flask hidden inside a realistic baby doll (complete with baby-pack carrier) to the odd: a DIY paracord bullwhip, to the MacGuyverish: PVC freezing tubes for your favorite beverage coolers.

Released 2nd Oct 2018 by Quarto on their Voyageur imprint, it's 192 pages and available in hardcover format.

While this book has a very humorous feel, there are a number of useful items which can be made with the tutorials provided. Keys can be kept together in a swiss-army-knife type contraption, your bottle opener will never go missing again, thanks to neodymium magnets and a disembowled doll/action figure, and several other notable more-or-less utilitarian pieces. There are of course some purely humorous projects: a keen amateur can make a hysterically realistic head-in-a-jar which looks like a friend or coworker, the aforementioned flask in a realistic babydoll in a carrier, and a dinosaur pencil sharpener.

While admittedly there weren't any of the 50 projects which called out to me to be made right away, there certainly were enough nuggets of advice and jumping off points that I'm sure I'll be using some of the ideas in one form or another in the future.

Four stars for the humor and wacky ideas.

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Funny and odd. I can't see anyone making these projects but they were interesting to read. The plastic doll as a secret whisky flask was my favourite as it was very macabre. I'd describe this as a bathroom book or possibly something you buy your dad as a joke gift.

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Dude Crafts is a very interesting book full of not your average craft ideas. I liked the inclusion of pictures. I found some of the steps to be overwhelming, but overall this would be a great book for anyone who loves a good project! Definitely geared towards men. Good gift idea for those men in your life.

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Yea for Dude Crafts!
Dude Crafts is an awesome book. It's a book that my husband and my eighteen year old son would still love. We have a large catapult in our backyard made from PVC pipe, elastic tie down straps, etc that they built years ago. The kids mostly launched tennis battles into the neighbor's pool and water balloons at each other, but it was great fun.
This book promises to be just as entertaining and then some.

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This is one for the men. Some interesting stuff. Some things are strangely useful. However I can see any feminist howling and baying for blood as a Barbie doll is morphed into a bottle opener!

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With helpful instructions from start to finish, the author created this handy reference for building out-of-the-ordinary home innovations. From the zany to the insane, some of the most hilarious DIY projects I've ever seen were clearly demonstrated. This is another fine example of someone with too much time on their hands. Caution thrown to the wind, the author offered a fully Illustrated not-your-everyday craft book that's sure to keep you amused.

I send my thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Voyageur Press for this digital edition in exchange for an unbiased review.

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WOW, who KNEW you could make a forge from a microwave? While that may seem far fetched, as you'll see from the collage above, many of the ideas have some very good practical applications, and you might even ask for them to BE made! LOL. Ok, MAYBE not the baby doll wine holder or barbie bottle opener, LOL- but guys will see the humor in those! Think how much FUN you could add to a cubicle with the tennis ball holder guys! And admit it, getting those beer bottles up off the shelf, can give YOU back some of your fridge space, especially handy during the holidays to have! Most of the projects are not super complicated and require items you have around the garage, or a quick run to your local hardware store. The pictures are easy and clear (cause you KNOW how men are with just printed instructions....), and you might find yourself thinking you need to borrow the book!

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It looked like Dude Crafts by Mike Warren might be a good choice for my sons. Obviously I'm not the intended audience for this book, but it's not suitable for my eighteen year old either.



A handful of the projects are neat. I could see making rings out of quarters, or a branding iron out of old bicycle spokes. And (in theory at least) I guess it's nice to know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich on a car muffler or heat lasagna in the dish washer. The instructions for making a metal forge out of a busted microwave don't seem to be in the book, which is probably a good thing.



Most of the projects are things we've seen before, either on Pinterest or in old craft books. Like soaking yarn in glue and wrapping it around a balloon. Or using hair scrunchies and suction cups to hold bottles to the shower wall.



Then there's the alcohol, the main reason this book disappointed me so much. Seven of the fifty projects involve booze -- and that's not counting the ones that just use the empty bottles. I'm all for hacking up old baby dolls to use in craft projects, but making one into a flask and wearing it in a tummy pack? Nope.



I'll continue my search for a project book that will appeal to my boys.

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Hilarious with a touch of danger and epic crafty brilliance! Dude it is time to get crafty with over 50 innovative invitations to create.

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I liked how it gave step by step instructions for some very interesting projects. However, the projects are definitely for adults-only (such as the alcohol-flask-filled baby and hanging beer can opener). What's great about this book is that it presents ideas and crafts that I've never seen before, rather than the same-old-same-old. It uses pictures, bullet points, and tips to make the projects easy to follow and make. My biggest beef is that this isn't a book the boys in my classroom can use....it's most definitely for the adult crowd.

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Not being a dude, I'm not exactly the intended audience for this book, but I thought a crafts book that isn't full of frou-frou, girly projects would be right up my alley. That was before I got to the first project, which involves converting a plastic doll into what looks like a baby in a little sling carrier, except that inside the "baby" is a liquor flask (so when it looks like you are kissing your baby's head, you are really taking a swig). So, yeah, it turns out I'm definitely NOT the target audience for this book. My burning question throughout this book was who WOULD like these projects? I can't imagine even the bro-y-est of bros wanting to make a fake baby beverage flask. There are a some gross prank ideas suitable for a grisly Halloween, and then a few projects with PVC that are actually useful (desk dividers, tool holders, etc.), most of which hardly rise to the level of needing instruction (cut PVC tubing in half longitudinally, tada!) A couple of the projects were crafty, clever, and cool, like the molded concrete-balloon candle holders. Some were just irrelevant head-scratchers, like instructions for cooking lasagna in the dishwasher. Then there was the project for stenciling clear, water-resistant dinosaur designs on the sidewalk, to be revealed only when it rains--cute, and so un-dude-like. Maybe that's why I liked it.

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This book is insane! A baby flask? Yeah, I'm not giving this to any man I know.
To be fair there are some helpful tips and some fun pranks that push the envelope a little less. Each "craft" goes through each step and photos along teh way. They are easy to follow and but please don't let them try the toy car shots and the Fire Breather.

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