Books published by publisher ABRAMS

Cosplayers rejoice! The Hero’s Closet is the ultimate DIY guide to creating unique and fantastical homemade costumes This essential handbook offers detailed, step-by-step instructions that cover the basics of sewing costumes (which often require skills not found in standard sewing guides) to help even the most novice sewists create the costumes of their dreams. A skilled crafter and avid cosplayer, Gillian Conahan walks readers through finding inspiration online and through their fandom; shares insight into translating character art into real-world garments; and offers advice on pattern selection, alterations, fabrics, and embellishment techniques. The Hero’s Closet is the first how-to handbook on the art of sewing for cosplay. A must-have guide for Comic Con and Halloween, it’s essential for all ambitious fans with a DIY spirit who love the idea of cosplay, but need the inspiration and technical tips to make an awesome costume.

In this story-filled monograph, Bunny Williams presents new work through 15 houses she has decorated and loved. She tells the tale of each “affair,” tracing the style of the spaces, what drew her to the projects, and her approach to decor that evolves with the lives of her clients. She offers personal secrets for choosing classics—and for decorating with flexible pieces that can play more than one role in a design scheme. Along the way, she offers many amazingly chic, but always comfortable, residences whose interiors she has designed during the latest phase of her astounding career. As Bunny tells it, “The best pieces have the best stories,” and in this book, she shows readers a fresh collection of projects that demonstrate just that.

A crenellated turret here, a winding, arched staircase there, maybe even a giant turtle—fairy tale ideas are at the heart of every sandcastle. Summer after summer, children and adults alike make valiant efforts to infuse their sandy structures with such inspiration, but the results are generally disappointing. With Sandcastles Made Simple, Lucinda "sandy feet" Wierenga, a renowned sand sculptor, puts a permanent end to less-than-perfect beach creations. She provides the ultimate step-by-step guide to building impressive sandcastles, and shows that with a few simple tools and a basic understanding of sand, building dream castles can be easy. The book features instructions for each of the elements—base, staircase, roof, balcony, and more—that can be combined to fashion one-of-a-kind castles. Also included are two projects designed specifically for younger children. Like a shovel and pail, Sandcastles Made Simple is an on-the-beach necessity.

"You will never look at a beetle or a moth the same way again." --WIRED"Art meets science to dazzling effect." --The GuardianMicrosculptureis a unique photographic study of insects in mind-blowing magnification that celebrates the wonders of nature and science. Levon Biss’s photographs capture in breathtaking detail the beauty of the insect world and are printed in large-scale format to provide an unforgettable viewing experience. Each picture in Microsculpture is created from approximately 8,000 individual photographs. Segments of the specimen are lit and photographed separately using microscope lenses, then “stacked” to maintain sharp focus throughout. These images are then combined to create a single high-resolution file. From start to finish, each portrait takes approximately 4 weeks to create. The project has captured the attention of the world with features in WIRED and New Scientist. Microsculpture has been exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Xposure 2016 International Photography Festival in Sharjah, U.A.E. It has been viewed by over half a mil­lion people so far and will be touring museums around the world from 2017 onward. The entomology collection has significant cultural and historical value, containing the world’s oldest pinned insect specimen and many thousands of insects collected by pioneering Victorian explorers and biologists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace.

From the country’s most popular interior design magazine comes a stylish, in-depth look at what it takes to make any room beautiful. House Beautiful Style Essentials: What Every Room Needs is an inspiring and hardworking handbook that shows readers how to create the rooms of their dreams by revealing what “every room needs.” Chapters like “Every Room Needs a Hiding Place” provide clever ideas for storage and organization, while sections like “Every Room Needs Something Shiny” give examples of how reflective surfaces can enhance and enlarge any space. Simple yet elegant advice from some of the biggest names in the interiors world is paired throughout with stunning photography of the best and most beautiful rooms featured in the magazine. From a room’s overall look and color down to its smallest details, House Beautiful Style Secrets provides tips, tricks, and secrets on how to cultivate a comfortable home and uncover the potential of every living space.

A wonderful companion volume to the first two books, book #3 explores how to research a subject AND how to overcome one's fears. Library Mouse Sam meets fellow mouse Sarah one night in the library. As they talk, Sam learns that Sarah is quite the explorer and loves to scurry up to the top of the shelves and explore the darkest corners and crevices of the building. Sam never climbs far up - it is so high! And dark corners make him feel anxious. He prefers the moonlight. As they speak further, Sarah learns that Sam knows a great deal about lots of things. He explains he likes to research subjects and write about them. Sarah does not read very much and certainly does not know how to research ideas - could reading and research help her to learn more about the places she discovers or wishes to visit? So Sam shows Sarah how to research material, and Sarah helps Sam overcome his fear of heights and the dark. They become a great team working together.

Eva Kosmas Flores finds inspiration in her Greek heritage and the bountiful produce of her garden in Oregon. She uses both to craft her seasonal and approachable recipes, each paired with a mouthwatering image. The bounty of fresh, vibrant produce overflowing from her garden comes through on every page, and Flores undertakes rigorous recipe testing to share her most creative, delicious ways to make use of these foods. Showcasing her unforgettable, atmospheric photography style, First We Eat is a gorgeous reference on seasonal cooking that celebrates the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, Mediterranean influences, effortless and stylish presentations, and simple preparations, all designed to share with friends and family.

Artists, like astronauts, are constantly probing into the unknown. It is fitting that, shortly after the establishment of NASA in 1958, the NASA Art Program was created on the principle that artists are uniquely equipped to interpret and document the experience of space exploration. In the program’s early years, artists as diverse as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and James Wyeth participated. Over time, the Art Program has commissioned work from many of the world’s most distinguished artists. The collection includes works by Alexander Calder, Nam June Paik, William Wegman, Mike and Doug Starn, Vija Celmins, and Annie Leibovitz. Along with a two-year touring exhibition with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), NASA/Art celebrates the 50th anniversary of NASA in October 2008 with an expanded selection of the best work created for the NASA Art Program, and stands as a lasting record of the impact of space exploration on the artistic imagination.

Welcome to the world of Harry Bliss--a New York Times bestselling cartoonist whose gag cartoons look at the world in a fresh, twisted, and unique way. Each panel is a sharp and smart look at the paradoxes of life, ranging from lust and love to misfortune and bitterness. Bliss's cartoons expose truths so human, so real, they're timeless. However, time is running out in Death by Laughter--a collection of cartoons about death, fatality, and "the examined life" that Socrates referred to (only his gags weren't illustrated or, frankly, all that funny). Sheer Bliss.

In Endangered, the result of an extraordinary multiyear project to document the lives of threatened species, acclaimed photographer Tim Flach explores one of the most pressing issues of our time. Traveling around the world—to settings ranging from forest to savannah to the polar seas to the great coral reefs—Flach has constructed a powerful visual record of remarkable animals and ecosystems facing harsh challenges. Among them are primates coping with habitat loss, big cats in a losing battle with human settlements, elephants hunted for their ivory, and numer­ous bird species taken as pets. With eminent zoologist Jonathan Baillie providing insightful commentary on this ambitious project, Endangered unfolds as a series of vivid, interconnected stories that pose gripping moral dilemmas, unforgettably expressed by more than 180 of Flach’s incred­ible images.