Miniatures in Minutes

What are the book buying options?

Since Miniatures in Minutes is out of print, I thought I would show the options for those interested in purchasing it.

Print on Demand

First, there's Print on Demand which you will find at the C&T Publishing website. This, obviously, gives you a paper edition. The difference between print on demand and the regular print runs is that print on demand books are not printed onto glossy paper. The result is that the paper absorbs more ink and the colors are deeper and more saturated. In the photo below, the Print on Demand version is the lower book. You can see how the blue border in the tumbler quilt is darker than it is in the regular print run version (the book on top) and the colors are not as exact in all the little tumblers.

The book is otherwise the same. The foundations are included in the back of the book. For those who really like a book, print on demand is a good option. It's a little less pretty than the glossy paged version, but overall, the quality is quite nice.

Ebook from C&T Publishing

Another option is to buy the pdf ebook from C&T. Personally, I like this option a lot.  The layout of the pages is exactly the same as for the published book. Since I'm on a Mac, I read the pdf in Preview, but any pdf reader will work.

One of the things I particularly like about the pdf ebook is how easy it is to print off the foundations. The original print run has a large fold out at the back of the book. You orient the fold-out over a copier and away you go. The Print on Demand copy has the foundations on regularly sized and bound pages at the back of the book. Being able to print from the pdf ebook is definitely the easiest print option.

(NOTE: it is important to use a laser printer when printing the foundations. Ink jet ink will smear and run. If you don't have a laser printer, you will still need to use a laser copier to print your foundations onto translucent vellum. Even so, it is still easier to print the foundations off from the ebook first).

A Bit of Advice for Printing from the eBook
The page numbers on my reader are one page off from the numbering on the pages of the book. That's because the ebook version counts the cover of the book as a page. So, for example, what is noted as page four of the print book is page five of the ebook. When you are deciding what pages to print off from the ebook, be sure to use the page numbering from your reader. In the photo below, you can see that at the top of the page, the reader tells me what page it is on.

When I want to print off a foundation, I need to make sure to specify which pages to print. In the window below, I've selected pages 90 to 91 in order to print off the Pyramid Triangle foundation.

One thing I have to watch out for is the scale that the foundation prints off at. I'm not sure about what other readers and printers do, but my print window automatically scales the page at 96%.

So I change the scale to 100% -- which is what I need to get an accurate foundation.

Yes, I like the great formatting and the ease of printing from C&T Publishing's ebook version a lot.

Kindle from Amazon

There is also a Kindle version of the book. The great advantage of this version is that it is the cheapest version out there. Other than that, though, I don't recommend it. For one, the foundations are not included in the book. This is being looked into and meanwhile, if you have purchased the Kindle version, you can contact C&T Publishing to get the foundations. So, yes, it's doable.

On the other hand, the formatting is just not as neat as the pdf ebook version. For example, below is a look at a Kindle page (ignore the sepia page coloring -- that's just how I set my Kindle).

That's not bad, really. It's just off set pages and headings. But for contrast, below is what the pdf ebook version looks like. Much cleaner and looking exactly like the print version of the book.

What I've also noticed with the Kindle version is that as you change the font size (if, like me, you have aging eyes and want the font larger and easier to read), the formatting gets wacky. There will be pages with an image just floating there, and suddenly, directions aren't clearly tied to images. I think the book gets harder to follow.

For the record, I should note Amazon does still have some new books available.

So, here's my take: the Print on Demand version is great for having a print version to hold in the hand and page through. The ebook from C&T Publishing is great for the ease of printing off the foundations and its clear formatting. The Kindle book is doable but definitely not as neat an answer. I think it would frustrate the heck out of me if that's all I had to go on.

Also, duly noting, I still have a GO! weekly project in the works. Using the GO! equilateral triangles die and the Pyramid Triangles foundation from Miniatures in Minutes. I'm hoping to have it up tomorrow, but here's a (terrible) process photo for the time being . . . .