I’m probably not alone when I say that I have always loved the magic of fairies. When I was little I had a fold out pop up book about Flower Fairies that I loved and carried on many trips. So when I had the opportunity to review a book teaching how to make your own I jumped at the chance. The book was Fantastic Fairies and their friends by Julie Sharp.

The book is filled with gorgeous pictures of fairies, mice, toadstools and bugs. But I’ll admit I found the prospect of making the fairies slightly daunting. They are made from surprisingly simple components such as pipe cleaners, but in a funny sort of way that made them seem harder (my experience of pipe cleaners is limited to the basic twisting required in primary school).

I would love to claim a huge success here, but this little lady is all down to my husband (who is a bit of a whizz when it comes to wire).

She took one evening (and a bit) to make. I think she is adorable (and have plans for him to make me many more).

Was she a success? You can judge from the pictures yourself, but I think she was very much a success!

Was there any issues or problems during her construction? The book requires you to reference techniques laid out at the back of the book. This means a lot of page turning and can become a little confusing after awhile. We also found that the tutorial told you to make one set of arms when another was featured in the picture.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, but it does require a fair amount of patience which I hadn’t expected. It’s more indepth and definitely more skilled than you might imagine. This doesn’t mean it isn’t worth having a go at though.

Could the book be improved? As I said earlier the instructions do jump around a bit which is a bit annoying, especially when your trying to master the basic techniques. The book would also benefit from giving you alternatives for some of the materials. We had to improvise with our fairies eyes because we could not for love nor money find any stores that sold ready made pom poms small enough.

I think the fairies and creatures would make wonderful Christmas presents. Perhaps attaching some ribbon to their heads so they could be given as decorations. I am particularly excited to make Bud The Mouse and a fairy toodstool.

Book Details

Title: Fantastic Fairies and Their Friends.

Author: Julie Sharp

ISBN: 9781861084620

RRP: £12.99

Publisher: GMC

Publication Date: Spring 2006.