Search results for ""Author Ben Russell""

Among the many treasures in the collections of the Science Museum in London is the complete workshop of the Scottish engineer James Watt (1736-1819), acquired in its entirety from the attic of Watt's Birmingham home in 1924, where it had been left as an industrial shrine since his death in 1819. Watt is best known for his pioneering work on the steam engine, but the workshop contains very few engine-related items. Instead, it is filled with jars of chemicals, sculpture-copying machines and materials, a profusion of instruments and objects and evidence of Watt's many diverse projects. Traditional biographies of Watt have concentrated on the steam engine, but Ben Russell tells a richer story, exploring the processes by which ephemeral ideas were transformed into tangible artefacts and the multifaceted world of production upon which Britain's industrial revolution depended. James Watt: Making the World Anew is a craft history of Britain's early industrial transformation as well as a prehistory of the engineering profession itself.It explores the motivation for making things, looking not only at what was produced but also why, drawing on a rich range of resources - not just archival material and biographies on Watt but also objects themselves, and sources from fields as diverse as ceramics, antique systems of proportion, sculpture and machine making. Generously illustrated, James Watt is a unique, expansive exploration of the engineer's life, not as an end in itself but as a lens through which the broader practices of making and manufacturing in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries can be explored.

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In one affordable polytunnel, kitchen-garden guru Joyce Russell shows you how to grow vegetables easily, organically and abundantly so that you have something to eat every month of the year. Whether you are a beginner or more experienced, this comprehensive, practical, month-by-month guide to polytunnel gardening has got everything you need, telling you exactly what to do and when to do it, in order to grow the best fruit and vegetables all-year-round. From preparing the site to making a hotbed, from composts and organic feeds to identifying and coping with pests, plus information on how to get the best from each crop and month-to-month planting plans for year-round growing, The Polytunnel Book provides a wealth of practical tips and techniques as well as celebrating what can be achieved. Illustrated with 300 stunning colour photographs, this practical guide to polytunnels hand guides you through each month of the year, ensuring the best results all year round.

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From from kitchen-garden guru Joyce Russell, author of best-selling The Polytunnel Book, this book presents 30 decorative vegetable-growing projects that anyone can make and enjoy. Whether you are an experienced gardener looking for an edge to help boost your fruit and vegetable yields, or are new to gardening and need some gentle guidance in how to make a start, this book will help you create a beautiful, bountiful garden filled with delicious fruit and veg! All the projects are devised to extend the season, protect crops from pests or improve yields. Apart from the obvious cost-savings from growing or making your own, the desire to work with craft fulfils the need to improve your patch of land. These compelling projects transform your vegetable plot into somewhere more productive, more attractive and more secure. From simple cloche projects to making tunnels and frames or creating design solutions that deter slugs and carrot root fly, these projects are well-designed, functional and decorative. Each project has photographed step by step instructions, a list of materials and tools needed, and a relative skills rating.Projects include: simple cloche raised bed herb bed plant propagator mini greenhouse compost bins fruit cage bean support leaf mould container folding bean frame poly cloche carrot fly protector boot scraper drying cabinet Alongside the projects are growing tips and specific advice to make the most of your crop. These 30 projects will be enjoyed by gardeners of all levels and anyone who loves growing their own produce.

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