'The Star Trek Craft Book' Is Still One of Our Faves

If you’ve always wanted to make your own Tribble, Spock Monkey, Khan Finger Puppet or other Star Trek craft, well, now you’re out of excuses not to — especially with con season in full swing! Veteran crafter, author, and Star Trek fan Angie Pedersen penned The Star Trek Craft Book, a fun and authoritative how-to book for creating those items and 22 more themed crafts.

The Star Trek Craft Book is available from Simon & Schuster, and StarTrek.com sewed up a conversation with Pedersen, who filled us in on her background and revealed what fans can expect from her book.

StarTrek.com: First, can you take us through your history as an author and craft maker?Angie Pedersen: I’m “multi-craftual,” meaning I practice a variety of different crafts. My earliest craft was crocheting, which my grandmother taught me in the 6th grade. Fast forward to 1998, when I started scrapbooking, and that’s where I found my passion. I wrote my first book about scrapbooking in 2002, called The Book of ME: A Guide to Scrapbooking about Yourself. My second book, Growing Up ME: A Guide to Scrapbooking Childhood Stories, came out in 2004. My third book, The Book of US: A Guide to Scrapbooking about Relationships, came out in 2005. During these years I also wrote articles for various scrapbooking magazines, and contributed a story to Chicken Soup for the Scrapbooker’s Soul. Scrapbooking also paved the way to other crafts such as altered art, mixed media, and art journals. I also dabble in knitting and sewing.How big of a Star Trek fan are you?AP: We are a family of Trekkers in the biggest way. Both my husband and I grew up watching TOS, and have watched each episode of each new series. Our groom’s cake at our wedding had a Star Trek insignia on it. We named our son James T., after Captain Kirk, though the T. stands for “Thomas”, rather than “Tiberius.” “Thomas” is actually a head nod to Will Riker’s middle name. We also attend the midnight showing of each new Star Trek movie as a family. We visited the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas a couple of times and really enjoyed the “historic” timeline and memorabilia.How did the opportunity to do the book come about?AP: I write a weekly post for GeekCrafts.com and my book editor noticed that I mentioned a love of Star Trek in my bio. She emailed me and asked if I would be interested in working on a book project about Star Trek crafts. I figured it was a trick question, because how could my answer be anything but "Yes?"There are probably hundreds of Trek-related crafts that people could make. How did you winnow down the options to 25 for the book? And how did you go about making the craft options viable for beginners and experts alike?AP: My editor and I did a lot of Internet research, looking for an assortment of Trek-inspired crafts, and narrowed down the projects to include in the book based on the variety of crafting techniques and difficulty. We wanted to make sure that there were enough different projects that people could try out a range of crafting techniques, while also making it accessible enough that people of all crafting abilities would find something interesting to try.

What do you feel the illustrations add?AP: The step-by-step illustrations help crafters feel confident that they’re following the instructions correctly and their project will turn out as they expect. They are particularly helpful when you’re trying a new type of craft and aren’t sure exactly how things are supposed to look each step of the way.How much fun did you have coming up with the various projects and then writing the book?AP: I had a blast thinking up and working on the variety of projects; for several months I was able to immerse myself in doing only Star Trek crafts – a geek crafter’s dream come true. It was so much fun doing the research for the written introductions. Being able to dig deep into the characters and storylines I already loved so much to connect them to the crafts in the book made the project that much more fun for me.

How much fun do you hope readers will have while making the Trek crafts depicted in the book?AP: I hope readers will have as much fun as I did creating the projects, and that they’ll also enjoy reading the backstories of the characters and episodes. I also hope they’ll enjoy trying out some new craft techniques that they haven’t tried before, such as the decoupage on The Animated Series coasters or the butcher paper stenciling on the Tricorder Purse.If you get to do a follow-up to this book, what are some of the things you'd like to include in it?AP: I really wanted to include a Bajoran earring project, and something Borg, such as an eyepiece or a miniature Cube. I also wanted to make a scarf that incorporated some Vulcan symbols!

This interview, which originally ran in 2013, has been edited and condensed. The Star Trek Craft Book is a 176-page paperback that sells for $19.99. Click HERE to purchase.