Stacey Apeitos
Foundations in Polymer Clay Design by Barbara McGuire
This is one of those books you might call a classic in the world of polymer clay.
Most serious clay artists will have this one on their bookshelves.
There are step by step instructions offered for over 20 projects but the real value of this one is in the fact that McGuire draws our attention to the elements and principles of design.
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Stamping Effects in Polymer Clay with Sandra McCall
Near the start of this book there are sampler/sneak peek pages that provide a glimpse of the surface treatments explained in the book. These get your saliva flowing for what is ahead, and are a quick way to review techniques when you are down the track.
You learn lots of techniques and you are provided with instruction for using them in highly appealing projects – jewelry, accessories and home decor.
As you can expect with Sandra McCall, the step by step photos are large and clear. She likes color and embellishment.
I think all her brooches are marvellous. I particularly like the stained glass effect she shares.
The imitation bakelite buttons are super easy and look great on the fabric tote bag that she designed as a project for this book.
I intend to make the coaster and caddy set using her fun “polymer painting”! technique.
The question is: which one first? I’m inspired by everything.
Sandra’s writing style is relaxed and chatty and she sprinkles helpful hints throughout the book. I’m partial to this author and for good reason. Once again, this book by Sandra McCall is a winner.
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Stamping Effects in Polymer Clay with Sandra McCall
Take a little square of foam core board, plug in your hot glue gun and pull out a rubberstamp. You’ll be amazed where you can go from here.
Sandra’s a queen of mixed media techniques. This book shows you how to make jewelry components by stamping hot glue, fabric, shrink plastic, polymer clay, glass and paper. Then she shows you how to use wire, beading techniques, found objects and more to create unusual, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces.
I love her button bracelets. These are inlaid with stamped images, but you could use any sort of button and forget about the stamping. In fact you don’t really have to be big into stamping in order to get value from this book.
Sandra is a prolific author with a bunch of books to her credit. Her style is highly decorative.
If you have conservative tastes in jewelry, then don’t get this book. This one is for people with a bit of flamboyant gypsy in their souls!
The step by step photos make it all very clear. You’ll learn basic jewelry assembly skills in addition to some very funky mixed media techniques. You’ll even learn to solder.
Summary
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Art of Polymer Clay by Donna Kato
A highly respected expert, Donna Kato has even formulated her own brand of polymer clay, Kato Clay. Her knowledge is apparent and I like her suggestions on health and safety.
For instance, if you must use your own kitchen oven to cure clay, place everything in a turkey roasting bag so the polymer outgassing residue remains in the bag and does not collect on your oven walls.
I pre-ordered the book sight unseen from Amazon. With my bookshelf already groaning from loads of polymer clay books, I was not sure that this one would have anything new to offer, but indeed it has!
It may not be appropriate for beginners and as the title would suggest, it has no information about canes or loaves.
But The Art of Polymer Clay certainly whets my appetite for new techniques, superb finishes and projects with an Asian flair like the inro boxes and kimono pins Kato is known for. The hollow beads on the cover of the book are to die for. The section on mica shift is also excellent.
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Polymer Clay Techniques Book by Sue Heaser
The Polymer Clay Techniques Book by Sue Heaser is a recipe book for crafters, as opposed to artists.
Nevertheless, Sue Heaser has an outstanding reputation and presents a great range of projects.
There’s something here that would appeal to every member of your family, and that can’t be said for most art and craft books!
I like the sections on inclusions and simulating semi-precious stones. There is also a good introduction to using wire armatures and sculpting figures.
Summary
Read more about this book at
Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
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