Art of Polymer Clay: Designs and Techniques for Making Jewelry, Pottery and Decorative Artwork

by Donna Kato

Book Overview

The wonder substance of home crafters, polymer clay is versatile, pliable, inexpensive and easy to find. It is available in multiple colours, and can be fired in a kitchen oven. Dollmakers and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823002780
• ISBN13: 9780823002788
• Release Date: February 1997
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.6" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

This would’ve been an excellent book….. but ended up just a waste of money

This is great book for beginners. You will learn all the basics to getting started like supplies, baking your projects properly, helpful techniques. How to make flowers, beads,canes, jewelry etc.. many different project’s. The instructions are easy to follow! I purchased this book specifically to make one project… unfortunately my book had all pages except pages 61–63 and pages 111-118 which happens to be the pages my projects were on. So for me the book is useless!!

Kato - A Versatile Master of Polymer Clay

Most polymer clay enthusiasts recognize Donna Kato as a leader in the field and an extraordinary PC artist. In this book she talks of PC basics, the features and preparation of specific brands, as well as tools and supplies. The projects are not only for jewelry, but pottery and home decor, too. Donna shares all kinds of tips and tricks. Beginner clay artists will find this book fascinating, but I think it will appeal even more so to those with some experience and familiarity with polymer clay. It is a great resource for specialty techniques and I found it to be a great source of inspiration. This is a wonderful resource for any PC artist.

Great array of projects for intermediate poly clay artists

This is an excellent book for the intermediate polymer clay artist. The projects are fun and sophisticated. I have nearly ten different polymer clay books, but this is the only one I have found that shows you how to make full-size floral forms.The book starts out with an excellent introduction to the basics of selecting materials and explains how to choose among the different brands of clay. Conditioning the clay, color mixing and making basic shapes is covered next. A wide variety of techniques and projects follow. Some techniques include millefiori with instructions for making and using lace, checkerboard, pinwheel, chevron, plaid, spliced, radiating, kaleidoscope, shaded and face canes. The rose cane is gorgeous. Onlay techniques, working with glitter, metal leaf treatments and making beads are next. I love the author's ideas for quilted and Balinese filigree beads. She then goes on to explain carving clay and creating Bakelite like forms. Next comes the process of making and using molds including taking you step-by-step through making an Asian man face pin. Then, imitative techniques simulating precious stone like jade, marble, ivory, agate and red jasper are covered. There is a great recipe for turquoise. Translucent effects for creating opals and metal effects for creating mokume gane and patinas are a great help. There is even a technique to get a marbled paper look. Vessel construction follows. Projects included a woven vessel, unlined pot, mosaic bowl and curved box. The book ends with a few sculpture lessons including making a harvest candlestick with several vegetable forms. A great seahorse sculpture and a creating a realistic doll's head are also here. Though the instructions are fine for someone with a little polymer clay experience, they are in some cases simply not detailed enough for a total beginner. However, with so many beautiful projects and ideas, this book will provide inspiration for years.

A Classic Technique-Based Book

Donna Kato is known throughout the polymer clay world for her tools, her techniques, and her art. This book is an excellent distillation of all she's learned and invented about polymer clay work.Unlike many of the PC books on the market, Kato doesn't spend any time on projects. There are many, many techniques - Ballinese Filligree, the Clichy Rose Cane, several different types of faux materials, just as examples - but she doesn't tell you how to apply them or use them. This is fabulous for those who can use the techniques as springboards, and makes the book far more useful than any project-based book could be. However, the technique-based approach is a little intimidating for the novice clayer; I bought this book a month after I cracked open my first packet of Sculpey III, and there wasn't much in The Art of Polymer Clay that was useful to me. Four months later, I started to get into it, and now this is one of my favorite PC books.The basic information is extensive, but some of it, like the types of clay section, is out-dated. However, as I've said, this isn't the most helpful book for the beginning clayer - The Polymer Clay Techniques Book is probably that - so the front material is a bit beside the point. (However, everyone should read the whole book, as there is fabulous information in all the chapters.)If I had to (horrors!) reduce my collection of PC books to just five, The Art of Polymer Clay would be one of them. It is a great book for any clayer at any level - one of the classics of the PC library.

Kato brings it down to Earth!

As the proud owner of practically every book on polymer clay, I have to say that Donna Kato's is right up there on top. Easy to understand techniques and doable projects illustrated. Donna makes it easy for all of us. She is humble and focused in her explanations, doesn't feel the need to express how much she's contributed to the field; that is evidenced by her fabulous designs and terrific instructions. BUY THIS BOOK!

Excellent book

This is the first polymer clay book that I've BOUGHT, although I've gotten several out of the library. She gives good instruction on a bit of everything - caning, sculpture, carving, balinese filigree, flowers etc. The work used in the book as examples of the techniques is also excellent - I have to admit I haven't liked more than fifty percent in some of the other books I've seen.

Help at last!

As a craft instructor and a newcomer to the delights and discouragements of polymer clay, I needed HELP! Donna's book is that help. Donna covers it ALL from the different types of poly clay and their uses to tools and techniques; from beginner to advanced. Using the instructions in the chapter "Basic Canes and Loaves" I made my first loaf, a pinwheel design and from the loaf, created a miniature quilt in polymer clay! I felt like I was truly successful.... I've a long way to go but I'll keep this book in my craft book collection & recommend it to others interested in polymer clay. It is my standard reference on polymer clay!