Review: Polymer Clay Books

Picture curtsy of Alkhymeia

I have recently rediscovered one of the most amazing craft materials, polymer clay. I grew envious of all those etsy clay artists and their fabulous projects (see my favorites) and decided to try for myself. Well, the first attempt was quite a failure...it just isn't as simple as it looks.

But loving the possibilities of polymer clay, I have decided not to give up and to keep on trying. Baby steps and so on, after all, practice makes the master.
To support my amateur tries, I bought (or was given) 3 polymer clay books:

1. The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques by Donna Kato
2. The Polymer Clay Techniques Book by Sue Heaser
3. Polymer Clay for the First Time by Syndee Holt

The first two books have their particular strenghts each. Donna Kato's book is an in depth study of one polymer clay technique and provides many examples of how to use millefiori in your projects. On the other hand, Sue Heaser's The Polymer Clay Techniques Books is a quick overwiew of over 50 techniques and can serve as a great beginner's guide to polymer clay.

Unfortunately, I have also purchesaed Polymer Clay for the First Time by Syndee Holt. And trust me, it was a mistake. The book is a perfect example in how NOT TO write craft books. It contains some meritorical advice and a few decent projects but most of the work shown in the book looks at the very best amaturish (and sometimes it is simply ugly). The color of the pages looks like from an old newspaper and, despite the fact that the book was published in 2005, project pictures are grim, poorly lighted and they all seem to have been taken on a table from the '50s which only adds to the unattractivness of the work presented. On top of it all the texts in the book are also written in rather poor English.
It is a toroughly uninspiring book and if this was my only source of knowledge about polymer clay, I would have thrown out my Fimo supplies and never come back to this material again. Trully shame.

Stay tuned for more in depth reviews of The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques and The Polymer Clay Techniques Book.