Creative Clay Jewelry: Extraordinary, Colorful, Fun Designs To Make From Polymer Clay

Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: My friend gave me this book last Xmas (2003) and I love it! It teaches you the basics of making your own jewelry from polymer clay. I would've never thought of making jewelry myself, but with this book it soon became a hobby of mine. They have detailed instructions with gorgeous pictures--perfect for any beginner or expert. Recommend!

Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: Creative Clay Jewelry is one of the many books that attempt to cover polymer clay work from the very basics to quite advanced. While other books are probably more successful at that (Sue Heaser's Polymer Clay Techniques Book, for example), Creative Clay Jewelry has some good projects and solid information, and would be quite useful to the beginning to intermediate clayer.

It's unfortunate that there's no real indication of level of difficulty in the projects; they don't follow any logical progression. Some of the early projects use very basic techniques only - jelly rolls, marbling - which could probably be discussed in the introduction section. However, just a few projects in, there's a geometric pattern that would be quite difficult and frustrating to do as your third or fourth PC project. I'd advise careful consideration when selecting a project from this book.

Dierks does provide a much more detailed ingredient list, including things like findings and clay amounts, which other books tend to skip. She even specifies particular brands and colors, but it isn't necessary to adhere to them.

On a more personal note, I got less use out of this book than most of my PC books, simply because the projects were very bright, busy, and colorful - and that's very far from my style. But for those who love the casual, cheerful look that polymer clay can provide, this book might well be great.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful projects ranging from basic to challenging
Review: Creative Clay Jewelry is one of the many books that attempt to cover polymer clay work from the very basics to quite advanced. While other books are probably more successful at that (Sue Heaser's Polymer Clay Techniques Book, for example), Creative Clay Jewelry has some good projects and solid information, and would be quite useful to the beginning to intermediate clayer.

It's unfortunate that there's no real indication of level of difficulty in the projects; they don't follow any logical progression. Some of the early projects use very basic techniques only - jelly rolls, marbling - which could probably be discussed in the introduction section. However, just a few projects in, there's a geometric pattern that would be quite difficult and frustrating to do as your third or fourth PC project. I'd advise careful consideration when selecting a project from this book.

Dierks does provide a much more detailed ingredient list, including things like findings and clay amounts, which other books tend to skip. She even specifies particular brands and colors, but it isn't necessary to adhere to them.

On a more personal note, I got less use out of this book than most of my PC books, simply because the projects were very bright, busy, and colorful - and that's very far from my style. But for those who love the casual, cheerful look that polymer clay can provide, this book might well be great.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Pictures and Easy-To-Understand Instructions
Review: There are so many examples of beautiful clay jewelry that it makes this book facinating to look at. Anyone can do it, the instructions are very simple with many pictures and diagrams to help you along the way. There are many hints and tips on how to make these beautiful designs with simple household utencils. I would definitly reccomend this book to people who love art and love to work with their hands.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: This book got me into making jewelry. It has everything from the very simple, to complex canework. I've taken many of the examples in this book and made them into my own design. I would definitly recomend this book for anyone, if your just starting out or you already know what your doing.