No doubt, if you have watched shows on television networks like HGTV for even a few hours you are familiar with ground-breaking craft shows like the Carol Duvall Show, and who better to write the the forward for Donna Kato's book The Art of Polymer Clay: Creative Surface Effects ($19.95; Watson-Guptill Publicaitons)? Right after picking this book up, I could tell there must be some hefty information inside.


It's 176 pages, large by most craft book standards, and a quick flip through showed lots of color photographs of both finished pieces as well as how-to photographs.

Kato first covers the tools and the clay required, and I was impressed to read that she actually has a polymer clay named after her, Kato, which she helped to develop. After this section, she covers a lot important techniques such as using a pasta machine, which she pretty much says is a must have.

Next it's onto bead making (yeah), cabochons, and finishing techniques. I was glad to see this last section (4 pages long) because finishing is so important in order to make polymer clay jewelry and other items which last. Some instructions I've seen sort of gloss over this (no pun intended) rather than provide good nuts and bolts information.

The rest of the text goes on with many more techniques, but then after one technique is show, a project or two is includes to illustrate how to use the technique. Most of these are jewelry projects, of course, such as the very cool "Inkjet Transfer Wave Pin," but for the crafter who likes to make all sort of objects, other inspirational ideas are provided such as decorating purses as well as a detailed how-to section on mold making and sculpture.

So, yes, this is a very comprehensive book. For the beginner, it might be a little daunting, but if you are serious about learn how to work with polymer clay, especially technique used to make jewelry, The Art of Polymer Clay seems to cover everything you need to know.