Make Cute Stuff with Polymer Clay

I have a lot of polymer clay and with my daughter visiting this Christmas, I believe we’ll be making some of these fun little critters and designs. The instructions cover the basics of polymer clay and the tools used and then provides step by step instructions with pictures to make some cute critters, containers and other things. Easy, peasy when someone shows you the way.

A great instructional craft book for creating adorable polymer clay characters/objects! This book gives a straightforward, but detailed overview from needed materials, methods, and a variety of vibrant adorable projects from simple to ornate. Instructions are especially clear as step-by-step color photographs are included for each project. A perfect guide for young artists new to this craft!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

I'm always on the lookout for craft books for myself and my children. And though I love crafting, I'm not particularly an expert in many techniques. And as my children are young, they look to me for assistance and direction. So I appreciate clear instructions and books that have good, guiding pictures.

Shelley Kommers's Make Cute Stuff with Polymer Clay is one of these books. It's got several cute projects that come with easy to follow step by step pictures that I can see us easily doing. I'm looking forward to making all of these--the real test, I suppose. I also like that she includes a variety of projects. It's not just clay knick-knacks, but the book includes pencil toppers, succulent planters, and finger puppets, among others.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book for the purposes of a review. I see this book being a lot of fun and well-used.

This is a very useful book for beginners and experienced crafters alike. Though I have some experience with using polymer clay with my mother-in-law who creates polymer clay creations for fairs, this book has an additional wealth of information and tips that are very resourceful. I like the helpful tips on repairs and mixing colors as well as the step-by-step instructions on additional designs. I look forward to setting up copy paper, tools I have around the house, and my clay to start my next creation.

Thank you to Shelley Kommers, the publisher, and NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a lovely book, illustrated beautifully, with inspiring ideas and step by step guide to replicate the magic at home! I particularly love the unicorn! This is. book that will appeal to parents of young children and perhaps upper primary aged crafty little people?!

I would definitely recommend this book to any would be clay crafters!

My thanks to Netgalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great book for ideas. If you enjoy making things with polymer clay this gives some great ideas. The projects are easy to do and the book has great pictures to show the stages that you need. I loved the idea for a fairy toadstool and the picnic basket. This book is ideal for children who want to have a go at modelling with polymer clay.

I loved playing with modelling clay as a child, so the growing popularity of polymer clay has attracted my attention for a while.

This book has some cute designs and a lot of information about working with this medium. The author says in her introduction that she's worked with the clay for less than five years, so it's not something that takes years and years to develop a skill!

Like many craft books, it starts out saying what tools and materials are recommended and also explains what polymer clay is. It talks about different colours, including metallics, and what it's like to work with them, which ones tend to stay on your hands (gloves are recommended for these), and mixing colours. Which ones will lose their sparkle if mixed is definitely something worth knowing.

Portions, shapes, work surfaces are all covered as well as how to attach pieces so they'll stay on during baking. The ins and outs of baking the clay to make it hard and how to best store it are also explained.

Trouble shooting things like cracks, crumbly projects and such are included and the you get to the sample projects, most of which are animal shapes, which is one of the things that attracted me to the book. There's even a sloth!

The instructions are clear and easy to follow, plus there are colour pictures for every stage. Overall I think it's an excellent book for the beginning polymer clay worker and would be easy enough for older children to follow.

Many cute little projects with step by step pictorial instructions on how to achieve them. They do not look too difficult and so is perfect for the beginner or just anybody wanting to make some whimsical things with polymer clay.

Looking through the book, I got an inspiration on how to dress up some small mason jars. Looking forward to starting the project with the know-how from this book!

This book is a mine of information about using polymer clay - from how to begin, car taken and lots of projects that start off with very easy items to make and slowly expands the skill level with bigger and more complicated projects. Great for kids and adults alike - what great fun to play with clay.
There are some lovely plaques, hangings, animals, robots and much, much more - it really is a great book.

The book includes twelve projects for you to get stuck into with polymer clay.

The book explains what polymer clay is (moldable soft material until baked), what tools you require, additional materials, basic shapes, mixing colours, and baking.

The twelve projects are most suited for 8-12-year-olds, with projects such as kooky aliens, pencil tops, and a rainbow mobile. Each one has easy-to-follow pictures and written instructions.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Adorable and helpful book about modelling with polymer clay. You could apply these sculpting techniques and shapes to other clays like air dry clay or DAS too, but it also gives you ideas for finishing and what to do with your creations, like making jewellery charms, ornaments, holiday decorations and more.
This book is definitely aimed at the younger reader, perhaps 7-14 but younger children could enjoy these activities with an older sibling or adult, and teens might also like to start out with polymer crafting and would find this book very useful.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Make Cute Stuff with Polymer Clay is a tutorial guide to working with polymer clay by artist/sculptor Shelley Kommers. Released 7 Dec 2021 by Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 128 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

Virtually everyone has used polymer clay at some point. It's available at crafts and big-box retailers, by mail order, and I've even seen it at some larger grocery stores. The disconnect comes when you get your little packages of plastic home and try to make something. Even with the best intentions, none of my creations bore the slightest resemblance to the pictures I had up in my head. I needed a step-by-step tutorial, and this is a good one. The book is full of cute exuberant and colorful projects and well written tutorials to guide readers through projects to finished items (which actually look like the things they're meant to be).

I'm definitely a process based learner, so this book was perfect for me. The photographs are crisp and clear, the steps are very well delineated, and the projects are super cute and appealing (see cover). There are a wide variety of subject tutorials; florals, fantasy animals, food, pets, etc. The projects are mostly whimsical and have a younger/kid-age feel in my opinion; but could easily be adapted for more grownup projects.

This would make an amazing activity guide for scouts, church or library kid groups, or classroom art instruction. I'm a middle aged adult and I am absolutely going to use the tutorials here to make myself some charms for my embroidery scissors and needle minders. This is a wonderfully inspiring book which had my fingers itching to get started!

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes