[.ca] Art of Polymer Clay: Designs and Techniques for Making ... (ISBN 0823002780)

From Amazon.com:
Available in a tremendous array of colors and easily cured by baking in a home oven, polymer clay is a unique medium for creating a variety of beautiful items. In The Art of Polymer Clay, noted artist Donna Kato explains the basics as well as many unusual techniques, including imitative methods that can be used to create the look of semi-precious stones, woven fabric, carved wood, metal, and realistic flowers. Kato's sense of style and color is superb, and her directions are clear and concise.

Same Stuff:
There are some pretty pieces Donna has included in this book if you are looking for a few to "copy", but there are other beginner books out there that are much more comprehensive and clear.

If You Like Polymer Clay, Get This Book:
I have several polymer clay books, and up until I read this book, I was wondering what all the hoopla was about. After all, isn't polymer clay just modeling clay? No! Polymer clay is art! Donna's book explains the basics better than any other book I have read, and also goes beyond the standard napkin ring and bead projects. The sample photos included in the book are lovely, and it's almost hard to believe some of the examples are made of polymer clay. I had never really appreciated polymer clay as art until I got this book. Time to get out my clays again and play, this time with direction.

Essential addition to PC reference library:
Excellent photographs with some of the best "noncrafty" projects I've seen. Wide range of information. Only improvement I can suggest would be more specific instructions. Personally, I was looking for a lapis imatative technique, but was not among those covered. But with these minor shortcomings I still would definitely want this book in my library.

Disappointing.:
Kato's artwork is great, but I didn't learn anything new from this book, and I read it as a beginner. Nearly all of the techniques were things I'd either figured out on my own, or read on the Internet or in the 1 other polymer clay book for beginners that I'd picked up (which honestly wasn't even very good!). Skip this one. There are much better books out there, with many more techniques to learn and enjoy.

DATED, PUBLICATION DATE IS WRONG:
Donna Kato is one of the greats in the PC world. On the Carol Duvall show you can see her and others from her company teaching all sorts of interesting techniques (in fact, this is what made me return to the world of polymer clay which I left some time ago when I started silversmithing and glassblowing). And, her development of a new improved brand of polymer clay is just as important as her teaching. You know the phrase "standing on the shoulders of giants"? Donna Kato's work and book have made significant advances in the field, so now there is a new crop of more recent books that have even more. This book is now dated. It was published in 1997. The information in it is still good, but there are newer techniques not included in the book. There are lots of great recent books out which teach polymer techniques. Also I agree with the reviewer who said it was "not very instructive". There are not step by step photos and "recipes". I was eager to see this book when I heard it so highly recommended, and was disappointed with it when I finally saw it. Again, there are better ones for this, such as Heaser's The Polymer Clay Design Book. This book was worth 5 stars when it came out, but now it is worth less because of newer competition. It is still a good book, but consider some of the recent ones as well. It would be really cool if Donna Kato were to write a new book incorporating all the new stuff that is out there.