[.ca] Working With Precious Metal Clay (ISBN 1929565003)

Precious Metal Clay by Tim McCreight:
I was so disappointed. Most of Tim McCreight's books are terrific and packed full of helpful tips and cost saving ideas. This book was written for the novice who has no jewelry experience. I thought it would be much more advanced. The back information was helpful, but it seems like Tim may have "rushed" to get this book in print and left out so many other PMC possibilities.. ones that I was so anxious to know about.

Better Than Nothing...:
This book has some very good techical info, including how to make rings that actually fit, but it also some major drawbacks: 1) The directions on some projects have omitted steps and steps out of order, making it difficult for beginners to follow. 2) The projects are not artistic, even downright amateurish, so you won't find new creative ideas here. 3) There is a tendancy toward reliance on metalsmithing skills to correct problems that could have (should have!) been resolved in the clay stage before firing. This is understandable, since the author is a skilled metalsmith, but it isn't practical for many newcomers to PMC. And it isn't necessary, since most problems can easily be corrected at either the wet clay stage, or the leather-hard stage. Even with all its faults, it's still the best book out there on PMC at this time.

Working with PMC:
The projects were not my style. I enjoyed the back half of the book the most. The book is well written. Nice illustrations. The author is very knowledgable on the subject. He is, afterall, the PMC Guru.

Good but...:
There are a lot ideas on how to use PMC in this book. Some innovative some down right goofy (tea strainer). I took a PMC class and bought this book to get more ideas. It is better than the other PMC book for beginners. The pages devoted to making rings are excellent. (My instructor did not want to touch on that subject in my class) I think the best part of this book is Part Two "Technical Tips." There are pages devoted to work surfaces, rehydration, using slip, extruding, carving, making holes, smoothing edges, ring sizing, mold making, shrinkage, gem setting, firing, filing and sanding, blackening the silver, and polishing. Part Three on "Tools You Can Make" is also helpful but basic. It's great that this book is spiral bound. However, the biggest disappointment in this book is the font size. It is annoyingly small. I would venture to say it is a size 8 or 9 at best. Why make the font so small? Surely for the price of this book the publisher could have went a little larger on the font. For that reason I give this book 3 stars.

Everything-you-need--to-know-about-PMC-Book:
This book has wonderful projects to make from beginner to expert. The Technical Tips are written in a way that is easily understood and can be applied to your own creations. There are rulers that can be used to work with PMC, PMC+, and PMC3 for shrinkage. If your ready to buy a kiln, this is the book you must have.