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Crafts
made with polymer clay have become very popular. There are
many artisans making a living making beads, for example, with
this easy-to-use clay. Turning kids on to the craft makes a
lot of sense. With the polymer clay medium, kids can truly
express their creativity and produce little permanent
works of art that often serve a purpose. It's a very
tangible and satisfying craft.
The
Incredible Clay Book offers kids both the materials (it
includes 8 ounces of quality polymer clay in a range of
basic colors) and the instructions to create some delightful
crafts. The instructions are clear, and the abundant
examples are inspirational. If children are reluctant at
all, or stumped, this colorful book will fill them with the
motivation and inspiration to get started.
Of
course, children are cautioned that baking the clay is an
adult activity. Parents need to be on hand to bake
children's creations. Readers of the book are told to pay
extra attention to baking "rules", including oven
temperature. Using an oven thermometer is suggested, and if
we had heeded that advice, we wouldn't have
"overdone" our first batch of clay creations. Do
ensure that your oven is neither too hot nor
cool.
Clay
included with the book are white, yellow, red, black, green,
blue, brown, and purple. A color mixing chart is included
for kids who want to blend the clay to make new colors (the
colors mix well). Clay can be shaped into balls, logs, and
flattened with a rolling pin.
Instructions
a huge range of clay creations fill the spiralbound book's
pages. Adorable animals (like a skunk, porcupine, wiener
dog, snake, cat, and so forth), little vehicles (taxi,
little red wagon, etc.), and more objects. Objects can be
flat, such as puzzles or tic-tac-toe boards, or rounded and
shaped, like soccer balls and chubby kittens. There are
finger puppets, gorgeous flowers, barrettes, earrings,
finger hats, jar lids, a tooth fairy tooth holder, miniature
pots and holders, picture frames, and a wide assortment of
beads for jewelry (including some very fancy ones such as
millefiori beads).
The
included clay will keep kids busy with a number of projects.
If they run out, they can order more from the publishers,
but it probably makes more sense to make a trip to virtually
any craft store to purchase more clay (polymer clay).
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