With polymer clay and imagination, Maureen Carlson has brought a whole world of cheery little characters to life. You can do it, too! This book makes it fun and easy - no sculpting experience or fancy equipment required!You'll find lots of full-color pictures and detailed, step-by-step projects to lead you all the way - starting with simple, neighborhood kids, and progressing to more complex characters like Grandma and Saint Nick. You'll learn how to make every detail just right, from hair to facial expressions to feet. When you get the hang of it, you can create lively little folks of your own imaginings?even personalize our clay characters for extra-special gifts.No two will ever be exactly alike, but each one is guaranteed to make you smile!

Polymer clay has grown and grown and grown in popularity since the publication of Donna Kato's best-selling The Art of Polymer Clay in 1997. And there have been so many technical advances, too. Now poly-diva Donna Kato presents an all-new look at one of crafters' all-time favorite mediums. The Art Of Polymer Clay Surface Effects begins with the essentials of polymer clay, including its working properties, plus tools, curing, safety recommendations, and color blending (with full information on the now-indispensable Skinner Blend). Photo-packed chapters focus on exciting projects—beads, bracelets, pins, pendants, and boxes–and showcase new techniques, including image transfers, surface treatments such as stencils, stamps, paints, and inks, sculpting, inclusions, special effects, and finishing. Finished pieces by some of the biggest names in polymer clay, including Kathleen Dustin, Pier Voulkos, and Nan Roche, plus Donna Kato herself, offer ideas and inspiration.

Simulating a workshop studio course, this book provides action-photography sequences that enable readers to observe every step a master sculptor takes in building a portrait in clay.

If you've always wanted to create life-like animal sculptures, but you think it's "too hard" or "too expensive," you're in for a very pleasant surprise. This book contains step-by-step instructions and over 250 photos to guide you through the enjoyable process of making your first animal sculptures with the all-new paper mache clay recipe. Make your clay in just 5 minutes, using inexpensive ingredients. There's no tedious layers of torn paper and paste, and no mess. Plus, the patterns included in each chapter help make your sculptures perfectly proportioned from the very start. Creating life-like animal sculptures has never been so easy, or so much fun!

"The New Pottery Book" is a completely new and revised edition of the "Complete Potters Companion". Pottery is a dynamic art form, constantly evolving as it responds to newly developed techniques and the changing aspirations of potters and students. The title, as before, has been designed to help beginners and serious students alike. It guides the reader through the latest hand building and glazing techniques; new tested glaze recipes; kiln designs and firing programmes; as well as describing the traditional methods of working with clay. Each technique is supported by detailed instructions and specially taken step-by-step photographs. Galleries of work by respected artists from around the world form an inspirational feature of this volume. Pots by Paul Soldner, Claudi Casanovas, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Claude Casanovas, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Claude Champy, Shoji Hamada and Takeshi Yasuda, to name but a few, are included and show the reader the spectacular results that can be achieved with clay.

Certain symbols abound in modern Western culture that are instantly recognizable: the cross signifies Christianity, the six-pointed Star of David is revered by Jews, the golden arches frequently means it's time for lunch. Other symbols, however, require a bit of decoding-particularly those found in cemeteries. Cemeteries are virtual encyclopedias of symbolism. Engravings on tombstones, mausoleums and memorials tell us just about everything there is to know about a person- date of birth and death as well as religion, ethnicity, occupation, community interests, and much more. In the fascinating new book Stories in Stone: The Complete Guide to Cemetery Symbolism by noted author Douglas Keister, the secrets of cemetery symbolism are finally revealed. For instance, did you know that it is quite rare to see a sunflower on a tombstone? Did you know that the human foot symbolizes humility and service since it consistently touches the earth? Or the humble sheaf of wheat-while it is often used to denote someone who has lived a long and fruitful life, do you know other meanings it might carry? Stories in Stone provides history along with images of a wide variety of common and not-so-common cemetery symbols, and offers an in-depth examination of stone relics and the personal and intimate details they display-flora and fauna, religious icons, society symbols, and final impressions of how the deceased wished to be remembered. Douglas Keister has created a practical field guide that is compact and portable, perfect for those interested in family histories and genealogical research, and is the only book of its kind that unlocks the language of symbols in a comprehensive and easy-to-understand manner. Douglas Keister has photographed fourteen award-winning, critically acclaimed books (including Red Tile Style: America's Spanish Revival Architecture, The Bungalow: America's Arts&Crafts Home, and Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the Twenties) earning him the title "America's most noted photographer of historic architecture." He also writes and illustrates magazine articles and contributes photographs and essays to other books, calendars, posters, and greeting cards. Doug lives in Chico, California, and travels frequently to photograph and lecture on historic architecture and photography.

"They're Not Pets, Susan," says a stern father who has just shot a bumblebee, its wings sparkling in the evening sunlight. A lone office worker, less than an inch high, looks out over the river in his lunch break, "Dreaming of Packing it All In." A tiny man makes his way back to a tiny car, with a tiny shopping bag: "Shopping for one again." Another office worker sits atop a gigantic engagement ring and gazes into the distance; the caption reads, simply: "No." These are the collected photographs of Slinkachu, a London-based artist who for several years has been placing tiny hand painted people on street corners, park benches, and the Underground, and leaving them to fend for themselves. Much like Banksy's early graffiti work, Slinkachu's creations mix the bustle, humor, and melancholy of city life, and lie quietly in the darker corners of London's streets, waiting to be discovered. And if you’re lucky enough to find one, to quote The Times: "Oddly enough, even when you know they are just hand-painted figurines, you can't help but feel that their plights convey something of our own fears about being lost and vulnerable in a big, bad city." This volume also includes a forward from acclaimed novelist Will Self.

The greatest living artist in the medium of glass, Dale Chihuly has long been fascinated by the colors and forms of nature. Over the years, his work has become increasingly open, using forms that show a strong relationship to the architecture of natural shapes. Here, lush illustrations showcase Chihuly’s unique glass sculptures positioned among the plants, flowers, and landscapes of some of the world’s finest gardens and conservatories, from St. Louis to Phoenix to Kew. Tracing the connection between Chihuly’s art and botanical life, Chihuly Garden Installations shows how the exchange between art and nature can shift from the harmonious and tranquil to stunning juxtapositions of scale and color. Praise for CHIHULY GARDEN INSTALLATIONS: "The glass artist Dale Chihuly is always good for a change of a scene. . . . Chihuly Garden Installations is a weighty compendium of crowd-pleasing work. Bright pink chunks of glass sparkle over lily pads in the Fair­child Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Fla., while leopard-spotted bronze trumpets rise up through the foliage at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis—as close as man will ever get to making flowers."  Dominique Browning, New York Times Book Review

In this volume, Maggy Howarth shares her practical experience, artistic enthusiasm and the fruits of her travels and research, which have uncovered much new information on this little-known art. Both beautiful and durable, pebble mosaics are a wonderful addition to gardens, patios and public spaces. This is a complete sourcebook for enthusiasts and landscape designers - an accessible and illustrated guide for creating basic to advanced projects from start to finish. This handbook features: materials, tools and techniques, both traditional and modern; how to choose pebbles and stones for shape and strength; step-by-step instructions for making mosaics; advice on designing successful mosaics from simple sketches to scaling up and a survey of traditional styles throughout the world and a gallery of work by contemporary pebble mosaic artists.

Out of the fantasies that enriched an often reclusive life, the enigmatic American artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) created a world of enchantment with his famed shadow boxes and collages. Using common objects like glasses, marbles, and mirrors, Cornell's work evokes the strangeness of the familiar and the odd familiarity of the strange. Respected art historian and friend of the artist Diane Waldman probes the elusive imagery that marks Cornell's work. Interviews with Cornell and his family and access to the artist's papers inform her text. This richly illustrated book, now available in paperback, is one of the few to cover his entire career.