Home
A Book Drill & An Eyelet Setter
By Lauren Van Hemert

Author's Note: In my polymer clay basic tool kit, I have blades, a craft knife, a Kato Marxit tool, a needle tool, ceramic tile, acrylic roller, and bone folder. I have discovered, however, along the way, a few unconventional tools for clay that I just can’t live without, from Bonnie’s Best Art Tools.
This handy drill makes book-binding a breeze! With just light downward pressure, the shaft spins the drill bit, making beautifully smooth holes in paper and cardstock, leather, mat board, illustration board, book board and clay! This is the genuine Japanese Screw Punch (not the knock-off). The patent number is etched on the brass shaft. The screw punch is a very well-made product, with a maple wood handle and a brass shaft.
Japanese Book Drill
(Japanese Screw Punch)

In this sample book, the front cover is made entirely out of polymer clay. I used one of the inside pages (already punched using a Rubi-Coil Spiral Punch) as a template, positioned it on my baked clay, and punched holes for the spiral binding on the cover using my Japanese Book Drill. Bonnie’s Best Art Tools sells the coils and the Rubi-Coil machine as well, which makes making polymer clay books and journals a dream. Incidentally, Bonnie sells the Japanese Book Drill with all seven hollow point bits.

I also use my Japanese Book Drill to make holes for my eyelets. I never used eyelets until I found the Long-Reach Eyelet Setter (seen below). This is the “quiet eyelet setter”-- no banging or hammering required. In this sample, I punched holes for the eyelets on my baked piece using the Japanese book drill. Then I used the Long-Reach Eyelet Setter to attach the eyelets.


Long Reach Eyelet Setter

In addition to the Japanese Book Drill and the Long Reach Eyelet Setter, Bonnie sells conventional clay tools. She stocks the full line of Kemper Cutters and even carries the EZ Squeeze tool making extruding cords a breeze. In the example below, the “spaghetti beads” are tube beads on which I wrapped extruded cords (made using the EZ Squeeze tool and Kemper Clay Gun). 


You can visit Bonnie in person at conventions around the country, including The Creative Palette Convention (St. Mary’s, Georgia) and Art Continuum in Ohio. You can also order from Bonnie's Best online at Coil Connection  or you may call her toll-free order line at 1-888-397-9669.