October 2001
Volume 2, Issue 10 		National Polymer Clay Guild Publications:
A Decade of Details and Polymer Clay Tips and Techniques
print version
Editor's Letter | Letters to the Editor | Beginners' Corner | Clayamies | National Polymer Clay Guild Publications | Cane Theory | Using Silk Lazertran | American Flag Pin | Patriotic TLS | American Flag Cane | Halloween Picture Frame | Issues in the Crafting World | Link of the Month | Email Us! | Home The National Polymer Clay Guild (NPCG) has issued several publications recently, including A Decade of Details, and Polymer Clay Tips and Techniques From Around the World.

The two publications, one a CD-ROM and the other a booklet, are valuable resources for anyone interested in polymer clay.

A Decade of Details, compiled and edited by Lee A. Radtke, features tips, techniques, how-to articles, and opinion pieces from the NPCG newsletter, POLYinforMER 1991 - 2000. It comes in CD-ROM format and has 28 different categories of information.

There is a lot of excellent information to be found here for people of all skill levels. Categories include armatures, baking, caning, copyrighting, embellishing, findings, glues, Liquid Sculpey, photographing your work, sculpting, storing your clay, techniques, tools, and volunteering, to name a few.

For people always on the lookout for new projects, there are at least three categories chock full of projects: how-to articles, projects, and techniques.

Everything is in Adobe format, and the Adobe Reader comes bundled with the CD-ROM. There are instructions for people who've never used an Adobe Reader.

My only complaints: I wish that the table of contents had links to the articles, and I wish that the articles had a link back to the table of contents. Instead, I had to find the article I wanted in the table of contents, then find it in the bookmark area to the right of the table of contents in order to open it. Then, when I was finished reading the article, I had to go to FILE and reopen the table of contents. All of this took a matter of seconds, but for seamless use, direct links would be better.

Also, for those of you who are Adobe savvy and don't pause to read the directions -- do be sure to open the whole document through the table of contents, not through the individual folders, like I did! I spent some time combing through separate folders, wishing the whole thing was compiled, before I realized there was indeed a table of contents!

Cost: $10/members or $12/nonmembers plus $1.00 s&h.

Order at National Polymer Clay Guild Gift Shop.
Polymer Clay Tips and Techniques from Around the World, compiled and edited by Valerie Kanter and Lee Radtke, is another very useful publication from NPCG.

This 88-page black and white booklet features never-before-published tips and techniques for polymer clay artists, as well as tips and techniques gathered from the NPCG POLYinforMER.

There are 24 sections in the booklet, ranging from baking and clean-up to teachers' travel tips and work surfaces. The tips and techniques in each section were gathered from polymer clay artists from all over the world and display an impressive amount of information about the use of polymer clay.

Each section, when appropriate, is also followed by a section of tips and techniques from the POLYinforMER.

The booklet features photographs of polymer clay art, and has an index to the artists, the contributors, and the various tips.

All in all, this is a very comprehensive booklet, and I hope the NPCG will offer updates in the future!

Cost: $10/members or $12/nonmembers plus $1.00 s&h.

Order at National Polymer Clay Guild Gift Shop.