Clay Books

When I read this book I laughed, I cried, and reflected to my own experiences. Clay Aiken has so much wit and is a wonderful story teller.
I would recommend this book for anyone but especially kids that get picked on at school, as Clay was. His childhood was filled with pain but he chose to rise above it all. From his biological father to his step-father,
he had always gotten the short end of the stick and wondered what it would take to be loved. Wonderful, inspirational reading.

I recently finished his book in just a few hours. Excellent! The book reveals his life as a child, facts about his biological dad and his step dad, and his lovely mother. Many chapters actually moved me to tears. This man is humble, extremely talented and gifted.
A definite Must Read! You will enjoy the trip down memory lane with Clay.

Clay Aiken is one of the few celebrities I look up to. He has devoted fans because people see him as a friend or a brother. He is a very kind, humorous, and generous man. I am glad I read this book.

This book is truly a masterpiece! I read this book because I am a Clay Aiken fan, and I thought, 'Hey, a book by Clay Aiken, this should be cool.' I would recommend this book for anyone! Even if you aren't a fan of Clay, this is still an inspiring book. Let's just say: I laughed, I cried, it moved me!" I'm ordering the book and the audio cds. This is one of those books that you read front to back, then open it right back up and read it again!

I don't really like to write reviews, but I couldn't resist this one. Let me just start by saying I wasn't a fan of Clay when he was on Idol. I guess I was a bit young to really appreciate his talent. Well I've rediscovered him and have become a HUGE FAN. I can call myself a claymate.

Anyway, this book is great. I finished it in a day. I couldn't put the book down, not even for a minute. From the very beginning Clay opened himself up and showed that he's vulnerable. He says that he wants people to realize what you see is what you get when it pertains to him. You can't help but cry when things are rough, and smile when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

This may be a spoiler, but one of the many things that really stood out for me was when he was talking about his stepdad. When his stepdad died, you can tell at that time, Clay felt incomplete, not knowing whether he was loved by him or not. Then he remembered a story his mom told him; his mom said, a friend of his dad had visited him and he was talking about his brother Brett and how he knew he would turn out to be a great man. Then his stepdad said, "my other son is going to be a famous singer one day because he has the most beautiful voice."

That part of the book really touched me bc I felt like he got his closure and he knows his stepdad really loved him.

Anyway, I don't mean to go on and on, but this is a great book and is a page turner. You can't help but love Clay more and I'm sure people who read this book can relate to him in so many levels.

Love Living With Limoges complete marks section, complete descriptions and complete price guide. Wonderful photographs of antique pieces of Limoges. Love this book but I prefer Debby DuBay's Antique Limoges at Home - my book of choice.

Living With Limoges is beautiful and I love this book. The pieces are outstanding, the descriptions complete and text is informing and intertaining. Highly recommend Living With Limoges!

I'm very excited about finding DuBay's book through her web site limogesantiques.com - her books are wonderful. I have inhereited many pieces of Limoges and her books helped me identify the factory, the marks, and to date each piece. I highly recommend LIVING WITH LIMOGES it is the best book on the market - except for DuBay's ANTIQUE LIMOGES AT HOME and COllecting Hand Painted Limoges Porcelain Boxes to Vases.

Living With Limoges is just wonderful. Fantastic photos of the most beautiful pieces of antique Limoges I have ever seen. I could not find this book at my local book stores, shopped the net and found www limogesantiques com and www collectinglimoges com and found Debby DuBay's fantastic reference books on Limoges. It had all of the marks and I found the back stamp I was looking for. This book is a must.

I have all of the books on Limoges but I love Living With Limoges! As a college professor I really enjoy the way author Debby DuBay relates to the reader, her enthusiasm, and subject knowledge. HIGHLY RECOMMEND Debby DuBay's trilogy on "collecting Limoges" and a visit to www.limogesantiques.com

This is the book I've always wanted to read! I had just turned 6 when Pearl Harbor was bombed and my uncle and most of the other men in our family and neighborhood disappeared to that thing called "WAR"! I prayed for all of them and wondered, "Where did they go, what happened to them, what was it like?" My uncle was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, spent time in a German prison camp and came home very different - now I know and understand better why! Reading Prof. Harrison's book I finally know what happened to the young men who were suddenly jerked from their families, schools, futures, through no fault or desire of their own, and were trained and sent to see and do things they could not have previously imagined. They were pushed to and beyond limits they did not know they had, degraded, treated like cattle at times by our own army, and thus molded into a great and loyal fighting unit.

How any of our men experienced this and stayed sane, that they were able to return home to slip back into the lives they had expected, is incredible. I have read every book I find on World War II and studied military history in college trying to understand and know what happened, what war is REALLY like for our men. I've always known it wasn't what we saw on the movie screen. Now I know. Thanks to Prof. Harrison's detail and honesty, it is possible to get a sense of what it was like for the draftee. UNSUNG VALOR is very properly named - to go when called, to perform with the best of your abilities, to respond to the unknown and unbelievable with fear and courage, that is valor at its best - and it was unsung.

To survive, to return home, to teach hundreds of teenagers to speak properly in public, to act and produce plays, to put up with all the campus nonsense that young people in their late teens and early twenties produce, and to never lose your cool, never tell them what he saw and experienced at their age - that was also UNSUNG VALOR! A. Cleveland Harrison is an unusual man and has written a book that should be required reading of all Americans!

"Unsung Valor" by A. Cleveland Harrison. Subtitled: "A GI's Story Of World War II". University Press of Mississippi, Jackson. 2000.

This is a very complete and detailed book, tracing the experiences of a skinny Southern boy, (in 1943), drafted into the United States Army, deciding on the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), trained at the University of Mississippi, transferred into a regular Army unit (the 94th Division) and then sent to the European Theater of Operations, ETO, just when things were becoming really hot. General George Marshall had shut down the Army Specialized Training Program so as to supply warm bodies as replacements for all the causalities in the ETO. The author, A. Cleveland Harrison, recounts being wounded (88 artillery fire,) as his Division advanced on the town of Orscholz, his treatment, infection, his stint in hospital and, finally, his recovery. Then, he remained in England until his reassignment, April 1945, to the hostilities in Europe. Happily, the war in Europe ended in May 1945, and the author became a "Clerk-Typist" in Versailles, France and later, a "Mail Clerk-Draftsman" in Frankfurt am Main.

If you have had the opportunity to study the history of World War II, you probably have been exposed to the grand strategies of different battles, the movement of this numbered unit on one side against another number on the other side. You might even have become impatient with the stories of how one American general (or two) could not get along with a certain British field marshal, and begin to wonder how many people were killed by the egoistical personalities of such high ranking individuals. So, this present work, by A. Cleveland Harrison, is a refreshing relief in its detailed examination of the feelings and daily experiences of an ordinary Americana solider in the ETO

I became the fiftieth reviewer of this book because of the correspondence form Dr. Harrison prodding me to add his book to my Amazon Listmania list on the Army Specialized Training Program, ASTP. The first two chapters of Dr. Harrison's book deal extensively with the Army Specialized Training Program. certainly merit a place on any list on the ASTP. Thos chapters speak about an ASTP experience at a Southern university, which, from what I read, quite different than the ASTP experience at Manhattan College, my alma mater. I do not believe that an ASTPer at Manhattan College had to be concerned with how to wear a saber without getting the weapon caught between his legs. On the other hand, the Manhattan College ASTPer had to be concerned with living in an apartment on 7th Avenue.

I am happy to join some 45 other Amazon reviewers in assigning five stars to this book.

Unsung Valor is truly an extraordinary book. I am 44 years old and have studied World War II rather extensively in the past. However, this book has revealed this war (and all wars) to me in a way that is completely surprising and unique. I now have a different frame of reference for studying all wars, especially World War II. For someone like me who has never served in the military, this book provides an invaluable insight to truly understanding the realities of war. The common, mundane, everyday details, which are made so interesting, provide a setting which only heightens the intensity of the actual battle scenes in an unusually enriching and exciting way. This book reads so easily you literally feel as if you are going through the experiences with Dr. Harrison. Unsung Valor brings the reality of war to the reader in a unique way and succeeds where most other narrowly focused books fail. Dr. Harrison should be commended for educating a younger public on the extraordinary sacrifices made by ordinary men who answered when their nation called. It is well worth the read and the time invested.

After posting a message on the 94th Infantry Division's website looking for information on the attack on Orsholz, Germany January 20-21, 1945 I was contacted by Cleveland Harrison. Mr. Harrison put me in contact with other members of the 301st Regiment of the 94th Division who were with a family friend when he was captured outside of Orsholz. Mr. Harrison mentioned his book and suggested it might provide more detail about the battle. After reading his book I was amazed at the clarity and detail of his recollections. I have corresponded several times with Mr. Harrison, and he was gracious enough to sign my copy of his book with a dedication to my friend. His story is wonderfully expressed as the memories and journey of one man in a time of fear and uncertainty. It is written in a way that will touch the average person, and make them understand, if only for a moment, what it was like to see the world through his eyes.
To all the 94th Division veterans, and to you Cleveland, thank you for your service.
Welcome Home.

Upon reading Unsung valor I discovered that Cleveland Harrison and I had been inducted into the army the same day at Little Rock, Arkansas,we went through the same sweltering day of probings,punchings,bendings,spreadings, and at last were sworn into the Army of the United States.our serial numbers were just a few numbers apart,yet I never met Professor Harrison. Upon reading Unsung valor this fall I was immediately taken back in time to 1943, and to the years following throughout WWII of which our president Franklin Roosevelt said" This is the generation which has a rendezvous with destiny"I relived that traumatic,hectic day of gathering together the eighteen year olds of our state predominately ,recent high school graduates ,to perform the miracle of making us into soldiers and sailors to free a world in chains. That group of newly inducted soldiers went to all parts of the globe.Prof. Harrison went as a rifleman;I went into the Army Air Corp as an aerial gunner with the Eighth Air force and was shot down over Germany and spent the last months of the war as a P.O.W..Our generation kept that rendezvous and fully met the responsibility placed upon our young shoulders to the satisfaction of a grateful nation and world. Professor Harrison's book tells about all this through the eyes and heart of a young Arkansas lad who as we said in those day "took up arms as a boy,became a man overnight,and a hero in a twinkling of an eye,some to come home,some to remain. Since reading Unsung Valor I have met Cleveland Harrison via E-mail and have discovered that we have much in common. it took took 63 years and one most touching,moving literary epic to do this.For Professor Harrison's time,effort,and no doubt many shed tears,I am truly thankful to him. Hand Salute <><

excellent reference, lots of ideas. I had checked it out at the library, and it was so good, I purchased it. Ranges from the SHAPES of items to make in clay, to the clay COMPOSITION, like wood grain and malachite patterns. Tons of photos, and basic, but sufficient, instructions.

This book has incredible detail on how to make a lot of different beads and good ideas on bead combinations to make necklaces. My 8 year old boy who is really into making beads and is facinated with all the techiques presented.

This book is remarkably thorough - I would love it if all art resource books out there were structured like this one. There is a comprehensive section on materials and the instructional parts are for specific techniques, not projects that have a narrow focus. There are plenty of project ideas illustrated, but this book really gives you the tools to create a vast number of beads and then use them creatively from there. For those who have never beaded before, there is also a great section on the materials and basic techniques necessary to turn polymer clay beads into wearable jewelry.

This was a wonderful book! The pictures are colorful as well as informative and the instructions are pretty easy to follow. I am looking forward to making a lot of beads with this book!

First off - yes, there are LOTS of books available showing all sorts of different projects using polymer clay and no, you won't become an expert overnight with this one or any other one. HOWEVER, Blackburn has provided a book with updated information and the guidelines to get you on your way to make the beads of your dreams - referring to the first section entitled "Materials and Techniques:" espcially, blending-Skinner Tech., Combing, Caning, Molding, Shapes, Drilling, Polishing (very important), Varnishing, Foils, Extrusions, Textures, Transfers Stamping, Mokume Gane, Mica Shift and more. Just remember, she and others making beautiful polymer products do this all the time and so practice, practice, practice. That being said, I have to say that I truly enjoy this book as so many others have mentioned - that being the focus on bead making. My own efforts over many months of work were so so at best. Once I followed her steps, which are given with photos & written info for each step, I am much more pleased with my own beads.

My main interest in this book has been section two "Faux Techniques" - wood, marble, ivory/bone, leather, amber, coral bronze, abalone, jade, mother-of-pearl (amazing), silver, malachite, turquoise, lapis, onyx, agate. For the most part, I have been extremely pleased at the outcomes of my efforts, but some of Blackburn's representations of imitating certain things could be better. Lapis - get the book "Polymer-The Chameleon Clay" by V. Hughes in order to get a more realistic lapis stone appeal, same as for jade - but this 2nd book is horrible when it comes to Turquoise (also described in Blackburn's book but still not as realistic as I would like...a difficult stone to mimic). So I use the Hughes book for some faux items. Blackburn does have some outstanding examples (IMHO) of Wood (not the ultimate best, but close); Veined Marble - compared to the real thing, I was amazed; Coral bead work was admirable and worth practicing to get it just right; Abalone - love it - very realistic; Jade was comparable to Hughes work; Mother-of-Pearl - truly striking, especially when making the colored pearls; Malachite - close but before YOU make it examine natural malachite in order to develop a more realistic color pattern but still closely following Blackburn in the color production end; Onyx - MY FAVORITE - actually it is more like a natural agate stone as typically when you think of onyx, it is black. Blackburn's Onyx is highly layered using products that I wish I would have thought of...but now I know...in order to get a REALLY natural looking agate stone bead. Blackburn's section on "Agate" in the "Faux Techniques" applies more to a cut stone of agate and she has produced some interesting pendant type pieces. But again, get an Agate book and try to mimic some of the patterns of real agates following Blackburn's technique. You won't be sorry.

Sections to use other books or to keep trying to find better ways to mimic these items are: silver, turquoise, lapis, bronze (this could go either way for some of Blackburn's pieces are admirable - same with her amber pieces), ugh on the leather look, and noooo on the ivory and bone beads. Books with more realistic bone are "The Polymer Clay Techniques Book" by S. Heaser - and pay attention to the antiquing section for bone or "Faux Surfaces in Polymer Clay" by I.S. Dean where the best looking bone look is shown. However, both these books lack the more detailed descriptions and images that Blackburn provides in her book. Yet, Blackburn's work/descriptions are a great way to start from in getting the look you may want using products she recommends.

In the 3rd section of the book called "Bringing It All Together" - she does a great job of pulling the necessary items needed to really make the beads - from various jewelry findings, cording, attaching, designing...thus flowing smoothly into the final section "The Gallery." Many of the great polymer bead artists' work is shown here and definitely grab your attention. Yet this section is small as Blackburn focuses upon the other areas mentioned above and thus earning more stars from me as that is the reason I wanted the book...not for the gallery but for the great guidelines and examples to help ME develop my own pieces.

With all this being said...or rather written...by me, I guess I have to say there is not just one book for all things in polymer clay. However, I feel the layout, descriptions, images and all around clarity by Blackburn makes her book stand out in my library. I am glad to have the NUMEROUS other books, magazines, etc. on polymer clay plus seeing some of the extraordinary work by many artists focused on this medium - all of which increases my drive to improve my own work with polymer clay...and hopefully your own work as well. This medium is amazing and so available - use Blackburn's book as a great stepping stone and you definitely will not be disappointed.

I just received this thin book, and--when I saw that all reviews on Amazon were 5s--I got nervous. In a number of cases, I have been Scrooge and rated a fine work lower than others, even though I thought that it was a good work. However, I read this slim volume in a very specific context. In high school, my home room had about 25 students in it. Two died in Viet Nam; that represents 8% of my home room's roster. When I finally had a chance to visit the Wall in Washington, D. C., I looked for Rodney's and Marty's names. It is hard to describe the impact of seeing their names (and the old baseball field at Northeast Park in Kewanee is named after Marty now). Thus, this work has an impact on me that may make my reaction somewhat different from that of many other readers.

Vietnam was a disaster; in retrospect, one cannot see any major national interest served there. False metaphors (Munich) were invoked. Misunderstanding of the role of China and the Soviet Union came into play. War is too important to be elective; Vietnam was an elective war. American troops fought courageously, but for what? This book starts with the observation that a physician (Grady Harp) sent to Vietnam makes in the Foreword: "What I encountered was the indescribable horror of war, the obliteration of lives, the destruction of landscapes and seascapes, and the madness of an undeclared war in a strange little country." As one response to the terrors of war, Harp "sought refuge in writing poems as a diary." Later, he teamed with an artist to work on pottery speaking to his own poetry and observations and essays. The final result is pretty compelling. In this later effort, Harp speaks plainly: "Addressing and remolding the pain [of Vietnam], this time into clay vessels with Steven [Freedman, the artist], again absorbed my attention to detail."

There are only about twenty entries in this slender volume, but many of these are powerful. The second item speaks of the day when "I [Harp] surprised you at the beer party in Da Nang. . . . [A]nd that night after waving goodbye from the helicopter I sat and chuckled over your jokes while they killed you."

Or # 12. . . .

"What makes you do such things
As keeping an IV running on a dead body all night
So his neighboring wounded buddy
Won't give up until he is MedEvaced. . ."

Having lost Rodney and Marty, these lines have an impact on me that most readers now may not understand. This is a powerful little work, with a union of art and poetry and reflections.

`War makes you do such things/ as keeping an IV running on a dead body all night/ so his neighboring wounded buddy/ won't give up until he can be MedEvaced/ to a field hospital/ the next lonely morning.'-from poem number 12 by Grady Harp

There is no better way to describe Grady Harp's short but powerful poetry collection, enhanced by Stephen Freedman's evocative clay sculptures, than to quote the author himself. He states that `these poems represents one physician's survival kit in Vietnam.'

While death and destruction soared all around him, Dr. Harp, a dedicated healer of men, dealt with the antithesis of his calling with the sort of grieving that demanded from the mourner's heart the profound beauty of poetry to make some sense of it, or if not make sense of it, place the carnage he witnessed as a physician, in some sort of perspective.

Because of my lottery number back in 1969/1970 (352 I believe) I was not called to arms for the Vietnam War, but from then to now I have been touched by its senseless waste of braver men than me.

My often-arrogant attitude when I was young, rebellious, revolutionary, reactionary, and maybe too artsy-fartsy for my own good (not one of these things in and of itself was wrong or ignoble, well maybe the arrogance, which could have been as certifiably screwed up as our then war policy), presented me with an artificial viewpoint of that war.

I experienced the Vietnam War peripherally in real time and later re-imagined through Francis Ford Coppola's grand opera cinematique "Apocalypse Now," Michael Cimino's near cinema-verite "The Deer Hunter," and Oliver Stone's heart-wrenching melodrama "Platoon."

Still, as moving as those experiences were, nothing has quite moved me as much as Grady Harp's up-close-and-personal experience with pain so complex, yet so simple and unadorned and, ultimately, pure.

"War Songs" deserves, no, is obligated to be a perennial. What its poems say about war is as constant in our consciousness as thirteen-year-old Anne Frank's diary entries and Alex Haley's simple examination of his family's roots from African royalty to American slavery.

No, it's not easy to make sense of the evil some visit upon others. But may we ever be reminded. May the poet's voice ring through with simple, anguish-filled, agenda-free observations, so that we may learn from our pasts in an effort to better our future.

Hopefully, Doctor Harp will re-release "War Songs" so that we may all have a copy in our library for the ever-resonant poetry, and for the constant reminder that we are human beings.
Looker: A Novel

I' ve heard about WAR SONGS and read so many of the reviews.
I felt in my heart I had to read the Poems for myself. It's so
touching just writing about it makes me sad. I was a teenager,
but I do remember hearing the news and the reporting about
Vietnam so many young American men were being killed. When
Mr. Harp brought his Poems, to Stephen Freedman to read,
he cried that's exactly what I did when I read them. You can't
help but feel the pain, he has written in the Poems. 2,4,5,11,
the Poems are very painful for me to read. Grady Harp and
Stephen Freeman did a superb job in the composition of the book.

I ordered two WAR SONGS one for me and one for a friend. I've
known over the years who lost her husband in Vietnam MIA,
all these years, she hasn't reach the point of closure. Her
husband never came home to have a proper burial.

I highly recommend WAR SONGS!

War Songs is as many have noted here, one of the thinnest book I have ever held in my hands, and like them, I have to agree it is also arguably one of the most important books to be written in recent memory. Being a veteran I personally think it should be required reading for any one who is in the military. I also think it should be required reading for any one that aspires to any leadership positions in public office and yes, by the POTUS themselves.

They certainly couldn't use the excuse they don't have time.

I also think every able body should be required to serve in the military for a determined period of time in order to be a fully accepted member of this society. If that were to take place and regardless of one's financial situation they "KNEW" that if the balloon went up during that time in, or the time that their children or loved one's were serving, and more importantly, they too had read War Songs, I think that and that alone would put so much pressure on those who make the decisions to go to war, come under such intense scrutiny that it would have to be truly justified before this country ever participated in one again.


The emotional costs and scars from wars and those who have survived them, will never be able to be accurately accessed. Nor will the emotional cost of those who have lost loved ones to this most heinous of things ever be able to be quantified. Do wars have to be fought? Certainly on some occasions. Sadly though, I believe quite frankly that we have been to far more wars than were really necessary. For those that read, the release of previously sealed documents accurately supports that statement.

I also believe that they (Wars) have to be felt by all of those in our society and not just the disadvantaged poor, who often join the military with the thought of higher education as well in mind and climbing the social ladder of life. Grady was plucked out of a life of normalcy as a young man and dropped into Hell on earth without any military training.

After being drafted, to survive this nightmare and keep some sense of semblance that his sanity remained in tact, he wrote poetry. Poetry that captures a birds eye view of the rawness and insanity better known to the uninitiated as war. Any one who loves any one wouldn't ever want that person to have to endure what war is about unless it was absolutely necessary and there truly was no other recourse. Though thin, this book along with the beautiful pottery that so fittingly gives the horror your reading an offset to not be totally shocked, is a both healing and absolutely human picture of really revealing the nightmare of Vietnam, and subsequently, a snap shot of all wars.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly and on a side note, a friend of mine met a girl on the net, he's single so no harm in that. She wanted to meet but he told her he couldn't because he had to redeploy. When he told me about it later he said her response was, to the war? That' is such OLD NEWS! After that he was shot in the face by a Sniper and survived. Perhaps the one thing that is different about what is taking place now is the public is indeed removed from it, to such an extent, that their lives are not affected. And the military members and their loved ones are the only ones that are enduring by and large the true cost of these engagements.

Which is another reason, everyone that calls themselves an American should ready this book. And yes, if not require all able bodies to serve for a period, then to bring back the draft.



Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

Forget the naysayers! Harp is fantastic. This poor man is under constant attack. There are many people who are envious of his standing. Don't fall prey to their comments. He is a genius and should be honored as one!

This book goes very in-depth with the anatomy of massage. I'd hoped it had more basic techniques, but other than that, this book is wonderful.

I ordered two weeks before classes started and I received my book the following week! This book is great, the graphics are more than helpful... they are insightful! Recommend highly!
Thank you for your prompt delivery and great quality!

I purchased this book when I was half way through massage therapy school. I wish I would have had it right from the start! It is a great book with amazing real pictures of muscles. I brought this book to class and about 1/2 the class wanted to order it! The instructor saw it and was going to look into getting it for future classes. Just get it; you won't be sorry you did. Money well spent!

This book is fantastic for all the reasons the other reviewers gave, but oh that's not all...the CD-ROM is fantastic really amazing. It's a great way to see the muscles again in another view. The images are of computer generated models to show the attachments and then there is a video of a therapist massaging the muscle. It took me months to watch this CD-ROM because I had no idea it was going to be this great. Buy this book it's well worth the money. Plus, it's a business expense!

This book is so beneficial as reference material. The images are unreal and so specific. At least four therapists I know have bought the book since flicking through my copy.

I have a few books on polymer clay but this book teaches everything from simple beads to how to make figures. I wish this was the first book I bought . Very inspiring

This book is an excellent reference for the beginner in polymer modeling. Just keep it at hand, you'll find in it all the help you'll need!

highly recommended. For every beginner this is a very good choice, it covers ALL of the basics.

The book is wonderful for a beginner. It tells you the tools you need, talks about how to make beads, miniture furniture and many other projects. It is a very basic book that hits on pretty much everything to help you make beads.

This book has more information in it than any book I've found so far on Polymer Clay.

There is enough information on the basics to get a beginner started. How to handle clay, storage, baking, and differences in products.

There is such a variety of techniques and projects that you're sure to find some you're not interested in as well as a LOT that you love.

Most of the other books I've found on Polymer clay specialize on specific uses. This one shows the range of things that are possible, and how to do them.

This will get a beginner started and give you ideas to get started in your own direction.

Christie Freisen/s claying books are entertaining, informative but above all, she encourages you to explore your own creativity and it works. I love all of her books. They are an entertaining read and a great how to books, full of humor and other good stuffs. Keep up the good works Christie....... We clayers here in St Louis, MO love you.

Such a fun book! Christi is highly entertaining. Her lovely personality comes shining through Loud and Clear!!! I have a great time pulling out these books and following along with her step by step. I am always very satisfied with the results. And usually I am not a step by step kinda person. I am more of the no rules/color outside of the lines kinda gal but, Christi makes it fun to follow along! I can't wait for the rest of the series. So far I've made a few frogs, a dragon, a sea-horse, and some flowers, vines and foliage.

I recommend the entire series. Even my young nieces and my mother-in-law creating projects from these books!

Wow, this book is fun from front to back. I have it on my work table open to a favorite page even if I am not working on "whimsical, small creatures of polymer clay" at the time. It has very good directions and clear colorful pictures. It is "user friendly" and I hope there will be more like it. I would like to have a collection of her books. KF

This is the 3rd book I bought of this artist and it was just as much of a joy to read and study as the other 2. Her writing and her instructions make it a real joy to read and study. She really makes learning fun. Isn't that what we would like everything to be?! Fun?
I wasn't a big fan of dragons until I bought this book. It just might change your mind too!

I just recently decided to dabble in polymer clay. I bought a previous book on "how to" and techniques. Then I bought this book. This is not a book for someone who has never dealt with polymer clay. She gives ideas on how to make dragons. As for things on mixing clays, tools, etc you will need to find in another book. After I read the first book I bought, I then read this one. I started and finished my first dragon last night. I used Christi's directions from beginning to end and was extremely pleased on how my dragon turned out. I couldn't believe that I made it myself. Christi's book is very detailed and explains what you need to do step by step. She also adds some humor to it which makes it a lot of fun to read. I highly recommend this book.

I really liked the book. Great ideas. It was really specific, and I learned some new techniques to use with stuff that I already make. Great purchase for me.

I am not a mosaics type of person but I actually wanted this after I saw my mom's copy that she brought on her visit....I do recommend it!

I absolutely love this artist and her book - the photos and instructions are beautiful and clearly detailed - I am embarking on a new journey into the art of making clay tile and assemblages, and the ideas presented in this book have been fantastic - I have already started ordering supplies from the recommended vendors and am so excited about incorporating these ideas and techniques into my own creations!

This is one of the few inspiring and how-to books I've come across in a while. Many have claims and teasers on the outside but this one actually gives the reader the complete background and foundation with which to springboard the techniques for use in the artist's work. Highly recommended!

I was very pleased with this book and so was my husband. Very interesting to read, lots of helpful information, and not cutesy girly stuff either. My husband took up mosaics and was really disgusted with the painfully cheap designs and projects in most of the mosaic books, much less the obscure directions. You could put this book in the category of home remodeling or fine arts, and it would stand well - the technical information was that good. We both really appreciated the format and the quality. Great pictures, too.

This book has so many ideas and projects that if I never purchased another book, I would be busy the rest of my life! It is good for every level. it has good basic instructions as well as inspiring pictures.I love it!

This book is absolutely fabulous! It describes a lot of stunning techniques and provides many high-quality photos in the Gallery section which you would never see otherwise. The book has a charming language and will definitely push your inspiration further.
Whatever books may you have on polymer cay, this one is a must-have and a great value for money!

She knows all the ins and outs of using polymer clay. She can make it gorgeous and, with easy directions, she can show you how to as well. I have followed the signs and, in the end, unlike many others, my pieces look just as good as hers!! Miracle!

At first I was not interested in "creative traditions". After a friend showed me a copy I decided this was a must have. The photography is excellent and step-by-step instructions are clear. I was surprised and pleased by how Judy Belcher's techniques could enhance my most contemporary work and with the wide variety of "traditions" she presents.

Very Helpful Book about making Pretty Polymer Clay Stuff! I really like this book alot. :0)