I have a large collection of polymer clay books but this book, which was one of my first polymer clay books, is still one of my favourites. It’s the book that comes off my book shelf most often. It’s crammed full of inspiration for people interested in making canes. It’s not just Donna’s beautiful work, there are photos of other artists work for inspiration.

 

It starts like most polymer clay books with a general introduction to polymer clay, how to work with it, store it, cure it and useful tools. There are lots of great little tips in this section and it’s well worth a read even to people who have some experience with polymer clay already.

 

There is a useful section on colour which has some information about mixing colours including how to make a muted palette and some advice about how to find a perfect colour match. There is some information and examples of different types of colour palettes and a page about contrast which has some great visual examples of how you can use contrast to enhance your canes.

 

The bulk of the book is instructions to make a wide range of different canes and how to work with them. Starting with simple striped canes as well as more complex canes like butterflies, flowers and face canes. For many canes there is a corresponding project to make something using the cane including brooches, pendants, beads and rings. These projects use the canes in different ways allowing you to gain many different skills.

 

The bit of the book that I have found most useful is the parts about Skinner blends. Donna has instructions for making the blends but also reshaping them and using them in different ways. I love how she uses Skinner blend plugs to be an efficient way to recycle partly used Skinner blends, change their width and store them.

 

It’s 10 years old this year but doesn’t feel dated and I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in working with polymer clay.

Reviewed by Cara Jane Hayman - this book was also reviewed by Phillipa Todd if you scroll back through the pages .