#443 in Children books
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Reddit mentions of The Incredible Clay Book. Klutz Press
Sentiment score: 3
Reddit mentions: 4
We found 4 Reddit mentions of The Incredible Clay Book. Klutz Press. Here are the top ones.
or
- Spiral-bound
- 82 Pages
- By Sherri Haab, Laura Torres
- Published by Klutz - June 1994
- For Ages 9-12
Features:
Specs:
| Height | 9.5 Inches |
| Length | 9.75 Inches |
| Weight | 1.575 Pounds |
| Width | 0.75 Inches |
OK. Made a pear-shaped body. Then made cones for arms and ears -- the ears started with black for about 3 rounds and then switched to yellow. All of these pieces got very tightly stuffed with polyester fiberfill.
For the tail, I started with brown slipstitched vertically for about 4 stitches... about 3-4 rows. Then switched to yellow doing a chevron pattern that increased from slip stitches to single crochets to half doubles at the end of the tail. The feet are slip stitched, then single crocheted, then slipstitched back again. Eyes and ears are embroidery thread crocheted in a little circle with slip stitches to finish the edge. Face is embroidered with thread straight onto the body. Stripes on the back were single & hdc to create an arc, with slip stitches around the border. All the individual pieces are sewn on with a yarn needle to create smooth, secure seams.
My best suggestion for learning how to do something like this without a pattern is actually this book. It helped me learn to look at any figure and break it down into its basic shapes, which I can then assemble into my end product.
As for the use of different stitches, as long as you know the basics (chain, slip stitch, single, half double, double) and how to make a ball, you just play around with them until you get the shapes you want. One of the things I like about amigurumi is that it breaks the rules of typical crochet (at least any that I'd ever done before) and mixes stitches in the same row. Whatever it takes to get the desired shape.
I'll admit -- I tore out a LOT of my work and do it over again because I was trying to get it to look like something specific. Usually I just start out and make it up as I go. Everything on this project got torn out and redone at least three times. I spent about 3 hours just trying to get the eyes right, which seems silly in retrospect because they ended up being so easy.
Also, getting things symmetrical is almost impossible, but I think that's also part of the charm. If it were supposed to be perfect, a machine would make it.
I hope this helps. More than skill and artistry, I find that patience with myself is the most important factor. The process of creating is extremely enjoyable, ultimately ending a point of satisfaction when the project is done.
If she's interested in continuing with the clay, I had this book when I was a kid and I loved it. I think my mom still has some of the figurines I made from it, haha.
There were two Klutz books back in the day for polymer clay, and each came with 8 half-bars of Sculpey III (a low-quality polymer clay); they wouldn't have the clay still included though if purchased at amazon, eBay, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Clay-Book-Klutz-Press/dp/1878257730
https://www.amazon.com/Create-Anything-Clay-Sherri-Haab/dp/1570543275
Those were very simple books oriented toward kids, and almost entirely small sculpted items in the second book (the first book had more techniques), but I see there's at least one newer Klutz polymer clay book (not by the same author/s though) on making sculpted "charms":
https://www.amazon.com/Klutz-Make-Clay-Charms-Craft/dp/0545498562
There are better books for those things though, even for simple sculpts (including "charms") like these for example:
https://www.amazon.com/Clay-Play-JEWELRY-Terry-Taylor/dp/0486799441
https://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Clay-Cookbook-Tiny-Jewelry/dp/0823024849
But there's also loads of FREE info, tutorials, etc, online at YouTube and at places like my website for making things like that, and many other things with polymer clay.