Mosaic Crafts for Polymer Clay Artists – Mixed Media Projects
Book recommendations on how to make polymer clay mosaics:
When I was teaching night school craft classes, one of my most popular course offerings was titled, "How to Make a Mosaic Using Ceramic Tiles and Broken China." With my current focus on polymer clay bead making, it's exciting to see the increased level of interest in mixed medias that's happening today. Polymer clay artists and mosaic designers are now coming together to make some beautiful masterpieces.
Recently a reader asked about books on making mosaics using poly clay:
I'm a mosaic artist – for the past 2 years and have thought about incorporating polymer clay into my pieces. Is there one excellent book on polymer clay that you would recommend?
A friend mentioned "Polymer Clay Mosaics" by Krista Wells – do you agree with this choice. I'm a quick learner, so I'd like a book showing some more advanced techniques – also, I'm not into jewelry making; I am thinking about beads and tiles for my mosaics.
Thanks for your advice,
Michelle
Well Michelle here is some information I have come across on the subject that should help in your quest for knowledge.
First of all, in regards to the Krista Wells book you mentioned ("Polymer Clay Mosaics
What I did find though, and have already heard quite a few good things about, is a book called "Mixed Media Mosaics
I feel comfortable in recommending this book for a couple of reasons:
1) If you watch the video below of Laurie Mika in her studio, you will see the quality of her work and get a sense for the level of experience that will come through in her book.
2) I found evidence of other people learning from Mika's teachings and adapting the techniques to create their own beautiful works of art. Here's an example from Andrea Forgnone at her Artful Eye blog.
Also Michelle… if you do decide to get into making mosaics with polymer clay, my primer course on how to work with polymer clay would be very helpful for you.
It covers things like buying the right brands of clay and proper conditioning techniques that will help you to avoid problems with trapped air bubbles.
It will also teach you secrets to baking your clay in order to avoid breakage, plus many other important tips and information you'll need to know to successfully create anything in polymer clay… especially flat pieces such as the tiles used in making mosaic projects.
Hopefully this article was helpful to everyone interested in mixed media mosaic crafts for polymer clay artists.
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Comments on Mosaic Crafts for Polymer Clay Artists – Mixed Media Projects
10:20 am
Hi Cindy:
Thanks for that review on "Mixed Media Polymer Clay Mosaics"…that book is very appealing to me. I love to use mosaics for the bases of my sculptures and I do think I could use some of her methods…off to purchase another new book!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
Bonnie
6:24 pm
You're very welcome Bonnie! I think Laurie's ideas would work in very well with your beautiful polymer clay art! Besides, you can never have too many craft books!!
Cindy Lietz's last blog post..Mosaic Crafts for Polymer Clay Artists
12:07 pm
Just wanted to pop in here with a quick note to everyone that has been emailing me with questions about the "Mixed Media Mosaics" book mentioned above.
Laurie Mika (the author) and I have have been communicating off line. She promised if she comes up with any other useful info about her book to share, that she'll let me know. I'll post it here if or when she forwards something. Thanks Laurie.
There… that's my public service announcement for the day :-)
Cindy's last blog post..Cool Geek Jewelry Bead Projects for Polymer Clay Art Nerds
1:02 pm
Yesterday I picked up Laurie Mika's book for a bit of eye candy. Then today on the Polymer Clay Daily blog, I found Libby Mills & learned that she won the collaborative artists quilt put together by Laurie Mika for Synergy 2. That gave me an idea (more synergy) – I'm going to make tiles using the processes I learn here from Cindy. I may sometime put a 'quilt' together for myself using the tiles & I'll have a visual record of a process. I like the idea of some of the tiles being dimensional and some flat.
3:22 am
@Rose: That sounds like a fabulous idea! I think I'm going to have to check out your inspiration — I'm off to find the Synergy 2 Coll. Art. Quilt. Was Laurie's book as good as it sounds?
5:13 am
I like it as it's different & shows another use for polymer. Also, her work incorporates lots of different 'stuff' which looks like fun. I have a library copy but will buy one for my own craft book library. I like to preview books by checking them out of the library before buying especially if I have to order one over the internet & can't view it first.
7:19 pm
Very smart! I didn't even think of that. That's a great way to "try it before you buy it!"
4:15 pm
@Rose: and @Phaedrakat: I love Laurie Mika's work. That 'tile quilt' is a real beauty, I saw glimpses of it as they were collecting pieces for it. It is a neat way to showcase many different styles into one piece. That's a great idea to use a collage like this as a way to visually document the different processes!
I also agree that 'previewing' books through the library before buying is the way to go. Books are expensive and if you are only going to look at it once and put it away then they are not worth it. Some books are such a great source of inspiration that it is nice to have them for yourself though. I have hundreds and hundreds of books on lots of subjects already so it is important to really love the books before I add too many more! :-)
1:41 pm
@Cindy Lietz: Yes, I have quite a few books myself. And quite a few fall into that "looked at them only once" category. What a waste of money! I definitely try to get better intel on books nowadays before I buy them…