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"), I could not find too much on it so I can't say whether or not it is a good choice. However, the book is inexpensive at $11 and since your friend likes it, it may be a good one for your library.

What I did find though, and have already heard quite a few good things about, is a book called "Mixed Media Mosaics: Techniques and Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads & Other Embellishments" by Laurie Mika.

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.