Polymer Clay Gemstones, The Art of Deception
by Randee Ketzel & Kim Schlinke
Polymer Clay Book of the Month
If you are new to KatersAcres, my goal with everything that I do here on the website is to make polymer clay engaging, fun, and accessible to everyone. You don’t need to be a professional artist to use this unique, versatile, and readily available medium. One of the things I’m doing in 2016 is choosing one polymer clay book of the month to share with you.
Who Is Randee Ketzel?
Direct from Randee’s Etsy Shop, she writes this about herself: ” I always suspected that art would be my life–and luckily, I was right. I studied Byzantine Art and Archaeology in Florida before being irresistibly drawn into the world of metalwork as one of the youngest women jewelers in the Southeast during the early eighties. Eventually, impending motherhood demanded that I bid metals goodbye, and I experimented with a variety of less-toxic media before discovering–and being discovered by–polymer clay. This incredible stuff has become muse and mantra, and I eagerly await each new day’s adventure in it. I hope you enjoy the results.”
“I am the proud co-author of the first polymer clay book in decades devoted solely to faux techniques and the reproduction of historical jewelry–“Polymer clay Gemstones, the Art of Deception.” Published by Polymarket Press and available on Amazon.com; this 204 page book contains 20+ projects, making the individual tutorials a mere $1.50 each! From it, you can learn the secrets of authentic Rhochrosite, Favrile Glass, Tiger Claw, Navajo Silver and many, many more.”
Polymer Clay Book Review
Polymer Clay Gemstones, the Art of Deception
This month’s book, Polymer Clay Gemstones, the Art of Deception is one of those rare books that will keep you inspired for years to come. This book includes not only projects (in standard tutorial form) but color recipes that you can adapt to use for your own projects. The book is thorough, well written, and Randee’s background in archaeology shines … you can tell she loves ancient stuff! Not to mention that the book reads like a grand mystery and discovery session. Very unique!
Purchase This Book on Amazon
Who Is This Book Good For:
This book is good for anyone who loves making faux-look projects, bead makers, collage makers, scrapbookers (add some cute beetles to your pages), and even jewelry makers. Many of these recipes can also be adapted for full figurines as well. This book breaks down how to make the clay blends needed, how to make the beads or items, and has very easy to understand and easy to execute steps. Whether you have ever worked with clay or not, this book is for everyone. I highly recommend this book and it’s one that I turn to often!
POINTS OF NOTE: This book has items needed for some of the projects that a novice clayer may not have and may require a bit of shopping. Additionally, this book is available solely through Amazon and is not available in digital formats or traditional book stores.
What’s Inside
Some of the ancient faux gemstone projects included in this book are:
-
Purchase This Book Only on Amazon An beautiful introduction to “forgeries”
- A detailed “primer” section that covers your basic polymer clay instructions, do’s, and don’ts
- Faux Metals: Bronze, Silver, & Gold
- Carnelian
- Amethyst
- Spurious Opal
- Chrysoprase
- Limestone
- Leopard Skin Jasper
- Faux Twigs
- Blue Lace
- Inca Rose (Copper & Rhodochrosite)
- Snowflake Jade
- Amber
- Coral
- Ammolite
- Bog Oak
- Tiger Claw
- Faux Glass
- Faux Ivory
My Favorite Projects in This Book Are:
- BEETLES! (Yep, two different kinds too) – Who doesn’t love a good beetle project? If you don’t want to purchase the book, but want a sample of the Beetle project, Randee has that project alone in her Etsy shop.
- Faux Twigs (you can get just this tutorial in Randee’s Etsy Shop)
Don’t Wait Any Longer – Purchase This Book on Amazon
Thanks for joining me today,
Kim and I are both so flattered by your kind words. Kim Schlinke is an amazing artist who developed some of my favorite techniques in the book– her faux ivory has been known to fool experts! We love imitative techniques and hope that this book will inspire others to try their hand at them, and then go on to where no clayer has gone before!
So honored to feature your book this month. Such love, energy, and effort was poured into it’s pages and it shows! Everyone who works with clay needs this book!