My daughter has gotten quite good at making little clay figurines, foods, and more. She’s getting a little older now, though, so I thought she might want to use her creations to make some simple jewelry for herself and her friends, and wow, that was a good guess. So, we’re both delighted with this book! There are about 15 pages of instructions and tips on making clay into jewelry, which she can now apply to the dozens and dozens of design ideas included here.

The book is engaging and written for young people, with clear instructions, fun, colorful layouts on each page, and tons of helpful photos throughout. She loves it and with just a few jewelry items from our local big box stores’ crafting section, she’s already making numerous jewelry for her friends and herself. It’s fueling her creativity, helping her make good use of her talents, and helping her to feel more confident about herself and her future.

My daughter already enjoys making little clay figurines but I can tell she’s stalled out a little on her creative drive. If she wanted to focus on something else, that’s fine, but I wanted her to be sure she just hadn’t run out of ideas. So, without making a big deal of it, I just offered this great book as a little gift. Since then, she’s been making figures day and night.

I think the 24 projects inside are well conceived to offer a range of new skills and approaches in making all sorts of things, from cute little figures to bas relief style sculptures. The book itself is great, with fun engaging text, and clear, step-by-step instructions. The 24 clever projects are divided up into three sections — “Ornaments, Signs & Dangles,” “Sculpture Pals,” and color-based crafts which include, for instance, twisting multiple colors into “ropes” made of many different colors.

Briefly, the projects include: Penguin, snowman, cupcake, pizza, bedroom signs, treats, bugs, ducks, lizard, owl, kitty, puppy, fox, alligator, heart, snail, chameleon, polar bear, turtle, trinket box, dinosaur pencil holder, hedgehog, and a picture frame. They’re all pretty cute and not-at-all too difficult for even beginners to create, complete, and enjoy.