Enlightened Polymer Clay: Artisan Jewelry Designs Inspired by Nature

Enlightened Polymer Clay: Artisan Jewelry Designs Inspired by Nature by Rie Nagumo is published by Interweave and retails for $19.95. It is a slim paperback, with 74 pages and loads of full color gallery style pages, smaller step by step color photographs, and some drawn illustrations as well. The author, Rie Nagumo, is from Japan where she creates her own unique accessories and also teaches jewelry making. In addition, she is the author of several jewelry making books, some of which have been translated into various languages.

The book includes 29 jewelry projects, including necklaces, brooches, bracelets, chokers, a belt, rings, earrings, and pendants. In fact, the first 34 pages of the book shows a full color photograph of each jewelry piece, and as I was flipping through this section, it reminded more of a gallery style layout, which I'm used to seeing in the back of the book. So your attention is immediately caught by these amazing projects, all of which (according to the subtitle) have some kind of design inspiration from nature. For example, the necklace on the cover has layers of leaf dangles hanging from wire. Not all of the pieces were that clearly connected to nature; however, what I noticed even more so was how many of them did not have the obvious look that you sometimes get by using polymer clay as a medium. Actually, if I did not know what the title of the book was and just started looking at the first few pages, I would have thought maybe some of the projects were using resin or even Lucite materials.

The projects are divided according to the main techniques used to create each one. These include flattening, rolling, and layering. Some of my favorite jewelry pieces from this book include "No. 29 Pendant" (which has a bug transfer on it and hangs from a beaded necklace); "No. 6 Choker" (again this is shown on the cover, and the leaves are just amazing); and "No. 3 Brooch" (which as beautifully textured layers that create flower petals).

After the project gallery section, there are 5 pages of techniques. These include color photographs that help show how each technique is accomplished, and of course, these techniques are used in the project instructions later on in the book. A brief discussion about polymer clay starts off this section along with some basics about conditioning the clay, firing it, and finishing it.

Interestingly enough, the tools are discussed at the end of the book. It includes 4 pages listing the various tools used along with black and white photographs of the tools.

When you look through the project gallery section at the beginning of the book, at the bottom of each photograph is a reference to the "How to Make" section of the book. So I found that a little odd just because when you go to the instructions, there is no photo to reference. The title of each project, all of which are simply numbered with an annotation of what the piece is (necklace, pendant, etc.), is up at the top of the page, so you kind of have to search a little for the project you want when you first start using the book.

The instructions provide a list of materials needed, and then break down the process into techniques such as conditioning, color making, and forming. Drawings help illustrate some of the information provided in the instructions. While I understand that the idea was probably to streamline this part of the book, I couldn't help be feel some information was missing, or maybe I just could not find it and it was there. For example, when I read through the "No. 6 Choker" instructions, I could not find any reference to the diameter of the brass wire used for forming around the polymer clay leaves and also creating the neck rings.

Granted, this book does not claim to be written for the beginner, but even with that in mind, I felt like details were missing. Some of this might be because this was originally published in 2006, I believe in Japanese, and then Interweave published the English version later in 2012. Translations can really be tricky and often restricted by the established layout of the book.

However, for anyone with general jewelry making experience (such as bead stringing) and also a solid understanding of how to work with polymer clay, I think this book could introduce him or her into a totally new and unique world of polymer clay jewelry design. I say this because a jewelry maker with this level of experience will not need all of the techniques broken down to a point that beginners would need.

What Rie Nagumo does with polymer clay is mind blowing and amazing and just beautiful! Sometimes this material just gets a bad rap, but this shows how it is not the material but how you use it that can take a jewelry design to another dimension.

Here is some more information about polymer clay:

Creating a Place to Make Polymer Clay Jewelry

Polymer Clay Stamped Pendant

Delicious Looking Polymer Clay Pumpkin Beads

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.