Images On Clay II * Barbara McGuire * Can Do Crafts

Over a Dozen Useful Images, 30 Projects. This highly practical, heavily illustrated design guide reveals the technical steps required to transfer complex images, graphics, and vintage photographs onto polymer clay surfaces, delivering thirty step-by-step projects to craft custom jewelry, home decor, and gifts.

The Story: Written by prominent mixed-media pioneer, national workshop leader, and veteran designer Barbara McGuire, this 2002 craft masterclass is a trusted literature of specialized dimensional modeling. McGuire looks past abstract artistic lectures, unvetted design fads, and low-effort project checklists. Instead, drawing from her extensive experience scaling professional jewelry and craft education networks, she is technique-focused demonstrating that sustainable image transfer success relies on mastering the raw chemistry of pre-sealing, liquid clays, heat-set mediums, and protective varnishes.

The book takes polymer clay artists, independent jewelry designers, and mixed-media hobbyists through a visually spectacular structural landscape across its highly actionable pages. The layout organizes your crafting schedule into clear, self-contained development sections detailing raw clay conditioning, surface textures, ink setting, and curing mechanics. The text guides reader through thirty independent, high-impact projects, tracking how to smoothly execute intricate designs across challenging functional applications like decorative wall switch plates, memory boxes, mosaic tiles, custom buttons, and statement necklaces, pairing each lesson with crisp, high-contrast instructional photographs.

Rather than reading like a dry or abstract textbook blueprint, the pages are a companion for intentional lifestyle design and handmade productivity. McGuire pairs her material science with a warm, encouraging, and deeply accessible tone, teaching readers how to choose appropriate transfer graphics, troubleshoot smeared lines, and construct a permanent environment of creative confidence. An excellent cornerstone for ceramic arts, jewelry design, and self-expression shelves worldwide.

Perfect For: Polymer clay crafters, independent jewelry designers, and mixed-media artists looking for an uncomplicated, highly detailed guide to master image transfer mechanics and material chemistry; art teachers looking for structured, high-impact craft lesson plans; and library collections maintaining comprehensive textile and clay design catalogs.

Published 2002 by Design Originals.

Art & Design / Polymer Clay & Ceramic Modeling / Mixed Media Crafting / Image Transfer Chemistry / Handmade Home Decor / Visual Arts Handbooks