Creating with Fimo Acrylic Clay

Barbara M. Buetter conducts creative-writing workshops for children and
is the author of Simple Puppets from Everyday Materials.

This well-designed collection of jewelry projects is filled with a wide
range of ideas for making the most of the distinct modeling qualities of
Fimo clay. Projects include earrings, necklaces, pins, button covers,
shoe clips, a barrette, and a ring. Decorating ideas are based on
fruits, flowers, and other familiar shapes.

The book’s clean design and bright colors are appealing. Each project
spread has a photograph of the finished piece, with colorful diagrams
outlining each step. Overall, the directions and drawings are clear and
do a good job of explaining fairly detailed modeling techniques. The
book includes a helpful color-mixing chart, although to make each
project as shown would require 19 different colors of Fimo, a relatively
expensive material (no alternative modeling materials are suggested).

Fimo maintains its vibrant colors when baked and dries hard and strong,
making it particularly well suited for jewelry. It must be softened
before modeling, though, and is extremely hard to knead. Most children
will need help with that first step, a problem this book does not
address.

It is not clear from the cover that only jewelry is included. Had other
kinds of projects been added, the book would have had a much broader
appeal; as is, it is best suited to children who have the patience for
fine detailed work. Recommended with reservations.