Fun with Modeling Clay

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Fun with Modeling Clay will offer the 8-plus crowd hours of creative
fun. The award-winning maestro of Plasticine illustration once again
shares her techniques in a well-organized, step-by-step fashion. After
an introductory section dealing with the modeling clay, and the tools
used to work with it, Reid introduces the 10 basic shapes that, when
appropriately combined, yield the subsequently described objects. The
book is divided into three principal parts: Animals, People, and
Pictures. Each of these parts has five or six subsections; for example,
the Animals section comprises “Snakes and bugs,” “Leaping
lizards,” “Birds of a feather,” “Sitting pretty,”
“Four-legged friends,” and “A zooful of animals.”

Introduced by a color photo of the finished products, each subsection
occupies two facing pages and presents a number of projects that are
accompanied by clear directions and watercolor illustrations.
Particularly welcome is “Other ideas,” a feature that encourages
children to use their own creative talents and to go beyond what has
been illustrated. The projects are principally three-dimensional
creations; only at the three-quarter point in the book does Reid
describe how to make the type of “flat” pictures she uses in her
books.

In addition to being a fine home purchase, Fun with Modeling Clay is a
“must buy” for school and public libraries and for those working
with youth groups such as Guides and Wolf Cubs. Highly recommended.