Photos courtesy of http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp
Book title : Romantic！なスイーツデコ雑貨
Author: 関口 真優
ISBN 9784123902458
Last year, I got my hands on this miniature craft DVD book as I was really curious to find out what is in it. Having gone through it, I thought I would write a review on this. Hopefully it serves as a helpful guide for folks who are not quite sure if this book would suit their needs.
Do note that I am not paid to advertise this book, but rather I am writing it to help those who are undecided if they need this book, or if this book is what they are looking for. I have also received questions from time to time about what kind of books would be helpful for someone who wants to learn more about dollhouse miniature craft. I want to emphasize that this book purely focuses on miniature clay food. In addition, there aren't many reviews for miniature clay food craft books, so hopefully you will find this useful!
Before you read any further, it’s important to note that almost all miniature craft books written in Japanese uses Air Dry Clay. So if you are a polymer clay user, you would have to adapt some of the techniques in this book accordingly.
The book comes with many clear, step by step photo/illustrations, so even if you don’t understand Japanese, you would still be able to follow. The plus point about this book is the DVD. The DVD comes with short video segments with topics such as:
1. Introduction of Air Dry Clay, how to use/mix/knead air dry clay.
2. How to use silicon, techniques in using silicon
3. Various piping techniques
4. How to use Epoxy Resin
5. How to use jewelry spare parts on air dry clay
6. How to make strawberry using sculpting tools. How to paint a realistic strawberry (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
7. How to paint a sliced strawberry (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
8. How to make banana slices (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
9. How to create a ribbon using air dry clay (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
10. How to create leaf using straw as a cutter
11. How to sculpt a macaron using tooth pick
12. How to create strawberry jam
The DVD is especially useful for new miniature crafters. Nothing beats looking at moving visuals/videos to learn. The only thing is most of the video segments are meant for larger scale miniatures, and so you would have to see what are the techniques that you can adopt and use for dollhouse scale miniature crafting.
In the book itself, all the pages and photos are coloured. I think this is extremely important. I personally like craft books which have full coloured pages, because being a visual person, I can learn better. The pages are of a good paper quality, and has clear coloured photos of creating various items such as fruit tart, cakes, fruit tart bases. Picture processes are clearly labelled in a,b,c,d,e.
Towards the back of the book, it is all about resources. It shows clear result pictures of how various brands of air dry clay would look like upon drying, and the author gives recommendation of which air dry clay is best for making different types of food.
The author also shows all the various products and sculpting tools she uses, with price included (in Japanese Yen). It also has a page dedicated to shops where you can purchase these items online.
As for the list of tools, I must say that they are common miniature tools and nothing that is too expensive is being recommended in there, which is really a good thing for beginners who are starting out. Most of the common tools can be easily found in craft stores, and there are a few common household items that are being used like toothbrush, tooth picks. Some other items are nice to have, but might not be so critical, so you can use your own judgement when it comes to buying materials. For things like oil colours, you can always replace it with other brands if you cannot find the same brand.
I would say that this book is suitable for beginners, who will find it rich with information. I believe someone who have no clay experience but have always wondered how certain miniature food/drinks are being created will find the DVD very useful. It is almost like having a teacher who is showing you the “know hows”.
Hopefully you find my review useful, please let me know if you have found this useful!
Before you read any further, it’s important to note that almost all miniature craft books written in Japanese uses Air Dry Clay. So if you are a polymer clay user, you would have to adapt some of the techniques in this book accordingly.
The book comes with many clear, step by step photo/illustrations, so even if you don’t understand Japanese, you would still be able to follow. The plus point about this book is the DVD. The DVD comes with short video segments with topics such as:
1. Introduction of Air Dry Clay, how to use/mix/knead air dry clay.
2. How to use silicon, techniques in using silicon
3. Various piping techniques
4. How to use Epoxy Resin
5. How to use jewelry spare parts on air dry clay
6. How to make strawberry using sculpting tools. How to paint a realistic strawberry (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
7. How to paint a sliced strawberry (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
8. How to make banana slices (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
9. How to create a ribbon using air dry clay (note that demo is not for 1/12 dollhouse miniature scale)
10. How to create leaf using straw as a cutter
11. How to sculpt a macaron using tooth pick
12. How to create strawberry jam
The DVD is especially useful for new miniature crafters. Nothing beats looking at moving visuals/videos to learn. The only thing is most of the video segments are meant for larger scale miniatures, and so you would have to see what are the techniques that you can adopt and use for dollhouse scale miniature crafting.
In the book itself, all the pages and photos are coloured. I think this is extremely important. I personally like craft books which have full coloured pages, because being a visual person, I can learn better. The pages are of a good paper quality, and has clear coloured photos of creating various items such as fruit tart, cakes, fruit tart bases. Picture processes are clearly labelled in a,b,c,d,e.
Towards the back of the book, it is all about resources. It shows clear result pictures of how various brands of air dry clay would look like upon drying, and the author gives recommendation of which air dry clay is best for making different types of food.
The author also shows all the various products and sculpting tools she uses, with price included (in Japanese Yen). It also has a page dedicated to shops where you can purchase these items online.
As for the list of tools, I must say that they are common miniature tools and nothing that is too expensive is being recommended in there, which is really a good thing for beginners who are starting out. Most of the common tools can be easily found in craft stores, and there are a few common household items that are being used like toothbrush, tooth picks. Some other items are nice to have, but might not be so critical, so you can use your own judgement when it comes to buying materials. For things like oil colours, you can always replace it with other brands if you cannot find the same brand.
I would say that this book is suitable for beginners, who will find it rich with information. I believe someone who have no clay experience but have always wondered how certain miniature food/drinks are being created will find the DVD very useful. It is almost like having a teacher who is showing you the “know hows”.
Hopefully you find my review useful, please let me know if you have found this useful!
You can look at what are the air dry clay books on sale here at Craft Books.
And now if you are inspired to learn more about air dry clay, you can attend some Craft Classes now.