A handy reference with basic information for anyone interested in exploring the magic of clay. Whether you're new to clay, teaching others, or just curious, "Clay-Speak" is an engaging read, chock full of color photos, cool tips, and more!

Everything You Need to Get Started with Pottery If you ever daydream about delving into pottery but aren’t sure where to begin, this is your book. Professional potter Kara Leigh Ford will be your personal pottery guide, helping you to overcome any doubts about your abilities. All you need are curiosity and a few simple tools to mold stunning stoneware with confidence. Inspiring projects and primers on equipment, technique, clay types and setting up a workspace make pottery approachable for complete newcomers, as well as budding potters who want to hone their skills. Plus, gorgeous photos from Kara’s studio offer visual guidance every step of the way. Enter the wonderful world of ceramics with hand building, the meditative method behind your next mug, spoon set or soap dish. When you’re ready for the wheel, easy-to-follow instructions cover the foundations of throwing bowls, plates, vases and other beginner-friendly kitchenware like a pro. Each stand-alone piece builds upon a skill introduced in the previous project: Craft all ten and you’ve learned pottery’s fundamentals! Tutorials on glazing and decorative techniques will help you discover your own unique style and understand the basics of the firing process—whether in your own kiln or at a community studio—ensuring beautifully finished pieces. Kara’s can-do approach brings handmade ceramic creations fully within reach. Whether you want to make charming home décor or thoughtful gifts for loved ones, you’ll find all you need to embark on your pottery journey.

Using clay in therapy taps into the most fundamental of human experiences - touch. This book is a comprehensive step-by-step training manual that covers all aspects of 'Work at the Clay Field', a sensorimotor-based art therapy technique. The book discusses the setting and processes of the approach, provides an overview of the core stages of Gestalt Formation and the Nine Situations model within this context, and demonstrates how this unique focus on the sense of touch and the movement of the hands is particularly effective for trauma healing in adults and children. The intense tactile experience of working with clay allows the therapist to work through early attachment issues, developmental setbacks and traumatic events with the client in a primarily nonverbal way using a body-focused approach. The kinaesthetic motor action of the hands combined with sensory perception can lead to a profound sense of resolution with lasting therapeutic benefits. With photographs and informative case studies throughout, this book will be a valuable resource for art therapists and mental health professionals, and will also be of interest to complementary therapists and bodyworkers.

Just a few of the vitally important lessons in caring for your aging parent—and yourself—from Jane Gross in A Bittersweet Season As painful as the role reversal between parent and child may be for you, assume it is worse for your mother or father, so take care not to demean or humiliate them. Avoid hospitals and emergency rooms, as well as multiple relocations from home to assisted living facility to nursing home, since all can cause dramatic declines in physical and cognitive well-being among the aged. Do not accept the canard that no decent child sends a parent to a nursing home. Good nursing home care, which supports the entire family, can be vastly superior to the pretty trappings but thin staffing of assisted living or the solitude of being at home, even with round-the-clock help. Important Facts Every state has its own laws, eligibility standards, and licensing requirements for financial, legal, residential, and other matters that affect the elderly, including qualification for Medicare. Assume anything you understand in the state where your parents once lived no longer applies if they move. Many doctors will not accept new Medicare patients, nor are they legally required to do so, especially significant if a parent is moving a long distance to be near family in old age. An adult child with power of attorney can use a parent’s money for legitimate expenses and thus hasten the spend-down to Medicaid eligibility. In other words, you are doing your parent no favor—assuming he or she is likely to exhaust personal financial resources—by paying rent, stocking the refrigerator, buying clothes, or taking him or her to the hairdresser or barber.

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

Through a wide display of functional pottery, this reference book offers information and practical tips as well as international coverage of both the design and aesthetics of ceramics and artists's work.

This is not your ordinary how-to book! Austin TX based authors and polymer clay artists Kim Schlinke and Randee M. Ketzel artfully mix a clever mystery with 20 how-to projects that show step-by step photographs and instructions to create your own "ancient artifacts." These polymer clay masterpieces are beautiful enough to grace a museum collection-or yours! At 206 pages, this lavishly photographed book is stuffed with a multitude of projects that can be done just as presented with highly detailed step-by-step instruction, or used as starting points to make faux gems for use in all sorts of designs. Priced retail at $30, the hefty book's how-to projects weigh in at the mere cost of $1.50 each. Animal lovers will be pleased to note that our authors also give us the secrets of making replicas of ivory and tiger claw that involve no cruelty towards elephants or wild cats whatsoever! Projects featured in this compendium include: Celtic Bronze Fibula, Navajo Silver Pendant, Art Nouveau Golden Gingko Brooch, Carnelian Choker of Ancient Rome, Amethyst Cabochons and Nugget Beads, Amethyst Silver Art Nouveau Pendant, Black Opal Cabochons, Barbarian Bracelet, Chrysoprase Cabochons (A and B Grade), Hammered Cuff Bracelet, Ancient Limestone Fossil Pebbles, Cycladic Goddess, Leopardskin Jasper, Primitive Pebble Bracelet, Faux Twigs, Fantastical Forgeries Bracelet, Blue Lace Agate Tile Bracelet, Copper & Rhodochrosite Tiered Necklace, Snowflake Jades, Qin Dynasty Bangles, Amber Caravan Necklace, Primeval Coral Rock Hound Necklace, Ammolite Cabochons, Gothic Revival Pendant, Victorian Mourning Brooch, Faux Tiger Claw, Victorian Raj Brooch, Faux Tiffany Glass Scarabs, Faux Ivory Cuff Bracelet Find out how it is all done-and "who done it"-along with our intrepid protagonists, Parker and Peele. "What is this stuff?" wondered Parker, and her companion pointed her umbrella to the drawings that plastered the walls. "The raw materials for the best forgeries ever seen" replied her friend. "This is where they were created." Together they examined the drawings, exclaiming softly as they recognized several objects from the Museum. Parker picked up one of the colorful lumps and frowned. "What is this, Peele? It's soft like clay, but I've never seen these colors before." "No," said her friend, "nor have I-at least in this form. I suspect it requires a catalyst of some type to render it into the false gems-ah, here!" Peele uncovered an array of electric ovens. "Heat-how charming. This must be some type of polymer, which, when brought to the proper temperature, then hardens. I have heard rumors. Could become just about anything, in skilled hands."