The sand art bottles of Andrew Clemens (1857-1894) draw reactions of astonishment and disbelief. Deaf by the age of 6, Clemens had a challenging early childhood. But growing up in a supportive family and community, he persevered. In his youth he began creating sand art that he sold from his home and local shops in his hometown of McGregor, Iowa. In time, he developed his craft to an extraordinarily high degree using simple tools to carefully position grains of naturally colored sand inside glass bottles. His works were an inspiration to other artists that tried to follow in his footsteps only to find they could not match the master of the craft. While Clemens made hundreds of sand bottles in his short life, the precise figure of how many he completed is unknown. Regardless, only a portion remains.

Some of these are in museums, but many are in private collections either as treasured family heirlooms or purchased at auctions for thousands of dollars. This second edition greatly expands on the first, documenting many more bottles, including ones that are unique and extraordinary. Along with high-quality photographs are interesting backstories to many of the pieces. The book also includes additional information about Andrew Clemens, his family, town and a little surprise about his George Washington masterpiece bottle. A new chapter profiling unusual bottles has also been added.