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Showing posts from December, 2012

My Goals for 2012 Revisited

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 Copper Bell using Hadar's Clay  Last January I listed my goals for year 2012 as: I will have fun doing whatever I am doing. I will experiment with new techniques and share them. And I’m very pleased to say I accomplished them.   In fact, I think I will continue them for 2013! Having fun doing whatever I’m doing is pretty easy.   I’m at the age that “If it isn’t fun, why would I do it?   And if I have to do it anyway, I might as well make it fun.” Experimenting with new techniques turned out to be a mixed bag.   I experimented with polymer clay and became known as the “Button Baroness”.   (I laugh about that).   I have several mixed metal, silver metal clay and polymer pieces on consignment in two cities.   (Amazing myself).   New tools have made experimenting easier and fun.   The copper bell really tinkles!   And somewhere this year I signed up to take Hadar’s   artinsilver.com/ class in Tucson in February 2013 using her powdered clay and learning new

Season's Greetings from Our House to Yours

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Wishing you a Merry Christmas And A Wonderful New Year

Untold Stories

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Over the years and many moves later, I’m cleaning out my current master closet.   It is a long narrow closet with shelves and more room than I’m used to having.   That is where the ‘family boxes’ were stored when we moved to this house.   Those boxes have not been opened for a number of years for one reason or another.   Now I have time,   a vintage etsy store and not many family members who are interested in the contents.   http://www.lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2012_11_01_archive.html Last month I came across the box of ladies handkerchiefs.   This week I opened a box of crocheted and knitted children’s clothes.   Not many items, but enough to revive the stories in my memory.    My mother had a pen-pal in England and they shared letters, stories and sent gifts.   This brown hand-knitted dress was one of those gifts for me as a little girl.   The pen-pal in England was a woman, a wife, a mother who had twin boys and I wonder what my mother sent to them.   I also wonde

A Polymer Clay Framed Mirror

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Several years ago I took my first polymer clay class from Lisa Pavelka .   I was so excited about the things I learned that I looked for ways to use polymer in my professional work as an interior designer.   A client needed a large mirror for a niche area over her fireplace and there was my opportunity!   I explained my idea and she was almost as excited as I was.   She would have a unique mirror and I would be able to make it.   I’ve always liked large but repetition is not a strong point of mine.   My small toaster oven would get a work out with this large mirror.   Better get started.   The back was a composite board cut to her dimensions – approximately 30” x 40”.   The Mirror was attached and the entire piece was on my work table.   I ordered a box of Kato copper clay and started making 10” strips that would ruffle to 6” and fit into the oven – one at a time.   At the time, I had three employees and they all started to help.   It became apparent that we each had a differe

Let's Take a Road Trip

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One nice thing about being retired is the ability to say, “Let’s take a road trip!”   This one was a short two day trip to Lake Havasu AZ.   There was a Nutting’s Flycatcher, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black Scoter, White-winged Scoters and a Surf Scoters lurking around the area.   Yes, they are all birds and we like to track them!   We left early one sunny morning and drove the back roads for about 4 hours looking for birds as we talked about life.   We were looking for Planet Ranch Road is a primitive bumpy dirt road that had survived two big storms.   Don’t take campers on it!   My 4-runner was a good choice for finding the elusive Nutting’s Flycatcher.   We think we saw it….but to a birder that statement means little.   Birders have to really get a good look at the shape, the color, the field marks and they are delighted if they get a picture.   Well we think (maybe) we saw the bird! There were scenic hills with caves that made me wonder who or what lived in them;

Making a Black and White Statement

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Black and white makes such a striking statement and I am ready for a statement!   E xperimenting with combining black and white polymer clay, I stacked alternating layers into stripes and swirled them.   Then I cut the swirls into little pieces and compressed the pieces into a one-inch ball in my hands.   Sometimes I cut those balls into 4 pieces and reassembled them into another one-inch ball.   I combined my finished beads with volcanic stone beads about the same size.   It became obvious that I created two basic designs and they would not go together.   Some of the black and white balls reminded me of zebra stripes and some were much more abstract.   I had to make a decision! Two statements - one now and one for the future!    I used smaller black matt beads for the back of the necklace with a silver toggle. And this is the happy result!

The Celebration of a Family Holiday

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  Holiday’s always remind me of the big family celebrations that my mother gave.   Christmas was the big one.    Mom loved family celebrations!    The Austrian embroidered tablecloth and napkins came out along with the red and white dishes.   The crystal with the gold rims and the silverware were just the start.   I always helped set the table correctly.   At a very young age, I knew the knife and spoon were on the right of the plate and the two different sized forks were on the left.   There was always a flower arrangement or centerpiece and candles . Austrian tablecloth, red and white dishes, centerpiece and a grandson! Everyone’s favorite foods were made and there would not have been a celebration without ‘Mom’s Denver Biscuits’.   I can still smell the hot potato based yeast rolls.   Several of us make them now or at least know how.   Somehow they are not quite as good as hers were but they bring her back to us with memories.   They also take a lot of work.   I