Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Finished Conceptual Drawing This is one time when the finished product is true to the original drawing and exactly what I pictured. As you scroll  down you will see the entire set - necklace, earrings, bracelet!      There were several challenges and slight adjustments to directions as there are in any journey.  Every design seems to be a journey - sometimes in finding my unique path, sometimes in discovering new twists and turns of materials and sometimes learning or inventing new techniques to achieve the destination.  With each piece of jewelry I design comes a new adventure in creating something special for the end user.  "Wear your individuality" becomes more than a slogan for me and for my company. Taking the 3 strands through the steel tube where they become one strand. Focal I decided to make several earrings of various lengths to go with the necklace. And then I decided to add a bracelet!

  As often happens, the picture in my head is more difficult to construct in real life than to create in my mind.  In the previous post I left you thinking I would just make a replacement steel bead for the one that collapsed in the kiln.  I tried!  The replacement was much more ragged than the first one and unusable for this project.  I think I'll be able to create an interesting bead using it but not for this post.  Rather than go through the process of making a third bead, I decided to try to reshape the original.  A long metal rod was inserted and I hammered and after several tries it worked!   Time to decide what beads I would use with the steel ones I made.  I started with the ones in the picture.  And I added and rearranged and added and played with the shapes and colors.  When I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to use I started stringing.   At some point I realized I needed to make the center dangle/focal part or the necklace first.  The dangle had t

  A necklace design with components made from steel clay has been in my mind for quite a while now.  This week I decided to make a sketch so I could move the project along.  I want to use the long orange bead with a Middle Eastern theme as a focal (purchased it at the last Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.) Prima in Saran after pulling it out of the tube  I also want to use some of the basic techniques I learned in Hadar Jacobson’s class.  I bought a large block of Prima (a professional grade plastilina) that has wax and is great for forming a shape, wrapping it in saran and in this design, wrapping steel textured clay around it.  Then when the bead is dry, I will carefully pull out the saran with the Prima in it.  Works great as long as the ends are open enough for the Prima to exit.  I broke one tube doing this.  You also don't want to get the Prima warm as the wax will melt and there will be a mess! Sanding the tube I mix up Hadar’s steel clay, roll it out, texture