Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

One of my goals is to use my last container of Hadar’s Steel XT clay!  I want to start on some of the new clay and am determined to use patience as I deplete my stash of the older clay.  Here goes a new project! Usually I just thumb through my new book Art Forms in Nature book by Ernst Haeckel but for this project I wanted to get serious and really think about the underlying structure or skeleton forms in nature.  Focusing on a couple of pages that reminded me of what sea creatures might look like under their shells, I sketched some ideas, closed the book and started to create. Mixing Hadar’s clay is so easy – as long as I creep up on the amount of water and not get it too wet - and it has a reasonable working time.  After mixing the steel XT clay it went into the refrigerator as I made the molds for my creation. Several months ago, this muffin pan, a treasure from a thrift shop, was sawed in half to fit into my convection oven for polymer clay....

Re-do of Original Pieces Plus My Art Beads  I’m hooked!  The Do-Over Challenge that Jeannie Dukic ‘JKD Studio’ www.jkdjewelry.com offers has become something I look forward to.  Jeannie sends pieces of her ‘old’ jewelry to those of us who sign up and we get to create something new from them.  It does not matter if we like the piece she sends because we take it apart, add beads from our stash and create a completely new piece.  It’s a great way to recycle. Original Necklace and earrings When I received my piece to re-create, it lay on my bead try for a while as I sorted through the possibilities.  There were 3 art beads that might work but only one yelled, “Me!  Take me!”  Fortunately I had more of the polymer cane that was used for that bead because I wanted smaller one to go with the big chosen art bead.  The green chips were to be filler beads highlighting my art beads.  Large 'Take Me!' bead! I made two pai...

The Dragonfly Story The Butterfly Story  Looking through my stash of older Hadar’s clay, I settled on Quick Fire Steel XT.  Why I have 3 bottles is still a question in my mind and now my goal is to use it!  First I started with oval links.  My idea is to make these links as my test pieces and use them in a mixed base metal chain when I get enough.  That should make another good story!  Steel Links Next I decided to make a steel frame to house a moving event.  That will be another post as soon as I decide on the subject of that story!  And you will have to wait to see it. Rocks!  I found my box of special smooth rocks the correct size to use as forms for hollow beads.  Of course I had to make a pendant with a center hole.  Following the directions in one of Hadar’s books and remembering what I had learned in one of her classes, the basic form came out great.  I decided to hang a pearl (I think) in the center...

It is springtime and time for bugs!  This is a framed bug (dead – pretty much the only kind I like) from Malaysia that I purchased at a Reptile Show.  I could feel a spring project in the making! I studied the form of the body and thought about what materials I could use to construct my bug.  The result is a body made of Hadar Smart Bronze clay formed in segments.  The wings had to move and the best way was to make a hinge as an integral body part.      A nickel chromium wire feeds from tail to head.  The tail became one with the wire but the head remainedseparate. I finished the body and finally stabilized the head to the first segment by soldering.  With the body finished, the wings were next.  The colors were mixed with some translucent clay.  I could have used more translucent but generally the combination of 672 yellow,1150 Lemonade,380 Buried Treasure, white and translucent polymer clay worke...