Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

It became obvious when I was in Hadar’s metal clay class in Tucson recently that there are so many new directions I can take my designs.  I think the fact that I have always wanted to learn new techniques makes it difficult to focus on making a cohesive ‘line of jewelry’.  And here I am again learning new ways to experiment.  Eventually it may become important to focus but right now I’m having a great time playing! I love the patina on this one! The class was fun because of the easy flow between students and Hadar (the teacher), Lyle Rayfield’s great studio and patio area in the beautiful Tucson mountains, Barb’s terrific meals and all the new ideas.  Even with me getting up and down often, exercising often and icing my knee through lunch, I managed to produce several pieces that I am sharing with you. We used Hadar’s Friendly Brilliant Bronze clay and her special inlay powders. One of my largest pieces did not get fired in class so I brought it hom

 http://theafghangemjewelry.com/ Last week I was able to go to the last day of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  My two friends, Sandy and Jennifer, were patient as I walked through one hotel lobby.  My new knee is giving me problems in the bending/walking area and it will be quite a while before I am able to race through more than a few vendor's setups…..but next year watch out!   Eye Candy! One of the booths had spent some time color coordinating their beads. I spent quite a bit of time enjoying all that beautiful color.  At another booth, I found petrified bamboo.  I’d never even thought of what petrified bamboo would look like and it was lovely.  Sorry no photo.  http://www.manizone.co.uk/spiritual-exercises-understanding-spiritual-gifts-spiritual-p-1275.html The other excitement was finding Australian black opals.  My Dad always wanted to go the black opal mines and I thought it would be cool to have a stone since I've recently been to Australia.  S

Front of Pendant or Back of  Failed Pendant Described Below This is a story about my trials, frustrations and successes of making a pendant from Goldie Bronze metal clay and setting a stone in bronze bezel wire. Many of you won’t be interested in the details here but I’m hoping it gives you an idea of all the stages and work that goes into making a piece.  Last weekend I decided to make a pendant, finish it and then solder a bezel for the stone.  I practiced wrapping the bezel wire around the stone, cutting the edge straight and soldering the edges together.  Then I practiced soldering a bezel on a piece of sheet metal with my acetylene torch.  It melted the bezel.  I changed to a butane torch and that worked.  I tried to solder the bezel to the finished bronze pendant with bronze solder and melted the bezel.   Next I moved to silver solder and that did not work either.  It was time to go to FaceBook and ask my jewelry buddies for help!  I finally decided (right or wro