Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Courage               like a muscle it must be used and respected. Strength              like a muscle it must be exercised. Patience              like a muscle it takes time to develop. Persistence         like a muscle it must not be forgotten. I think I'm going to post these thoughts where I can see them several times a day!   There are so many aspects of my life where their reminder will be useful. Happy New Year to you all!

Elegant jewel tones are one of this season's best trends!  Sapphire blues, deep rich purples, vibrant  reds and luxurious gold get everyone's attention.  But too much of these colors overpower most of us.  One easy way to stay in the holiday fall/winter trend is to add them in small amounts.  A pair of earrings that combine royal blue and gold with a gold necklace, a chunky colorful choker, a luxurious one of a kind pendant are all great options to create an unforgettable outfit.  Once we get comfortable with wearing these elegant colors in small amounts, it's just another step to a vivid fushia blouse or a dramatic emerald green scarf.  Lots of ways to add dazzling colors to our wardrobes! https://www.etsy.com/listing/561910957/colorful-pendant-purple-gold-and-green?ref=shop_home_active_17 https://www.etsy.com/listing/561931081/dark-blue-and-gold-drops-shiny-blue?ref=shop_home_active_20 https://www.etsy.com/listing/80437132/romantic-...

One evening while I was on Facebook, I came across a 2 part tutorial by  https://www.facebook.com/Amatistart62/   It shows making an Ikat pattern using old canes and I was hooked!  Following is a pictorial with some explanation of the process I used after watching her video.  It's a great video worth watching.  Many of us have old canes that we aren't sure what to do with but don't want to toss them or smash them up for scrap.  I found this to be a very interesting way to use them.  These are the two canes I decided to use.   I flattened the brown flower cane after conditioning by squeezing it Then I ran it through the pasta machine and the colors stretched into stripes. The colors are blended by folding the clay color to color and running it through the pasta machine You can see the subtle pattern.  Thin slices are cut and placed against each other on a black ground. It is important to use the end cuts nex...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc708o22RPY&t=119s       Take a moment and look at all the donated art in the video on youtube!  Recently Tis Art Gallery in Prescott AZ enjoyed their 3rd annual Art Swoop Fundraiser for Art Education.  It helps support many art classes for students and kids and is a fun event.  Local artists donate work - this year we each donated a 12" sq 'painting' or a piece of jewelry we made.  Attendees buy a ticket and at the appointed time 'swoop' in to select their choice of art.  Fun to be had. This is the first year I participated and helping the art community support education classes felt important.  Art is such an individual avenue to express oneself that all ages benefit from participating.  My mother was an artist, an art educator and a woman of substance.  She would be happy I was part of this event!  Thanks, Mom!

Choices of items to buy made by the teachers at Clay Out West This month workshops and classes head the list of things I've done or going to do.  Clay Out West used to be called 'Carnival' and was in Las Vegas.  For years I've wanted to attend but did not.  The location changed to Albuquerque NM and I decided I was going!  The polymer clay workshop ran for 4 days with internationally known teachers.  Peter and I drove from Prescott to Albuquerque in a day - a long day!  He spent his days exploring the area - the zoo, the Rattlesnake Museum, the Petroglyph Park and Sandia Peak.  Lots for him to do.  I spent my days in a classroom playing and learning with lots of other crazy artists.   There were 4 classrooms with 20 ladies (and a couple of men) in each.  The teachers rotated between rooms. Result from Carol Blackburn's class Animals from Leslie Blackford's class My goal now that I am home is to spend a day (several ...

Leaves turning colors - Velvet covering on the young buck's antlers - Searching for that light weight jacket for walks - Enjoying cool night and early morning breezes - Visiting Flicker in the pine trees - he knows - It must be fall! And where did summer go? In keeping with that theme, this is my new seed pod I'm adding to my collection. The outer shell is made of copper metal clay and the pod is made of polymer clay.  It's fun to combine the two mediums.  Interested in the process?  Keep reading! If anyone has been following my FaceBook posts, you know I've been learning about and testing the temperatures of my new Paragon E12A kiln.  The interior temperature is not the same as the digital readout so I've been making my own chart.  While doing this testing I decided to make something from my clay instead of just strips and circles (I'm doing that too).  What better that a seedpod? The copper clay is Hadar's Friendly copper clay and it is...

It's not too soon to think about holiday ornaments - especially if you are making them!  The holiday season gets hectic for all of us and if you are like me I may get too busy to enjoy what I'm doing.  I find it relaxing to start making the ornaments in time to really enjoy the process.  Each year I decide what kind of ornament I want to make.  This year I decided to make these polymer stacked ornaments and teach a class at The Prescott Art Market.  The snowflake cookie cookers I've been collecting are the perfect outline shapes since they graduate in size.  For my prototypes I'm using some scrap polymer clay and chose these colors - a light, a medium and a dark - to overlap. Deciding which layers get holes and what colors to stack gives me the opportunity to embellish. Textures, rhinestones, lines, and embossing powder and the holes for hanging are added.   The ornaments are cured (baked at 275 degrees F)  and they are read...

One lovely morning not long ago, Peter and I went to the Prescott Gem and Mineral Show.  Having lived in Prescott for 8 years and making jewelry, you'd think this would have been one of my first stops.  Like many people I know, exploring our own town gets pushed aside until we have visitors.  The Prescott show (held in Prescott Valley Civic Center) was a pleasure to visit.  It was very interesting and not overwhelming.  We actually had space to look at the items and talk with the vendors.  Lots of variety in both polished and rough stones and in finished jewelry.  This was a welcome experience having attended the gem show in Tucson which covers the city of Tucson and takes days to see. At one of the booths I was introduced to stromatolites.  A small stone that had layers and concentric circles making a very interesting pattern caught my eye and my imagination.  It would make a great mold for metal clay and polymer clay.  O...

Is making jewelry from polymer clay the best way for me to be creative?  If we don't experiment with alternatives, how will we know? How can I use polymer clay to create paintings?  This blog explores my attempts and growth in a technique of applying clay to canvas.  There was no class or written information that I found so I just started.  I'm showing my newest 'paintings' first so that you can see the changes in style and technique. Monarchs The beginning of the Monarch Painting Painting the background of the canvas helped me define the movement of the grasses and the lighting.  I wanted to feel the low sun coming through the grasses while the butterflies took flight.  I also wanted to show a cocoon and give the impression of beginning pods of grass (at the lower edge of the canvas).   This piece is to be a part of the fall 'Changing of the Colors' at The Prescott Art Market in September.   The color scheme and size...