Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Sea Snail 'Trap Doors' from Bahia Kino  My last two posts share my trip to Bahia Kino Sonora Mexico, my collection of sea shells, and how I'll use them in my jewelry.  The polymer clay molds from the shells (see the previous post) Silver Metal Clay Shells just out of the molds.  You can see the 'imbeddable silver connectors in two on the left. After experimenting with polymer, it is time for silver metal clay.  For those of you not familiar with this material, silver metal is cut into micro filaments and a binder is added making a pliable clay.  It is then fired at 1650 degrees in a kiln.  The binder burns out and the micro filaments of silver fuse together to make 99% fine silver.  When I saw these shells, I knew silver beads would be my goal!   'Imbeddables' are fine silver jewelry components that can be fired at the same time as the silver clay to become part of the piece of jewelry.  I sandwiched them between the front and back of the be

The Round Shells are the Sea Snail 'Trap Doors' in last week''s post  My 'shell project' started soon after we returned home from Bahia Kino.  (see last week's post).  I wanted to make molds and see polymer and silver beads form.   I started by conditioning my polymer clay to use for the mold material.  As you can see in the photo below, one side of the shell is molded in the brown polymer and the other side (which is a more shallow mold) is in the blue polymer.  There is also one mold where I used several shells and both sides for the design.  When the polymer is baked it becomes hard and makes great molds.  polymer molds and 2 of the shells Polymer Beads from the Mold The first thing I did was to use polymer to see how the details of the shells came out in the molds.  I made beads with both the shallow side and the deeper spiral side of the shells.  Both pieces are fired and a wire added for the connecting loops.  The wire extends each side

A trip to Bahia Kino Sonora Mexico with a group of like-minded nature lovers with Prescott Natural History Institute makes a great start to the summer.   It's a long van ride with several stops for stretching, potty breaks and lunch. Once we arrived at Bahia Kino and checked into our rooms at Casa Blanca Inn, we welcomed dinner and margaritas! Nice Place to Stay - Casa Blanca Inn The next few days are filled with hikes in the desert, getting to know about Seri (Comcaq) Indians, talks about the natural history of the area, boat rides to islands and walks on the beautiful beaches.   This story shares my trip to Tiburon Island, what I found that inspired my new jewelry project and sharing the Gulf of California with many dolphins and sea birds.  Our group climbed aboard a fishing boat (with large motor) on a sandy beach at Bahia Kino.  The boat, on a trailer, had a ladder next to it helpful for climbing.  On went the life jackets and a vehicle backed us into water a