Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

The time had come to make a hard copy in the form of a book to record my blog entries for 2019!  I use  https://www.blog2print.com/ .  They even have a coupon! Alas when I went to my blog, there were only broken links and no photos.  After researching it would seem that I have deleted all the pictures in the archive photo file.  I did this to myself as I was clearing out old pictures in google+.  Looking at this as an opportunity - not a disaster - I get to decide if I want to continue with a blog on a somewhat regular basis.  Or do I want to see if I can add one to my website?  Or am I ready to move on to other things than blogging?  I'm thinking. But I will let everyone know my decision in a few weeks.  If anyone has comments or suggestions I would love to hear from you. It's the start of fall and I'm wishing fun and adventure in your future!

Sometimes an artist needs to evaluate the what and why of their art.  That's what I've been doing lately.  Learning and doing should bring me joy.  That joy comes through in my creations and when there is no joy perhaps I should try something else.  That little voice in my head questions me and asks  "Have you practiced enough and do you understand the process?  Should you try one more time to improve your skill and see if  you find joy?"   So I take another class or watch another video and try again!   Sometimes that works and sometimes not.  This year I took a class with Susan Lenart Kasmer at Art Unraveled - a little different technique and using liquid enamels.   Susan's classes are always enjoyable as I love her art, jewelry and her outgoing personality.  She is a good teacher but this time I was frustrated with my progress and my project.  Usually I have a  lot of things to show from t...

From my new fall collection My latest online class:  Building Better Beads with Dan Cormier What a learning experience!  I'm pretty experienced with polymer clay and know there is always something new to learn.  In this class I built a bead in 4 weeks.  No, I've never taken that much time to build a bead!  A lot of time was spent on each step building the best bead I could instead of making lots of beads as fast as possible.  The zen experience of looking at each step and deciding if it was the best it could be before going to the next step really made me focus.  While I may never spend that much time on a bead again I will look at what I'm doing with more discerning eyes evaluating time, value and quality.   Seeing the process of each step through the eyes and hands of a skilled professional who is willing to teach is invaluable.  Getting feedback on how to improve is so important.  The skills of sanding and buffing poly...

A Favorite Bracelet made from a DVD class Time - I can watch the classes at my convenience.  Maybe early morning or late at night! Or in the middle of the day or with earphones while waiting in a hospital room. Comfort - I don't have to dress for class -- actually I don't have to dress! Convenience - I can watch a segment and go try the technique.  I can watch the same part over and over until I get it!   I can watch again in a year because I don't remember everything. Authority and experience - the teachers are amazing, interesting, and professional.   Teachers are all over the world. New Techniques and tools - I learn so many new things, get new ideas and see what is available in other parts of the country. Expense - even though some classes are expensive they seldom cost as much as actually traveling to a different part of the country plus hotel, etc. There are tutorials and mini-classes and usually you...

2 Years of Simmering  Sometimes ideas sit and simmer.  Sometimes for years and then they need to be revisited. 2 years of moving these beads around my studio After cleaning off my work space in the studio many small containers of red beads appeared.  A couple of years ago (you know how time flies...) I had a idea for a necklace.  One group of beads I made were thin discs cut from a floral cane.  They cured on small muffin tins so they flared and ruffled.   The smaller thicker red discs and some much smaller round beads were added.  Then I stopped.  Probably a different idea got my attention and the red beads sat there.  Several times over the following weeks and months they were moved from place to place.  Then thinking about having to sand all those beads before I used them made me wonder exactly how I would put them together.  There were times I wondered why I just didn't throw them away. But there they ...

Who's heard of wall button?  My older brother, the wood turner, went to a wood turning demonstration in Kansas City, MO.  He learned about wall buttons there and I'm including a video of that meeting.  The wood turned wall button makes interesting wall art especially for someone who sews, knits or crochets.  It's definitely a conversation starter.  Rick Bywater's Wall Buttons He made one for my birthday and I was pleasantly surprised when it came! Mine, made of Purple Heart, had grooves in it for polymer accents.  Dave and I collaborated on several turned vases that included polymer bands.  What fun to work together.  The colors of metallic gold, red and yellow combine in concentric circles and are quite striking against the Purple Heart.  After the polymer was conditioned, placed and textured it was cured with a heat gun.  Had to be careful to cure the polymer and not burn the wood! I'm thinking of asking him to make a cou...

Finished Jellyfish! While taking my latest metal clay class with Hadar Jacobson, my muse took over and said, "Oh this could be a jellyfish!"  And so my mokume gane project took this shape! For anyone not familiar with mokume gane it is a Japanese metal technique that merges several different metals.  Artists of metal clay came up with a way to merge different metal clays to form similar patterns.  Artists of polymer clay developed a totally different method.  (more on that in another post).  In Hadar's class we used bronze, copper and steel to form the patterns and inserted those pieces of dried clay into a bronze base.  The mokume gane pattern shows well on the body of the jellyfish. This was a piece that I brought home in dried clay (greenware) form and fired the piece in my kiln.  I was so happy that it fired well and finished beautifully.  In the greenware state I added wire loops for attaching the polymer tentacles.  ...

Flexible Copper (Hadar's Quick Fire) There's been a flurry of metal clay in my studio.   My late winter goal was to use the older Hadar  clay that I have so I can focus on her new One-fire clay.   Over the years (yes it keeps that long in powder form) I've collected many containers of Quick-fire bronze, copper, steel, etc.  They take longer to fire and have 3 stages of firing instead of 2.  Hadar's Flexible Copper  My mid-west background of using and saving kicked in and I would not allow myself to use the new One-fire clay until all the other was gone.  So I started creating.  First I was just going to make some simple earrings and then a pendant.  Pretty soon I wondered how I could make some pieces using tools not used before.  One thing led to another. Crisco Ad Engraving A metal engraved stamp for a Crisco ad that my mother saved became a necklace.  When this piece was fired, it separated in two p...

My Inspiration - Collection of Sea Shells Every year my collection of seashells increases.  If I find a really interesting shell at an estate sale I buy it.  If I'm walking on the beach I'm looking for unusual shells.  Apparently the love of seashells runs in the family as I now have incorporated some of my father's shells.  I love the variety of color and shape and love learning about the animals that left them. When I saw Donna Greenberg's latest installations of underwater polymer, I knew I had to use my seashells as inspiration to create my own polymer beach segment.  It was such fun to develop the shells.  The following pictures show the development of the mushroom coral. Basic shell shape I cut each oval in half and used a paper punch for the holes. I stacked each half and put a wire through them to create a circle. Find the finished mushroom coral below in another photo.  I experimented with many shapes and as I finished o...

Collaboration - Wood and Polymer  Collaborating is a wonderful way of achieving success in producing unusual products and in developing friendships.  Throughout my interior design career I collaborated with my clients as we set out their goals for the projects.  I collaborated with many craftsmen and artists to develop those goals into finished products. After my retirement I realized I could use those same skills to work with other artists and craftsmen in creating art.        before finishing and insetting polymer        Complete As my older brother increased his skills in woodworking I wanted to see how we could work together. Cynthia Tinapple's   work with insetting polymer clay into wood gave me the idea to combine my brother's wood turning with my polymer art.   Stroppel cane inset The success of collaborative work seems to be based on recognition, trust, authenticity and passi...