Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Lazy River Technique with Amethyst Chips By now, I've lost track of what day I've made what technique in polymer clay.  I do know that I am enjoying trying the various ideas in Julie Picarello’s book, ‘Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques’.  I have never taken the time to explore a technique book in depth and I find that I like being immersed in polymer with a focus.  Usually I flip through a book, stop and look at something and go, “hmmm – that would be interesting to try!”  Today’s focus is ‘Lazy River’. My Lazy River is definitely different than Julie's but I use the same techniques. My colors are purple, green, teal, translucent, glitter and silver. My theme is nature, leaves with shimmering dew, moonlight through forests and swirling hidden streams.  A friend gave me some amethyst chips and I decided to use them as accents and work them into some of the layers of clay.  Just an experiment! Large chips in circles...

First it was rocks and now it is lizard tails!  In Julie Picarello’s book ‘Patterns in Polymer –Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques’ I spent a day playing with her ‘lizard tail’ project.  Now, I have real  lizards and their tails really do not look like these!  Nevertheless these were great fun to make and to slice open.  Would you believe the outside is the stripe and the inside the intricate spiral pattern?   Basically you stack your colors of clay, roll them into a cone shape (the direction of rolling is very important) and cut the cone in half.  Yes, there are great directions for this technique in the book…and pictures!  I wanted a piece to show the inside and the outside of the cone I made and I think this piece succeeds.  Very tribal looking.  I have to finish the cord insert and put wires on the earrings.    I turned the tails into beads, into pendants, into earrings and into buttons.  Absolutely fas...

What a good idea I had bringing all my polymer clay (well a lot of it) and tools to Tucson for my self imposed 'Personal Polymer Clay Workshop'.  I decided to make a big change from yesterday's rock and explore imprinted techniques. I love the various effects and the surprise of each cut.  One of my favorite books is by Julie Picarello Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques. Beginning with the ‘Basic Imprint Technique', I picked a color scheme of Fimo Orange 04, a Skinner Blend of Green 05 and Emerald Green 56, Turquoise 32, and Glitter Gold 112.  Following the directions on p.33 of Julie’s book, I built my stack of colors, selected my tools to imprint and planned my design.  I love the star cutter and used it for focal point of the design.  I also like the dimension created when some circles were removed to create missing shapes in the design. Consistent slicing is one of the most difficult procedures for me....