Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Finished!   After 2 days of trying several techniques, this necklace is finished!   I started out thinking it would be cool to make links from polymer clay with some brownish clay, some cutters for the links and complete a quick project.   Cutting the links was the easy part.   Deciding how to attach the links and what to combine with them was more difficult.   The links were baked.   I drizzled Sculpey Bake and Bond and dabbed Pearlex Powder on the baked links to add interest and baked again.   Holes were drilled for metal rivets and the links are ready.     Later I realized I needed to put color accent on the back sides and again drizzled the Bake and Bond and Pearlex Powder.   Baked the links a third time.   Next came stringing the group of beads with flex   wire and using crimp beads to attach the group to 18 g jump rings.   Testing by pulling the flex wire parted the jump ring.   GRRRR!   Maybe solder...

 Pin made from 'Bench Scraps'  Polymer clay, etched copper, cold and hot connections  For the past 10 years, my friend Judi and I have been going to Art Unraveled in Phoenix AZ.   It’s always in August and lately it’s been at the Embassy Suite in Scottsdale AZ.   Yes the weather is hot- 113 degrees a couple of days!   But it is in a nice cool hotel and we are so busy in our classes that we don’t notice the heat.   It's a great conference and I highly recommend it! Balance Beam Bracelet - etched copper, turquoise, warm connections This year Judi (from Tucson) and I (from Prescott) met at the hotel on Saturday afternoon.   There is always a Shopping Extravaganza Day with many vendors and raffle prizes.   It’s where we find out about new product and visit with old and new friends.   We planned to meet about 3 p.m. and spend an hour shopping.   The first order of business was to sign up for the raffle.   The grand prize was a ...

Artful Gathering http://artfulgatheringfest.ning.com has some great classes and some of you know I am taking Keith lo Bue’s class.   http://artfulgatheringfest.ning.com/group/steeling-beauty-with-keith-lo-bue   I guess I needed a short break from my polymer clay so yesterday and today I made the ‘s’ link chain and continued to make it into a necklace.   My beautiful Crazy Lace bead gives a nice contrast to the wire and will lay asymmetrical on the chain.   The chain is long enough to fit over my head but if I needed to take it apart I can.   The jump ring at the stone slips past the partial ‘s’ component that is glued into the bead hole.   I still need to work on making better jump rings that come together exactly.    Lots of my new knowledge will transfer to my techniques of using brass, silver and copper wire for my jewelry pieces.   That’s what is so great about taking an online class!   I can watch the ...

Sometimes when you finish a project or in my case a piece of jewelry, you just want to show it to someone.   So I took my just finished necklace, bracelet and earrings to show my friend, Kim, at Bead-It here in Prescott.     This group of jewelry was my experiment into using sheet metals with eyelets and rivets.     She had asked earlier if I wanted to teach a class in cold connections and I agreed.   Cold connections are ways to connect individual parts and make a piece of jewelry without soldering or using a kiln.   I’ve learned many techniques at the classes I’ve taken in cold connections from some of the best teachers – Susan Lenart Kazmer and Deryn Mentock .   So I thought why not? Well, Kim was as excited about my new pieces as I was and so I will be teaching how to make this necklace.   In order to teach a class of 4 to 6 people, I need to be organized!   So I’ve started a syllabus with a list of materials needed and how much the...