Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

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...

Have you ever started a project and all of a sudden you realize your concentration is focused on a part of the project and you aren’t progressing?   You’re just stuck thinking about the same thing over and over?   Well, as most of you know, I make jewelry using silver metal clay.   I like to put the Mojave Stone cabochons that my dad cut and polished in bezels and design around the stone.   Let me share with you how I got stuck in the process.     Bezel shaped to fit a stone  I decided that I would make the bezels (the thin strip that goes around the stone and holds it in place) out of the same silver metal clay as the setting.I made a mold for the stone by pushing it into polymer clay (plastic clay that holds its shape) and carefully removed it.   Then I poured jeweler’s investment (that is a type of plaster) into the mold, let it dry and used it as a plug.   The plug holds the space for the stone and can be fired with the clay in a kiln. ...