Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

I found a surprise on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.   Jewelry!   Beautiful beaded jewelry for sale made by the Maasai tribe in that area.   Somewhere around the 1900’s the Maasai and the Europeans met and began trading goods.   The Europeans had beads – glass beads- colorful beads.   So the Maasai became makers and sellers of their jewelry. The Maasai tribe in Africa numbers about half a million people.   Men herd the cattle and women make the jewelry to survive.   The traditional beads were seeds, copper, bone, wood and gourds. Today they use mostly glass. The women sit together watching the children and cooking.   They milk cows and build their homes and cattle pens.   They also bead their jewelry giving great attention to creating beauty with contrast and balance.   Not so different than jewelry makers everywhere. As in most cultures, the intricate pattern and colorful designs are indications of social standing. The more intricate and the more colorful the higher you are

I love the ocean…any ocean.   I love to watch the waves roll in and out bringing seashells and ocean creatures.   The patterns of the sand can hold my attention for hours.   I love the wind on my face even when it is cold although I prefer a warm breeze.   I love old driftwood and birds at the water’s edge. I love watching whales blowing water and dolphins playing and sea otters floating on their backs. The variety of color and shapes of seashells amaze me.   Yes, I have collected many and right now they are in a pile on the guest bath counter waiting for glass shelves.   I have several small pieces of coral in various colors that were given to me by my father who also loved them.   We lived in Missouri so ocean things were always a novelty.   I keep them in a box and once in a while take them out and think about the ocean and its treasures.   The other evening I wanted to make something unusual and thought about the lovely piece of branch coral in my stash.   I also have coral beads

When you look at my etsy stores you see Mojave Stone jewelry .  In the 1970's, my father and two brothers mined a stone in the Mojave Desert in the middle of nowhere California!  Actually, the mine was somewhat but not very close to Desert Center.  It had been a gold/silver mine before they staked their claim and began mining stone.  My family lived in Missouri and the stone had to be trucked from the desert after strip mining it.  I was married and away from home so I got to hear the stories of making a road, fighting off bees, surviving the heat, being careful of the critters and all the other 'Wild West' excitement.  And I did not have to rough it! Dad was going to retire (some day) and make and sell the polished cabochons (a stone cut and polished usually with a flat back and a convex top) for jewelry.  In the meantime, he had some distributors sell it, some metal smiths create pieces, and he trademarked it as 'Mojave Royal Blue' and 'Mojave Stone'.  He