Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Seedpods are a secret love of mine.  I collect them and many different kinds line my window sill.  I love to make them out of metal clay This bronze seedpod started out with bronze clay wrapped around a wax shape that was covered in saran wrap.   After the clay dried, I pulled out the wax through a hole I made for the bale.  The center seeds are thin steel circles that were placed over the bronze layer.  I painted veins on the sides and back with bronze slip (thinned bronze clay), sanded and let the piece dry.  The bronze clay was fired in activated charcoal in a 2 stage process and I always hold my breath when I remove a fired piece from the kiln several hours later.  Did the clay sinter (did it fuse into metal?)  or will I need to fire it again?  This time the clay did sinter except for one steel circle which got lost in the charcoal. After polishing my seedpod, I reviewed my choices.  I could leave th...

Front of Pendant or Back of  Failed Pendant Described Below This is a story about my trials, frustrations and successes of making a pendant from Goldie Bronze metal clay and setting a stone in bronze bezel wire. Many of you won’t be interested in the details here but I’m hoping it gives you an idea of all the stages and work that goes into making a piece.  Last weekend I decided to make a pendant, finish it and then solder a bezel for the stone.  I practiced wrapping the bezel wire around the stone, cutting the edge straight and soldering the edges together.  Then I practiced soldering a bezel on a piece of sheet metal with my acetylene torch.  It melted the bezel.  I changed to a butane torch and that worked.  I tried to solder the bezel to the finished bronze pendant with bronze solder and melted the bezel.   Next I moved to silver solder and that did not work either.  It was time to go to FaceBook and ask my jewelry b...

My Piece from Pam East's class This post started as a quick review of my experience in enameling.  It is becoming a 2 or 3 part post because I want to share my experiences with those of you who might be interested in learning to enamel as well as sharing some of the techniques that go into the art of enameling.   After taking Pam East’s Enameling on Copper Clay class, I was eager to try it by myself.  I thought I would rush right home and delve in to the process.  Alas! I had too much going on in my life to go off on yet another tangent. I love the two projects I made in her class. I loved being part of her Kickstarter Program and decided to wait to try enameling on my own until her DVD arrived. My Piece from Pam East's Class A couple of weeks ago I started watching the DVD to refresh my memory on the entire process.  It’s a great DVD and I highly recommend it if you are interested in enameling on metal clay.  She has one set for copper cl...

It is springtime and time for bugs!  This is a framed bug (dead – pretty much the only kind I like) from Malaysia that I purchased at a Reptile Show.  I could feel a spring project in the making! I studied the form of the body and thought about what materials I could use to construct my bug.  The result is a body made of Hadar Smart Bronze clay formed in segments.  The wings had to move and the best way was to make a hinge as an integral body part.      A nickel chromium wire feeds from tail to head.  The tail became one with the wire but the head remainedseparate. I finished the body and finally stabilized the head to the first segment by soldering.  With the body finished, the wings were next.  The colors were mixed with some translucent clay.  I could have used more translucent but generally the combination of 672 yellow,1150 Lemonade,380 Buried Treasure, white and translucent polymer clay worke...

Hadar's Friendly Copper Paperweight For the last two weeks I've been experimenting with a copper paperweight that I started making in Hadar’s class.  My last post explained base metal clay and I showed you some of my successful jewelry projects.  (While this post might be a little technical for those of you not working in metal clay, it does illustrate my tenacity or perhaps just my stubbornness.)  And perhaps you will enjoy the pictures. This paperweight actually started out as a possible pendant.  The basic hexagonal box was made with Hadar’s Friendly Copper clay.  I rolled the bottom layer 4 cards thick (that’s playing cards) and added the 6 sides after the bottom dried.  Since I was going to put on a top, I needed supports.  The supports were to be placed less than ½” apart.  I think I made mine a little too close but I did not take a picture of each step.  I wish I had.  The supports dried and I placed the top on my 2”+ box...

I've been stuck in seed pods this fall! This is my sterling silver piece.  I thought it might be difficult to mold the silver clay into the correct shape and of course I tried several forms to accomplish the support. Among some of the solutions were egg cartons (they were not quite the right shape), paper (it did not hold its shape) and microsphere clay (it was too crumbly or I did not have the expertise to use it). Finally I rolled the clay to 4 cards thickness and used my paper pattern to cut 4 sections of the pod.  This is the same pattern I used to make the translucent polymer pod.  Then I used big bead of air dry clay as supports for the sections.   I also used a special form I made to be sure the 4 sections would fit together correctly and dried them separately.  Once dry, I knew I could sand and glue them together with water and clay and they would keep their shape.  The same texture plate was used as in the previous polym...

The stone I selected for my class project is a Plume Agate.   I did not realize how healing the process of setting it into silver metal clay would be.  As you know, Prescott had two fires close by this summer – the Doce Fire and the Yarnell Fire.  It is not possible to have a fire close to your town without being affected.  It is not possible to lose 19 firefighters in one of those fires without being affected.  When I selected this stone, I saw plumes of smoke with the sun setting behind them.  I saw the burned ground with the lacy texture at the base of the stone.  I saw the beauty and the destruction of fire and I knew this was going to be my commemorative piece.  As I sketched the design for the setting, I wanted to emphasize the texture at the bottom of the stone.  I wanted to keep the main part of the setting simple so the eye would go to the plumes and I wanted to continue a flame from the front to the back.  ...

A week ago I posted in Face Book that I had finished several pair of earrings made from Hadar’s clay.  I was experimenting with techniques from her book, The Handbook of Metal Clay Textures and Form, and I promised to share my experience with you.  The larger oval pair of earrings (lower left in photo) combines Brilliant Bronze and Copper.  I carved curvy stripes in the copper oval and laid in snakes of bronze, sanded flat and fired.  I know I could polish and make them smoother and shinier but I like the more rustic look.  I used Baldwin’s Patina to bring out the color contrast. The upper right pair of earrings also combines the bronze and copper.  The back textured layer is bronze and the smaller rectangle is copper.  I was concerned that the copper might be too thick and not bond well but as you can see – no problem! The earring on the lower right also has a backing of bronze.  I carved horizontal strips and laid the copper sna...

Finished Piece Back of finished piece This is the last and 6 th piece of jewelry I created in Hadar Jacobson’s Architexture Jewelry Class.   As you can see that was a very busy intensive class that was worth every minute and dollar!   There was so much to learn and Hadar was so willing to share.   This project focused on layering different metal clays.   I rolled out and textured a layer of brilliant bronze, a layer of copper, a layer of steel and another layer of copper for the backing.   Each layer had a different texture.   I cut out the top layer of bronze and placed it over the copper layer making sure I had the amount of copper showing that I wanted.   Those two layers were placed over the steel and then onto the copper back layer.   This was an interesting way to build a piece as it provided support for each layer.   And as you can see it really produces nice depth.    Before Firing  I made a long cylinder on...

My finished Pueblo Ring The second project we made in Hadar’s class on ‘Architectural Jewelry’ was a ring with 3 layers.   It has dimension in the front, an integral band in the back and the bottom is enclosed.   I made a mini pueblo with a tower, middle building and a wall.   The clay is Hadar’s Brilliant Bronze.   Each layer has a different texture which enhances the 3-D effect.   Using the paper ring to dry the separate pieces.  These are parts from different class member's rings. The band starts with a strip of paper taped in a circle that is 2.5 times larger than the actual ring size.   That adjusts for the shrinkage during firing.   I should have made mine a half size larger.   Now I have a pinkie ring that is a little heavy.   Someday when I make another, this may end up in my etsy store.   Right now, I’m just excited to have made it!   Each layer is made separately and dried before attaching to the main b...