Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

When I used to design homes, I knew what they would look like in my mind.   And I always sighed gratefully and with relief when the homes were finished and they really did look like what I imagined.   It is the same with my jewelry.  Viking Knit with pearls  The beautiful crystal prism that I saved (who knows why) from some chandelier years ago would become my focal. When I added pearls to viking knit just to see what it looked like, I had no idea where I would use it (see post http://lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/search?q=viking+knit+and+pearls). As I sat at my workbench with my pencil, paper and parts, this design took shape.   I realized I did not have enough pearls and knew the Tucson Gem Show was coming up.   I drew the design and put the parts (prism and viking knit with pearls) in a box.    I could get pearls the right color and size to finish my recycled prism necklace. Some major health issues popped up in our house and I had to cancel the Tucson trip.   A couple

Small Bundle of Success #1 A small case of crystals has taken up space on my shelf for a few years and this December I decided to create jewelry using them.   There were vintage teardrops, Swarovski teardrops, and chandelier prisms - all have some kind of imperfection.   In the case of the teardrops the tops are broken and I just hate to throw them away.   3 Teardrop Crystals with Bead Caps My solution is to make bead caps with bales from silver metal clay and glue the crystals into the caps.   Since silver metal clay shrinks in firing, I knew I needed to make the caps larger.   I molded polymer clay over the top of the teardrop and baked it.   This gave me a firm form where I could build my bead cap of the silver clay.   I started with 3 forms and made 3 different caps with bales.   This was an experiment that worked!   The forms made the caps bigger than the crystals with room to shrink.  Also I found the perfect drying place for the clay caps......the points of my jewelry pli