Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Last time you read about the tortoise project, the silver clay was ready to fire.   After programming the kiln and waiting the required time, I held my breath and opened the door.   There it was!   Of course I had to try it on to see if it fit before I did anything else.   Success! When silver clay gets fired, the organic part of the clay burns up and the heat fuses the micro filaments of silver to become 99% fine silver.   After the firing the silver looks white.   Once I brush it with a brass brush, the color turns to the silver color one expects.      Now comes the sanding and polishing.   I want to be able to see the pattern of the tortoise better and that requires a patina of liver of sulphur.   The water is warm when I put a small amount of the liver of sulphur gel, mix it, and put in the silver pieces.   After the silver pieces start to darken to the color I want, they will go into a separate dish of wate...

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year’s From Our house to yours! Linda and Peter Linda Britt Design My Paperweight Collection Adds Sparkle to the Table!

Today I decided to make Christmas cookies.   I’ve been putting off holiday baking because …well honestly I don’t need to eat all those cookies and brownies and goodies that show up on my hips!   But today I threw caution to the winds and made sugar cookies – the kind that get rolled out and cut into shapes.   I chose that kind because I wanted to use the cookie cutters that my Mom and I used when I was a little girl.   Yes, I still have them.   They are red plastic and are showing some wear!   I am too! Making the dough was almost like having Mom here again.   I could hear her telling me how to cream the butter and sugar; how to put the rolled out dough in the refrigerator so it would be easier to cut into shapes; how to watch the cookies in the oven and take them out just as the edges started to turn light brown.    “Be sure to put the cookie cutters in the flour before putting it on the dough.”    I thought about how patient my mo...