Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Off to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show!  Actually I'll be spending 3 days in an intensive workshop with Hadar Jacobson artinsilver.com  learning to use her clay and producing (I hope) some lovely pieces of jewelry.  I'll be sharing that experience when I return.  It is also an opportunity to see some friends, take care of having taxes done and seeing my old home town of Tucson.  I understand the downtown area is much improved!  And the temperature should be warmer than Prescott! Later!

It’s been a while since I made a ring.   In fact, it had been years.   And when I was going through my supplies, I realized that I needed to use more of my silver clay stash.   Now might just be the time to make a ring. The design I had in mind incorporated holes into a shaped band.   Out came my books and I started reading and remembering. I wanted a size 6 ring and measured 2 sizes larger.   In the end I should have made it 2 ½ inches larger for the shrinkage…next time. Should have made the size a little larger for shrinkage I rolled my silver clay 4 cards thick, planned where the holes would be and cut them with a fine pointed tool.    Since I wanted a shaped ring that was higher in the center than the edges, I dug out my seldom used cork clay and dampened it.   Then I rolled a snake with tapered end and put the clay over it as I wrapped the clay around my ring mandrel that I previously covered in a wrap paper.   Marked where the ring should be and started shaping the b

After 2 ½ years (and a few weeks but who is counting?) De-Banding Day is upon me.   The braces on my teeth are coming off!   Jan.29 (TODAY) is the day.   So this last week, I have neon lime green bands on my upper teeth and deep tomato red bands on my lower teeth.   Honestly it looks like I ate a salad and some got stuck in my teeth.   That often happens by the way!   I’ve had unexciting silver bands for 2 ½ years.   At 65, having braces calls more than enough attention to my mouth and not necessarily in a good way.   The young man who put these lovely colors in my mouth explained that the current rule was: The visit before you de-band requires that you use colored bands. “Ok, you choose.”   And he did! 2 ½ years is a very long time to have discomfort in your mouth….until you talk to someone who has had braces for 4 years. “OMG!” I say, “How can you stand it for that long?” and thank all the stars above that mine have only required this amount of time. When I started this advent