Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Taking a walk through a forest, on a mountain trail or through a meadow, always inspires me.   One of my favorite flowers on these walks is the thistle.   The details of that flower make me smile.   When I found this thistle stamp in a store, of course, I just had to have it.   I put it on my work table waiting for the right time to use it.   One day I decided to make the thistle in fine silver clay and put a wire staple on the back.   That staple would allow me to make a backing of polymer clay and attach it securely to the silver.   I also made a silver flat bail with a hole toward the bottom so I could put it between two layers of polymer.   Both the staple and the hole would force polymer clay into those openings locking the silver in place.   These are the 3 slabs of polymer for the Illuminance & Clarice beads The back of the medallion is made from the sunburst slab in the front of the picture. Combining metal clay with polymer clay fascinates me.   I love blen

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