Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

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 worked well.    I made the cane, sliced the win

When I start a project I try to have a plan – at least a loose idea of where I’m heading.  This experiment started out with me wanting to make links for a bracelet with mokume gane  that I learned to do in Hadar’s class in Tucson.  I used Friendly Copper, Friendly Bronze and Pearl Grey Steel clay in my extruder to make a long square rope that I cut into sections.  The sections had all 3 types of clay in concentric circles that mimicked the Japanese mokume gane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokume-gane  I made the back layer for the 8 links in bronze and placed the cut squares in rows making sure I had good contact with the backing.  The nice thing about using these there clays is firing them all at one time and in one stage.  So much easier.  Before I started the project, I made U shaped wire tabs (nickel chromium) to insert between the bronze backing and the mokume gane squares.  I thought that would be the best way to connect the links.   U shaped wire tabs(nickel

As I sit at my desk or at my work space, Ravens swoop between the tall swaying pine trees.  In the evening they gather in those same trees and ‘talk’ to one another with their varying individual voices.  I am entranced with them. The Raven is the subject for my latest base metal clay pendant.  I want a pendant to feature the Raven and relate to its environment.  I want to use a piece of Poe’s poem and have the finished project look rustic and a bit organic.  I’m using some of the older clay from Hadar’s clay line-up; this time I used Quick Fire Copper, Friendly Bronze and Quick Fire Steel XT.  The Quick Fire Copper was used for the back and the bail.  All three clays were used for the applied sections.  I put them on coconut carbon and set the stainless round bowl on the camp stove.  When both sides were black, I added carbon and put the bowl in the kiln firing on the mid-fire schedule. Finished Piece Waiting is the most difficult part of this process in my opinion!  Whe