Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Don’t you just love seeing colors change when sunlight makes the color sparkle?  When I decided to play with translucent polymer clay and use alcohol inks to make color, I had no idea where that would lead me.  I just started conditioning the translucent Pardo polymer and passed it through the pasta machine.  My alcohol inks were lined up ready to be brushed on the flat surfaces.  They dried and I started blending the colors.  Then I made shapes, all kind of shapes, stacked colors, made designs and cured them in the convection oven. I sanded and polished and arranged them in groups – still not knowing how I would use them.      Before curing After curing Holding the pieces to the light fascinated me by the color changes.  The more I looked at them in the light the more convinced I was that they needed to be hung by themselves and not worn as beads.  Sun Catchers!  Perfect use of shape and color and light.  I drilled holes and used glass beads and jump rings.  Bough

August in Phoenix means that it is time for Art Unraveled!   Once again my good friend/artist Judi Dalton ( http://www.artplaylaugh.com/ ) and I attended 2 classes at Art Unraveled in Phoenix. For those of you who are not familiar with this conference please take a look at their website.   http://www.artunraveled.com/ARTU15/AUindex.htm   Judi and I have been going since it started and have taken an array of art classes.  There is also a Shopping Extravaganza that should not be missed!  Every August we sign up for some new class and time to spend catching up with each other’s news. This year I opted for the class ‘Dremel After Dinner’  http://www.artunraveled.com/ARTU15/Workshops/Dremel%20After%20Dinner.html   Thomas Ashman is a mixed media artist http://www.blacksheepartist.com/ and had lots of solid information to share.  I learned the difference between and how to use diamond drills and carving tools.  I have all my attachments for flexshaft and dremel in a plasti

 This is my JoolTool.  I first saw it demonstrated at "Metal Clay by the Bay" and thought about buying it for a day.  I bought it with the metal clay kit and was delighted with both the time saving and the finished product.  Then several months later I bought the polymer clay package.  I was equally happy with the time saving and the end product. For those of you who are not familiar with this product, it has a variety of sanding and polishing discs that easily screw on the vertical spike.  The discs have slots evenly spaced and when they turn you can see what you are working on.  Less mistakes and less time spent sanding and polishing. Last February I went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  Since I had been to Australia I wanted to find some black opal from there.  The finished pieces proved too expensive for my budget.  Fortunately a friend and I found a booth with rough unfinished Black Opal.  I decided to buy some (having no idea how to select the better quality