Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Finished Jellyfish! While taking my latest metal clay class with Hadar Jacobson, my muse took over and said, "Oh this could be a jellyfish!"  And so my mokume gane project took this shape! For anyone not familiar with mokume gane it is a Japanese metal technique that merges several different metals.  Artists of metal clay came up with a way to merge different metal clays to form similar patterns.  Artists of polymer clay developed a totally different method.  (more on that in another post).  In Hadar's class we used bronze, copper and steel to form the patterns and inserted those pieces of dried clay into a bronze base.  The mokume gane pattern shows well on the body of the jellyfish. This was a piece that I brought home in dried clay (greenware) form and fired the piece in my kiln.  I was so happy that it fired well and finished beautifully.  In the greenware state I added wire loops for attaching the polymer tentacles.  The partially completed jelly

Flexible Copper (Hadar's Quick Fire) There's been a flurry of metal clay in my studio.   My late winter goal was to use the older Hadar  clay that I have so I can focus on her new One-fire clay.   Over the years (yes it keeps that long in powder form) I've collected many containers of Quick-fire bronze, copper, steel, etc.  They take longer to fire and have 3 stages of firing instead of 2.  Hadar's Flexible Copper  My mid-west background of using and saving kicked in and I would not allow myself to use the new One-fire clay until all the other was gone.  So I started creating.  First I was just going to make some simple earrings and then a pendant.  Pretty soon I wondered how I could make some pieces using tools not used before.  One thing led to another. Crisco Ad Engraving A metal engraved stamp for a Crisco ad that my mother saved became a necklace.  When this piece was fired, it separated in two parts.  I liked it so much I repaired it and fire

My Inspiration - Collection of Sea Shells Every year my collection of seashells increases.  If I find a really interesting shell at an estate sale I buy it.  If I'm walking on the beach I'm looking for unusual shells.  Apparently the love of seashells runs in the family as I now have incorporated some of my father's shells.  I love the variety of color and shape and love learning about the animals that left them. When I saw Donna Greenberg's latest installations of underwater polymer, I knew I had to use my seashells as inspiration to create my own polymer beach segment.  It was such fun to develop the shells.  The following pictures show the development of the mushroom coral. Basic shell shape I cut each oval in half and used a paper punch for the holes. I stacked each half and put a wire through them to create a circle. Find the finished mushroom coral below in another photo.  I experimented with many shapes and as I finished one I like, it went