Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Inspiration comes in many forms.  This fall I've been fascinated by seed pods.  We have lots of thistles and grasses and bushes.  My camera goes with me most places and my eyes try to see these forms in different lights and positions.  Today I'm sharing some of the photos with you.  Enjoy!  

My first ever ‘Do Over Challenge’ was such fun!  I signed up to participate in Jeannie K Dukic ’s 6th Do Over Challenge not really knowing anything about how it worked.  I received a necklace that was very sweet with copper wire connections and pinkish pearls.  It sat on my work space for a couple of weeks while I pondered my next move.  One day I opened my polymer bead collection and was drawn to the pinkish and green beads.  They really looked good with the pearls.  I found some green crystal beads and a few other contenders.  But when I tried the small striped beads, I knew my combination!  This is the finished product for most of the pearls in the original necklace. It was the week to finish some of my long term projects.  I kept the wires with the red and green rubber bands from the braces I wore for 3 years.  When they finally came off, I asked the orthodontist if I could have them.  He wanted to know why since almost NO ONE wanted them and I told him I wante

How do you feel when you finish a long term project?  Elated? Happy? Glad to move on?  Peter and I just finished a project that was on my ‘to do’ list for 3 ½ years!  When we moved into our Prescott home, I was elated that my dining table fit in the space designated.  The problem was that the chandelier was not centered over the table.  That really bothered me!  The ceiling is slanted and has popcorn texture.  If I were 20 years younger, I’d take that off and have a different texture.  But I’m not and I’m willing to put up with the popcorn.  I wasn't willing to put up with a light that was in the wrong place!  A medallion would hide the old hole and center the new hole without having to patch.  If you have ever tried to patch popcorn texture, you know how difficult it is to match.  On top of that my chandelier is oblong so I needed to find an oval or rectangle.  And I actually found one that would work.  It was not too expensive and I ordered it.  The excitement was runn

Today I'm in Jerome AZ at Nellie Bly learning to make kaleidoscopes!  Take a look at my previous post and you will see why I love kaleidoscopes and Nellie Bly.   http://www.lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com/2012/11/trip-to-jerome-az-changes.html That me multiplied! My classes today are by Sue Rioux  http://sueriouxdesigns.com/   (morning class) and Kathleen Hunt   http://www.kaleidoart.org/home.html   (afternoon class).  Every year Nellie Bly offers a weekend on October to take classes from great teachers where the students learn about how to make a kaleidoscope.  Now I get to attend! I have no idea where this will lead and what I will do with my new knowledge but I'll be sharing with you.  I'm so excited to be doing this!

OOOPS! It was brought to my attention that I should have written a caption to go with the video on my last post.  Had I known that I clicked the button to put it on the post, I would have explained why I thought Salvador Dali and Walter Disney’s short collaboration was worthy to share with you.  Not only do I admire Salvador Dali’s work and foresight http://www.salvadordali.com/  but I have a loose relationship with Walt Disney’s cartoons!  When I was young, many years ago, Carl W. Stalling spent two weeks a year in my family’s Missouri home.  My grandparents (on my father’s side) were taking care of their nephew, Fred.  When I was 9 yrs old, they all moved into my parent’s home and all of a sudden we had a full house.  Carl was Fred’s brother and came to visit him every year from Hollywood CA.  For two weeks every summer, Carl played our old upright piano and tried to impart his talent to my hands.  I know you are probably wondering what this has to do with Walt Disney a

This past weekend I helped celebrate the life of a dear close friend.  Bonnie was like a mother, a mentor and was filled with the joy of living.  I was her interior designer for 28 years, her ‘foster’ daughter (she had several younger women who held her in high esteem and called her ‘mother’) and her friend. When I was asked to get the memorial signing book, I could only do what I had always done for her when she needed a special item.  I made it.  She loved Hawaii, the color purple and Mickey Mouse!  She also loved teddy bears, parties, sparkle and traveling. After searching in several stores for the right book, I found one in Joann’s.  It was a padded fabric backed scrapbook that I could take apart and personalize.  Never having used polymer clay on fabric or in as large a piece, I began experimenting.  The book was 8” x 8” and just fit in my convection oven.  The base of the piece was blues, purples and teal colors blended together. I textured it and put it on a piece of

Lazy River Technique with Amethyst Chips By now, I've lost track of what day I've made what technique in polymer clay.  I do know that I am enjoying trying the various ideas in Julie Picarello’s book, ‘Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques’.  I have never taken the time to explore a technique book in depth and I find that I like being immersed in polymer with a focus.  Usually I flip through a book, stop and look at something and go, “hmmm – that would be interesting to try!”  Today’s focus is ‘Lazy River’. My Lazy River is definitely different than Julie's but I use the same techniques. My colors are purple, green, teal, translucent, glitter and silver. My theme is nature, leaves with shimmering dew, moonlight through forests and swirling hidden streams.  A friend gave me some amethyst chips and I decided to use them as accents and work them into some of the layers of clay.  Just an experiment! Large chips in circles for earrings, layered

 Finding display pieces and ways to maximize space on a sale table is a problem we all face at some time.  Our homeowners association has an annual Art/Craft Show in September and I needed to find a way to display more of my pieces without getting too cluttered. I saw this idea at a craft show last year and decided to make a multi-layered stand.  Home Depot, here I come!  In the a/c section a gentleman helped me find the right size pipe and told me how to lock it in place as a tube.  It took 3 sets of hands to actually accomplish this part (my neighbors are great about helping) and the pipe stood as a pipe!  Peter, who always helps with the structural part of my wild ideas, made a secure base.  I cut flanges on one end of the pipe and he screwed the flanges on to the wood base.  I had a roll of aluminum left from some 10 year old project and used it as the base for each layer.  The roll of silver electrical tape worked great to attach each layer to the pipe.  Then I

First it was rocks and now it is lizard tails!  In Julie Picarello’s book ‘Patterns in Polymer –Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques’ I spent a day playing with her ‘lizard tail’ project.  Now, I have real  lizards and their tails really do not look like these!  Nevertheless these were great fun to make and to slice open.  Would you believe the outside is the stripe and the inside the intricate spiral pattern?   Basically you stack your colors of clay, roll them into a cone shape (the direction of rolling is very important) and cut the cone in half.  Yes, there are great directions for this technique in the book…and pictures!  I wanted a piece to show the inside and the outside of the cone I made and I think this piece succeeds.  Very tribal looking.  I have to finish the cord insert and put wires on the earrings.    I turned the tails into beads, into pendants, into earrings and into buttons.  Absolutely fascinating.  Lizard Tail Beads The hardest part of this neck

What a good idea I had bringing all my polymer clay (well a lot of it) and tools to Tucson for my self imposed 'Personal Polymer Clay Workshop'.  I decided to make a big change from yesterday's rock and explore imprinted techniques. I love the various effects and the surprise of each cut.  One of my favorite books is by Julie Picarello Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques. Beginning with the ‘Basic Imprint Technique', I picked a color scheme of Fimo Orange 04, a Skinner Blend of Green 05 and Emerald Green 56, Turquoise 32, and Glitter Gold 112.  Following the directions on p.33 of Julie’s book, I built my stack of colors, selected my tools to imprint and planned my design.  I love the star cutter and used it for focal point of the design.  I also like the dimension created when some circles were removed to create missing shapes in the design. Consistent slicing is one of the most difficult procedures for me.  I think I’ll mak

Look Closely On the Path Ahead Man and nature on the same trail Interacting, overlapping