Featured artist: Lynda from Diva Designs

Please welcome our featured artist, Lynda, from Diva Designs!
What is your craft? How long have you been doing it?

I have worked in a variety of artistic mediums for the past 40 years, from needle and textile arts to floral design, photography, and even furniture making.

I still dried floral potpourri, topiaries and pomanders. I practice tatting lace edging for pillow cases and handkerchiefs, to keep my hand in it so I will not forget how. Tatting is something I am extremely proud to be able to do, as it is a dying art that not many people today know about, and it carries on a family tradition as well. My Great-Grandmother and my Grandmother both tatted, and an elderly cousin on my mother’s side taught me. Tatting is also very Victorian!

However, the majority of my time now is devoted to one medium, polymer clay. My life changed forever three years ago when I discovered polymer clay after seeing a polymer artist create a faux leather covered box on HGTV. Polymer is an extraordinary medium. The color combinations and design possibilities are almost endless. It can be made to mimic glass, metal, gemstones, stone, wood, marble, virtually any textured surface.
I use polymer clay to create one-of-a-kind, polymer pendants, brooches, artisan focal beads, earrings and necklaces, which I enhance with semi-precious gemstones and metals, and Swarovski crystal. I am primarily known for my image transfer work and my faux work. Recently, I began teaching my method of image transfer and mica shift through tutorials I write and sell in my Etsy shop.

How are you inspired by a Victorian aesthetic?

I have been a huge fan of the Victorian era since I was 12, when I discovered a copy of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel, Mary Barton in the local library. At the time, the town library was housed in a Gingerbread-trimmed Victorian home with beautiful mahogany staircases and bay windows. I spent a lot of time there soaking up the atmosphere and being inspired by the Victorian author collection. I read every Gaskell novel I could find. Her novel North and South remains my all-time favorite.

I was also influenced and inspired by the graphics of Thomas Nash’s political illustrations, and especially his illustrations of Santa Claus, which inspired me to create Christmas ornaments every year with a Victorian theme. 2010’s holiday collection is definitely Victorian! They all feature vintage Victorian Christmas images and lots of antique brass. My favorite digital images are vintage botanicals and fabrics from the era. They always inspire me to create.

I became more and more fascinated with the Industrial Revolution, the changing role of women in English society; the strict code of conduct and etiquette, the architecture of the period, the clothing and ornamentation.

What are some of your favorite shops on Etsy?

My favorite Etsy shops are the ones which sell vintage digital images, Vintaj brass and other antique brass beads and jewelry components, and other Victorian-inspired jewelry designers:

http://www.piddix.etsy.com
http://www.sabinesydney.etsy.com
http://www.magpiemine.etsy.com
http://www.lythastudios.etsy.com
http://www.artfulmarket.etsy.com
http://www.laurelsteven.etsy.com
http://www.laurabeestudios.etsy.com

Do you have a blog, or anything else you would like to share?

My blog is http://www.divadesigns.blogspot.com. I also have a Flickr photo stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25473906@N02/ ; and I am a member of the International Polymer Clay Association, Voila! ( http://www.voila.eu.com ), CraftEdu ( http://www.crafted.com ), and The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy ( http://www.pcagoe.com ).