I have not been showing you the progress on the butterfly because I kept feeling that to look its best it had to be suspended. So yesterday, after adding the face and antenna, I hung it before the backdrop. I do not know what others will think, but I was completely enchanted. I took gobs of photos - I had to as it kept spinning - and this morning I feel none of them capture the charm of the work. The colors seem way off in the photos (those beads underneath are surely not that green!) and the beads on the top of the wings I saw as 'blue' and the box called 'cobalt' look very purple here. I am pleased with the way the front wings turn upward on the tips. I had not counted on that. I was aware of having to curl the wing backward to get the needle where I wanted it.
I did start on a small fish named "Coral" because I had gotten the order from Fire Mountain and the peridot chips arrived. They are really tiny but that is exactly right for scales. I thought I would practice using them on this fish before using them on my last seahorse that I want to make into a dragon.

The butterfly's wings are "drying" and the colors are brightening as I bead. I love the velvety plush look of the blue. The matt finish adds to the impression. Am off to work on Lynx so I have time to bead this afternoon.

The turtle helped me finish it off last night. Thank goodness the stone chips made the shell hump up the way I had the finished piece in my mind. I was worried that the droop in the original shell would not pop into shape, but it did. I love the green beads here so I just ordered a pound of them. I finally figured out how to manage the favorites list on Fire Mountain. Maybe with my next order I will be unable to confuse Vicki so much.

I had been putting off starting on the butterfly because I knew this animal /bug was going to take some time. Having found out how great 8s work on the underside of the turtle, I think I can get the bling I want on the undersides of the butterfly the same way. This idea gave me the impetus to pick it up as the next project. I am pleased with how the transparent yellow look on top of that hot pink. What you cannot see here is the underside of the body which I was able to complete last night. The angle of this photo is all wrong. The butterfly needs to fly!

At this point I ran out of day. I will not be running out of beads though. Vicki called to say she was sending in my order early so I should have them by Saturday. I am very happy with the Preciosa beads from Czechoslovakia. Have many more in the order which I am eager to get. They are smaller than 11s - closer to being 15s - maybe we could call them 13s? Anyhow they offer a good option for when 11s are too big and I am too impatient to sew down all those 15s. The colors are excellent but I do find several that are too small for the needle to pass through. However, by being smaller than 11s, I get more beads per ounce. When I started the green on the turtle I was worried that I would not have enough to finish it, but I still had 1/2 box left over.
Good news from Barbara Fast at CHAC. This is the first month that everyone in the co-op has sold something and gets a check. She only opened in March so I think this is fantastic success. This also shows how art events at Gualala and around spill over into Point Arena. I am hoping that soon our art events will create spill over back to them!

A marvelous sunny afternoon gave me lots of excellent photos. Here is the snake in all his striking beauty. You can even see his crystal baby rattle. The way the beads line up on the underside really give the feel of a snake belly. Eager to try a different color on the belly. I tried to cut the spikes on the tongue but the material would not hold its shape so I just beaded the ends. By using 15s I could get them this thin. If I did this again I would cut down the tongue so it is not so fat. Adding beads to the animals adds not only weight, but also size. In this case the size of the tongue with the beads is slightly off for the size of the snake's head. I was surprised, and pleased, that I could work on this animal/reptile, could handle it with complete ease and calm. There is also a spider in the collection but I think I could not be so open to touching it for hours. Besides those 8 long skinny legs would be a b* to bead.

Got the snake done and had sunshine enough for a photograph, but also company during the 30 minutes of optimum light! Sue came by to share fresh blackberries she had just picked and tales of her trip to Japan. She bought the very first animal I ever beaded - the big teddy bear that I had entered in Fire Mountain's contest (still no word!). Thanks Sue and I hope grandbaby Hannah will appreciate it and you and your sense of art taste!
Last night I had started on this, a rather rare 1993 tennie beanie baby. At about 10:30 as I was four rows from finishing the underside, I found out the other box of green iris 8s were actually blue. I searched high and low for more. I found the same color in 6s, though. Nothing to do but to cut off all those beads and nine hours of work. Started all over with these yellow ones. I guess that is what the turtle wanted - a brighter, lighter look underneath.
I am still tearing the house apart looking for the bag of fish lures. At the opening at CHAC on Saturday night Arna Means said she wanted one of my fish lures as a key chain. There was only one on a necklace so I decided to make a new one for her. I know that only a week or so ago, while looking for something else I found the bag of fish lures. I was surprised I had so many and thought, "I must put these where I can find them as I do not need to order more." And I put them in a very secure new place, not where they had been, and now I cannot find them. A candle and prayer to St. Anthony is on my afternoon agenda.

The snake is moving right along. There I wrote it. That line has been in my head all morning and it was so ridiculous that I could not get rid of it - like those tunes that bore into your mind. Germans call them "Ohrwurm" = ear worms! Maybe this little snake is an ear worm. That thought will make me squirm as I work on it.
Oh, I did find many excellent images of the tongues of snakes on Google and I will re cut this one to match. The remake is not done because my very best and sharpest scissors have disappeared. I have about 20 pairs of scissors in my work room alone so it is no wonder that they appear and disappear on a regular basis. As soon as I knew what had to be done to reshape the tongue, I got an image in my mind of a certain pair of scissors that are "always" in the thread cup. Yep. Now they are gone. If I could just get rid of those images of mutilated human tongues I also found online. Yipes!
The snake takes lot of chips. I am glad I started with these - the only ones of which I had about 2 cups. Can see a snake made with crystals. That would make Mr. Swarosky happy!
I got the stars back from the Bead N' Button photo team and will take them to the gallery tonight for the opening of Brenda and Jim's show. The sun is already shining so I should be able to photograph the bumble bee so it can go along also. Someday Barbara will start screaming, "Enough of those animals."