
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Meet Iggy the iguana. Isn't he a doll? (pun intended). I love how marvelously his head is moulded. The way he peeks around his collar ruff is so roguish. I am charmed by him and am hoping my next buy from Ebay includes another one. The contrast between the matt beads on his face and the shiny ones on the collar do not show up here but looks much more impressive in real life. I plan to have the matt ones on his top side and the shiny ones on the underside.
Got a note from Barbara that Ling-Yen delivered the box (thanks Ling-Yen!) and the new animals are already sparkling on the window shelf at the Coast Highway Art Collective in Point Arena.

Friday, June 29, 2012


I loaded the camera's batteries, set it to the proper option, took off the lens cover and it worked perfectly just as the sun set. So I started the iguana and I love him! His head is so well-formed. Even the eyes are perfectly made. Went to bed happy and relaxed.


Jennifer Crusie wrote that this changed her idea of "cat aesthetics."
Wednesday, June 27, 2012

While I worked yesterday I pondered where and how to place these. In the night a skunk came by so I woke up to shut the windows and never got back to sleep. I am assuming the Universe wants me to put these up on Etsy today. Some will go to Point Arena to the Coast Highway Art Collective and a couple to The Dolphin in Gualala. This may be a good time to show the animals to Bead And Button. I just signed a contract yesterday for them to bring the 3-D stars as Christmas ornaments in November.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I plan to reshape the tail into one an elephant would want. Am eyeing that trunk, too. It now looks more like a snout than a trunk. I think I could bead a real tube trunk and attach it, but how?
Am considering what color to make the underside. White seems wrong for an elephant. A lighter blue? Just got a brainstorm to do a bead soup (varigated randomly) for the belly.
This scan shows how close I got the head and body colors. That pleases me.
Monday, June 25, 2012

I have eight animals now. Was thinking of putting them up together on Etsy. We will have to see how much energy I have this week and what else comes my way.
Sunday, June 24, 2012

Late in the evening I started on the elephant. Have the idea I want to embellish him with flowers and crystals - an echo of how they decorate elephants in India. As I planned how to bead the back and legs I realized that this animal is not going to stand up on his four legs. They are too sprawled out. Then it dawned on me: he flies! Then I began to plan wings for him. Wings. Hm. . . Flying elephant. Dumbo! Looking at the images on the internet I remembered / realized he did not have wings but big ears. Last night I was thinking of bead weaving bigger ears for him but this morning I am leaning toward a row of long dangling 'earrings' to increase the size. They will not be aerodynamic but, I am thinking, very interesting. Now to do the boring stuff so I can get to the fun stuff. Blue. He is a light silver-lined blue.
Which reminds me. I am pleased with the colors of the pelican.
Friday, June 22, 2012

Yesterday I made a get well bracelet for Lu whose car fell of of Highway One and rolled down the cliff. Lots bruises but she is alive and home again! Thankful for that. Sorry I stuck the bracelet in the mailer before I photographed it. Again I saw how quick and easy bracelet stringing is and shake my head at some of the high prices in catalogs.
Thursday, June 21, 2012

Thanks to a new haircut I did not get much done on the bead tray. Too many tranquillizers, too many resulting naps and an early bedtime. Also I stopped by Vicki's to pick up my FM order and there were some lilac ABs that were close in color to the rootbeer used on the body. I tried them out on the wing, but they were much too light compared to the body. So I cut them out and put the rootbeer on the wing. I think the change in stitch will be a good graduation in color. It already looks lighter than the neck. Thankfully in the order were several orange and yellows (for beaks and feet) so when I do get to the feet, I will have many color choices.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

In the afternoon the steepness of the angle of the sun gives me almost nothing to work with. So I tried raising the bear up on glasses. This worked for the pelican today but the bear photos are not right. I am thinking I may have to redo his eyes. If I shoot from down too low, one misses the face features. . .
Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I started on the pelican last night. Worked a couple of hours before I decided I did not like the way the beads were going down. So I cut it all out and redid it and now I am very happy with the way the scoop beak looks. I see that by doing these animals I have a lot to learn about embroidering around shapes. Whether one beads around, across or up and down makes a huge difference in how an animal looks. I have been unhappy with beading the belly of these animals either vertically or horizontally. In the belly are the pellets and they are there to give the animal posture. On the bear I tried using an over all picot stitch (just little bumps of beads) on the tummy and this method also got too stiff. Maybe I used too many? The stars look just too weird to repeat. I could use an opaque bead the next time.
BTW I solved the question of the size of these beads. Among the beads in one vial were some real 15s mixed in and I could see they are much smaller. This means I have no clear AB 15s and the whole bear was done in 11s.
BTW I solved the question of the size of these beads. Among the beads in one vial were some real 15s mixed in and I could see they are much smaller. This means I have no clear AB 15s and the whole bear was done in 11s.
Sunday, June 17, 2012

I feel as if I have lost my ability to distinguish the difference between an 11 and 15 sized bead. I thought I was running out of 11s and was okay with that idea. Then while looking for the 15s I found two more vials of 11s and began doing the face. When I got to the ears I wanted 15s so I looked for them. None. Nothing. Nada. So I added a pound of 15s to my order. Only then did it occur to me to look into my bead stash of pound bags. There I did find some clear AB round beads with no sticker. I assumed these must be the missing 15s. So I put them in boxes and did one ear. Now I simply cannot tell if the beads on the ears are actually smaller than the ones on the body. I am wondering if I have done all the back in 15s? Or are those 11s? I guess when the order arrives I will find out what Fire Mountain believes are 15s and maybe I will take more care in keeping the identifying sticker on the bag. I comfort my self esteem with the idea that this is a good color / bead and I should find lots of uses for it in the future. It will be interesting to see how the fabric colors of the beanie babies change under these beads.
Saturday, June 16, 2012

I love how he peeks out over his squashed nose here. I did not realize it at the time, but I picked him out on Flag Day - June 14th. I was not sure how to handle the stars but wanted to use clear AB 11s. They do a marvelous job of turning those stars into small blurry color bursts. It is sort of the way the fireworks in Point Arena look on a foggy evening.

After I got this far I realized I did not have enough 11s to do the whole bear (he is about 5 1/2 inches tall). So I am using the 11s on the under arms and back and will then switch to 15s for the front side. I definitely want to use the 15s on the ears and face. Or if that doesn't look right I will wait a week for the FM order. I could go back to the pelican in the meantime.
Thursday, June 14, 2012

I got a concerned call from one of my daughters (Thanks B.!) that we were eating McDonald's happy meals to get these toys! So for the record: no hamburgers were harmed for this project.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012

As you can see, I did do the hat for yesterday's worm. I thought the little flowers would be harder to make, but because they were small, just a couple of peyote rounds made them look realistic. Was glad the flowers covered up the gaps in the basic hat. BTW, the completed worm is 7.5 inches long.

Also I wanted to try to bead laterally instead of around to emphasize the wiggling motion. On the upper one I beaded around. Where the colors join, it is not a straight line so I had to fake it. Here I can follow the seams. I suppose I could do this procedure even if I did not bead from head to tail. I am trying to use transparent beads instead of the silver-lined ones (I worry that they might tarnish. . .) and they will show the difference in the underlaying colors. My only comfort this morning is that I have three unopened worms!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012

As I was finishing the worm I ran out of the yellow beads and had to finish up the head with a darker yellow. To me that looked like shadow so I got the idea of making a hat for the worm. We will see if today when I go to the bead tray if I finish the hat I started last night or if I start a new animal. Have the pelican in the back of my mind calling to me. You can see here where I put in the light blue and how much better that looks than the transparent yellow that was removed.
Monday, June 11, 2012

So, here is the monkey revisited. . . Also I redid the eyes so they pop out more. I love those little glass flower shapes. They give the eyes a 'star' feeling with those little jutting points. I was able to straighten the nose a bit by putting in one bead on the other side.
Last night, just before closing down the beads, I cut out that weak yellow-green color on the worm. It is hard to believe that that 'weak' color is the same as is used here on the feet and paws of the monkey. It is tricky enough to figure out how one bead color will associate or change next to another but when you have transparent beads, the different under-lying colors can have a big influence on how that bead color is perceived. I have a new idea for the worm so am eager to finish the one I showed you yesterday.
Last night, just before closing down the beads, I cut out that weak yellow-green color on the worm. It is hard to believe that that 'weak' color is the same as is used here on the feet and paws of the monkey. It is tricky enough to figure out how one bead color will associate or change next to another but when you have transparent beads, the different under-lying colors can have a big influence on how that bead color is perceived. I have a new idea for the worm so am eager to finish the one I showed you yesterday.
Sunday, June 10, 2012

Now! I see that the head of the monkey tilts up higher and this position no longer works because one cannot see his eyes. Need to redo the set up so I am shooting down from above. I found, behind some books, that grape vine twig that was covered with cobwebs. I do not know what that has to do with a monkey but I loved this evidence of my bad housekeeping.
The summer sun comes in the window at such a sharp angle that I cannot get the background and the surface of the backdrop to light up at once. I think I will have to take it all down and reposition it for these two months of 'high summer.' Will probably find more cob webby stuff!
The summer sun comes in the window at such a sharp angle that I cannot get the background and the surface of the backdrop to light up at once. I think I will have to take it all down and reposition it for these two months of 'high summer.' Will probably find more cob webby stuff!

After I filled in under the chin of the monkey, as as I waited for the sun to get to my photo set-up for his official portrait, I sorted through all the tweenie beanie babies I had. Naturally having bought from several auctions I ended up with many of some of the animals and only one or two examples of others. So I bagged up according to kind (all the "Bones" dogs in on bag) and kept the rarer items in other boxes. Now I know what I have to experiment with. I found it funny that I was 'ready' for a more colorful animal - or one with wilder colors - when I found several "Inch" the worm. Not having legs, wings or feet, this is going fast. Perhaps I am simply at the half-way point where self doubts nearly undo me, but I am not satisfied with him either. I want to make one really wild worm!
Saturday, June 9, 2012

Now I am eager to do a wild animal with the wilder colors Mother Nature never got around to using. I need to go through all the teenie beanie babies to see which ones I have duplicates of so I can mess with the colors on them.
The voting is going on at the Etsy Monthly Challenge (http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com) but my chicken is not much appreciated. . .
The voting is going on at the Etsy Monthly Challenge (http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com) but my chicken is not much appreciated. . .
Friday, June 8, 2012

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Finished the frog last night and immediately started in on the monkey. Sorry his nose got so smashed in the scanner. I felt so rich with my box of animals to chose from. I will admit, that in addition to loving this tiny being, I am also interested in finding one that is easier and faster to bead. So far they have all taken 5 - 7 days. I am still debating whether the 15s are a good choice (does the extra work makes the animal look that much better?) I felt the frog did not need the 15s on its hands and feet. I was almost tempted to dig out another frog and try it again with all 11s but my heart was captured by the monkey so the frog will have to wait. I did not realize, until I saw the bear-like beanie babies in the job lot I bought on Ebay that I have had one sitting on my computer for years. To hide the wires I had paired a little blue bear with a lion to sit just under my monitor. The BB is Issy the mascot for the Four Seasons Hotel in London and the lion is a Boyds animal. The Boyds animal has the very short 'fur' of the teenie beanie babies that works best. The regular sized beanie baby bears have 'fur' that is too deep to cover well with beads. I feel so lucky to have found these tiny animals that are so well made.
Monday, June 4, 2012

I love this little guy. Isn't that pleading look touching. It takes on more appeal when you see the needle stuck in his tummy! If I do him again I will not use 15s on his feet. Way too much time got sucked up there. His feet could have / should have been made smaller but perhaps they had to be this large for ease of sewing. I also want to try putting patterns or designs on him instead of following nature's coloring. Am eager to do another frog. The box with more animals came from Ebay so now I have duplicates. Richer and richer. . . and it is only Monday!
Friday, June 1, 2012

In only two days of beading the frog is too dimensional to fit in the scanner. Here he looks as if he is embracing the needle that adds his beads. I love how he rears up on his beaded legs and am so eager to do his eyes. I am not sure which color I will use. I have a transparent yellow in 11s (used on the chicken legs) and 15s (on the leopard's belly). All I can do is try them out to see what works. I love working on and looking at this little beast. Again I am finding that the designers did an excellent job of creating the face and body with the cut of the fabric.
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