Finished the bumble bee last night and had enough energy to start the snake. I am eager to use the stone chips on this project. I suppose I should be testing them out to see how they look and what color to use. I think I was so tired by ten o'clock that I just wanted to do something quiet and undemanding to finish off my day. It will be interesting to bead something without legs or wings or ears. That tongue could take a while. I already am thinking of using 15s. Am thinking of reshaping the tongue. . . It could be more correct. Off to look at snake tongues.

I went back to Gualala Arts Center to see which of the bead works won the Beading Excellence Award. It was Joanne Leary's piece pictured here. While I was there, Sus, the Director came out holding the wrong prize ribbon piece. Remember I gave him the one I had made with the blue ribbon and the words 'first place' instead of Bead Excellence as you see below on August 17. He showed me how Phil Graf, in practicing up his hand to write the names of the winners on the back of the other ribbons, had written on the back of the 'wrong' ribbon' - "Sus, First Place, First Class, First in our hearts!" Sus asked me if I could remove the word 'Beads' and put something that would indicate that the ribbon really was for him (you can see the original on August 5). The next day the issue of Sketches, the center's newsletter, went online and I read Sus's letter which he signed "Executive Director." Then I knew his official title - he is so low-keyed I was not sure.
How to redo the card? Executive Director was much bigger than the word 'Beads' so I could not cut off the beads to replace it. I found I was able to pry off the back where Phil had written his poem. Then I cut off the logo and year and the words 'First Place.' They looked funny lying atop the card (actually Lacy's Stiff Stuff) so I got the idea (thanks Universe!) of putting gold on the edges. Using the computer I printed out 'Executive Director' and then using pastels as carbon paper, got the letters on the card stuff and sewed on the beads. I was very glad to have the chance to realign the ribbon. I had positioned it wrong before and this time I got it right. And just now Werner returned home after delivering the ribbon to Sus who was pleased with the results.

To my surprise I started on the bumble bee. A basket of possible beanie babies was at my elbow. I reached out, pulled this one out, and started sewing. I am wondering what journey is meant for me via this bug.
What you cannot see are the 8s I used on the bottom. That size made the bottom especially flat and solid. I want to remember this when I do the lady bug again. Am eager to dip into one of the many new yellow beads I got recently. There were times, in the light last night, that this yellow had a greenish hue and I wondered if I should go for that. I am hoping I can find a good clear yellow to keep to the bee-ness. I used matt finish black beads for the body - hoping to indicate fuzziness - and shiny black on the wings. Because the legs are so small I suspect I will have to use 15s on them. That will slow me down. Am wondering what it would take to make this into a lightning bug. . . Saw an ad for very tiny LED lights in a catalog. . . Hm. . . now the idea of the greenish yellow body makes sense!

Got this puppy done last night just shortly before midnight. I love how the ears turned out! Instead of making the belly the same color as the rest of the beast, there was a tube of a pinkish beads still lying on the table from my stint of filling tubes from the pound bags so I switched colors in the middle of the dog. I accepted the Universe's nudge and was glad with the result. I see this puppy as the miracle dog as I almost failed to finish it. It was only finding the Preciosa beads that showed me I could use 11s and get a good result. Have a big order for these beads ready for Fire Mountain.

Over the weekend I finally got around to making the 'book' - that brownish blob at the bottom - that makes this worm into a bookworm and enables her to sit upright. No more lying on her side looking like roadkill. What you cannot see from this photo are the white pages within the book. I am hoping the real thing 'reads' better than this photo.

I wanted to show you the new boxes but I whisked them off to the gallery before the sun came out for a photo. Here is "Steampunk Pussy" in her box. I didn't take her to the gallery because I am hoping that looking at her will inspire me to do another one. So far no luck. The inner push is just not yet there. The good news is that the boxes are excellent. I was surprised how much shredded paper and Easter grass I had on hand - even these silvery strands. Each animal gets an appropriate 'grounding' and interesting stuff to sprinkle on the carpeting.

I packed things before photographing some, I see, in my eagerness to get to the studio. Barbara was there (as well as some visitors who stopped by on their Studio Discovery tours). She was working on an interesting gourd. Sorry I failed to photograph it. I was too busy putting the acrylic boxes on my animals that were already on display. Barbara helped fold boxes so there was still plenty of time to take one last long look at the marvelous paintings of Kim Robinson.
I got this much done on this puppy while seeing her works again and again in my mind. I phoned Kaye Like in the evening and we had a great talk about Kim's works. When I met her I had no idea of her previous career in netsuke carving.

Last night I finished the dog done in 15s just before stopping for dinner. I was fairly sure that when I got back to the beads I would dip into the basket of unopened beannie babies to pick my next project. Mary, who cleans, had seen the seahorse and at first thought it to be a dragon. What a great idea! I will make the new one I have into a dragon. I even went to the studio to search for the right kind of stone chips to use for dragon scales and came back in with several possibilities.
Yet when I sat down for an evening of beading my hands first strayed to the dog I showed you on August 16th. I began clipping off the beads and pulling out threads. Such mindless work becomes almost meditation. I was very tired and sore from cleaning and this was about all I could do. To my surprise, when I returned to the real world (give or take some of its aspects) I was sewing down these transparent yellow 11s. How much better these fit together than the cylinder like pink brown beads. I suspect that I will now go ahead to do this puppy while I wait for my nerve to gear up to doing the dragon.