I forgot to show you the official portraits of Wally, Gualala's walrus. The sun shone, the clouds were small and here he is. Seeing these photos makes me eager to leave the stars to God and get back to beading animals. Vicki did send in the Fire Mountain order early so by the middle of next week I I should have the beads I need for the next three animals - those clear AB clear 11 seed beads.

So the stars appear in the midnight of my beading tray. You can see the pink one and the gold Delicas not yet assembled - that is job for daylight and sunshine at that. I had always thought 8s were too big to use on the stars, but on a Saturday afternoon whim I decided to try them. Not bad. Not bad at all. And this change certainly gives the customer a bigger star for the time spent. Compare with the larger star in the middle that took 15 hours to make. I was so eager to see the star made with 8s that I started sewing the diamonds together as each was made (as you can see in the left-hand corner). When I got to the last diamond I was missing nine beads. So today I will cut that  experiment apart and do a star with different colors on each side.Who knows were this problem will lead me. . .

So back to the stars! When I had the white beads out in order to pick one for the walrus tusks, I just could not find any that 'fit' so I just sat and stared into space. An idea came to mind, kind of like those messages in the Magic 8 balls, the way they drift into view. With it came the memory of promising Barbara more stars for Christmas. So with a terrible inner noise I shifted gears and here we are. The first one took almost fifteen hours to get it this far and my heart sagged with the idea of doing stars for weeks. Then last night I started a smaller star and it went very fast. In addition, while checking out what I needed to order for new beads, I found the bag of very light silver lined pink/whites. Then the old quickening returned as I was eager to see what kind of a star those beads would make. It is is this drive, this eagerness, this desire to discover how something will or can or could look that fuels my beading. Without it the time with the needle is just work and drudgery.

I got this close to finishing the walrus when I turned into a pumpkin and could no longer keep my eyes open. The big question today is whether I should bead the tusks, too. Will probably make an attempt to see how it looks before I find him finished.

While cleaning up the studio I found this tucked in a basket with things to add to the sculpture heads. I am fairly sure it was the first amulet bag I ever made. I remember the beads were given to me by Sherrie Wilcox - the good woman who got me started on this bright and blingy path. After giving away so many of my pots on Sunday, I was very touched to find this bag had stuck to me and was still around.

Gualala Walrus

I love it when the beads give the beast enough stability to stand on its own two feet and back flippers. This is the first time I have done the complete back and all the legs in one continuous line. Usually I do a leg at a time and often only one side of it. This method gives great stability. I am glad I am not doing a pattern as it would be hard for me to hold that in my head as I go around and around the edges. Barbara stopped by to pick up the new jewelry for the net at CHAC and I showed her the Warrior Cat. She smiled but said very little. I hope she had other things on her mind and the silence was not an opinion. I was just glad she asked to see it. I slept an hour after her visit so did not get as much done on this as I had planned.

The latest beaded animal is the walrus. Calm, with none of my wildness, he seems to be just what I need right now. No colors to clash, no weird shapes to cause me to rip out stitches - this is sweet and simple. It will be interesting to see how long I can stay in this zone - before I start to imagine wildness or find the new ideas. For a walrus, the animal is very small. It fits in my hand like a baby. How to bead those tusks may exercise my inventiveness. I am thinking. . .

This is obviously not a beading project but the activity is related to the beads. Here are Mary and Al Rose gathering up my ceramics to make a new effort in finding new homes for the pieces. Some they will try to sell on the patio of the CHAC gallery, some they will use as planters for the plants they have raised and some as garden sculptures in their landscaping business. When I get the last of the dust and spiders cleaned up all the studio space can now go to the beads. Mary kept asking me if I was sad to see the pots go out of my life and I kept insisting I was glad to see them appreciated by someone new and was delighted to see how the pots inspired them to new ideas and projects. Then in the night I felt sad, but the feelings of thankfulness that I could make these things, that they were going to a good new home where there was more energy for them took the sharp edge off the sadness. My gratitude fills up the loss.