A little beading

A dear friend brought me these beads from her recent trip to China.  They are Lucky Fish, with some surprising carved artwork in the backs (Warning: Adult Content! They remind me of Kama Sutra figures).

They are so beautiful that I wanted to bead them as pendants ... one for her and one for myself.  Here are the results.

                

The green crystals are Czech, and the topaz ones are Swarovski.  They are stitched onto a base of craft felt, and then the Lucky Fish were mounted on some of my fiercely-hoarded deerskin, which was then cut away to reveal the secret carvings.  Simple crystal loops were stitched for the bails.

I hope my friend will like hers ... she will have her pick of which one she wants.  This reminds me of my childhood days of “trading disks” with your friends ... “Besties forever!”

"Gloria"

This is a little art doll I made for my friend Gloria (one of my Art Girls) ... named "Gloria", of course! She stands about 12" tall, and is firmly stuffed so that she will stand upright on the dowel. Machine satin-stitched around the edges and hand beaded.

Time and Tide

Time and tide wait for no man ... and this pendant couldn't wait any longer to be made. Incorporating the inner works of a vintage watch, a polymer clay moon face given to me by Judith Skinner, and various beads, stitched onto a leather backing, the pendant is 2-1/4" wide at the widest point, by 2-3/4" tall, including the beaded bale. I haven't had time to make a proper necklace for it yet, but it still looks great on the antiqued ball-and-chain one where it temporarily resides.
Click on the image to embiggen it! (borrowed that word from Rice Freeman-Zachary, thanks Rice!)

Creepy Baby

Here's one of the babies in my Creepy Baby series ... she's not one of the creepiest, but she IS kind of weird! Her name is Circus Baby, and she is a beaded 4-1/2" antique bisque doll. She came into my possession without her original arms, so I created some happy circus arms for her.



And here she is from the back, so you can see her little bonnet:

Some people have asked if the beads are glued on. No, they are peyote-stitched around her body and head with size 15 seed beads, creating a little attached bonnet. My friend Larkin Van Horn (http://www.larkinart.com/) taught me how to peyote-stitch around a solid object, such as a bottle, and I translated the technique to the doll.

Her arms are stuffed, stitched fabric, beaded at the ends and wound around with some gorgeous silk waste yarn donated by a friend (thank you, Jo!)