Beaded Seal Take Two

Recognize this little guy? He should look familiar. You can see his brother here. This one was made of glass beads from my forays in China. Much sparkly-er, and a little heavier than my acrylic one. 

He is my favorite design.

Although really, he is just a ball with fins and a tail. (As I have said in one of my early posts)

I just find his simplicity so cute.

I am sure there is some deep life lesson buried in that thought but we will leave it buried for now.

After making a few things with my glass beads, I have found that I really like the weight of them. The projects just feel more substantial and they look amazing in sunlight. I know what I’m getting the next time I head to China. : )

Dimensions: 4.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 cm

Materials: 4mm bicone white glass beads, 6mm round black glass beads, clear fishing line, black fishing line, clear seed beads

Tools:  scissors, ruler, hands!

Time to Make: 2.5 hours

I would like to buy myself a glass cabinet from IKEA so that I can display all my crafts. With just the right lighting, they would look incredible! 

Looks Like a Seal, Smells Like a Sheep!

Not too long ago, a friend of mine convinced me to take up felting with her. She had been seduced by internet pictures of cute animal projects and wanted a partner in her madness. Being the wonderful friend I am, of course I obliged. And the pictures were cute after all.  

Felting can be a dangerous hobby if you’re not paying attention (I stabbed myself twice) as anything involving pointy instruments can be. It basically involves taking tuffs of unworked wool and stabbing it repeated with a felting needle to shape it into whatever you want. It feels a bit like voodoo near the end when you’re jabbing a nearly completed animal.  The results can be amazing though, ranging from cute to stunningly realistic.

His name is Philly. Isn’t he cute? He was my first born in my forays into felting animals. He probably would have benefited from a couple more millimeters in length but I think he’s adorable as the short, stubby bundle he is. He looks a little lonely though… I think he needs a friend.

Dimensions: 7.3 x 3.0 x 2.3 cm

Materials: Norwegian C1 natural white wool, Norwegian C1 black wool, black beads

Tools:  40T yellow felting needle from Felt Alive

Time to Make: 2.5 hours

Beaded Buddies

When I was in high school, my aunt in Hong Kong sent over a bunch of glass beads and two books on how to bead animals. I have beaded so many creatures since then using a variety of different beads. My favorite to use so far is the 6mm acrylic bead because it is cheap and the large size makes for great displays. The major downside to this hobby though is that it can be fairly pricey. Projects need certain sizes, shapes and colours. I also prefer if all the beads are made of the same material (mixing up glass and acrylic is quite obvious and does not look that nice). One of these days, I am going to get myself some fancy crystal beads and make a really sparkly (and expensive!) animal.

Dimensions: 6 x 4 x 4 cm

Materials: 6mm blue acrylic beads, 6mm round black acrylic beads, 0.55mm clear fishing line, black fishing line, blue seed beads

Tools:  Just my hands!

Time to Make: 2 hours

The simplicity of this design makes it my favorite to make. I can whip one together in about 1.5 hours now. It was the first design that I attempted. It is pretty much just a ball with some fins and a tail but it is so cute. I think this particular one is the third seal that I have made.