Fur! Accidental discoveries??

[Moth]

Hi yous!

I'm out at the torch tonight, in a playful type mood. Unfortunately, it isn't yielding much by way of marketable items. LOL

Rather fortunately though, a quest to make a dragon head that is furry NOT scaly has resulted in what I am guessing to be a pretty good fur cane! If it looks nearly as nice when it comes out of the kiln tomorrow, I'll tell everybody how it is made.

However, the bead itself sucks. Sculptural forms are not my natural leaning. I lucked out on the frog beads, I don't know why I can make those, but I sure can't make dragons! This one looks like a demented, cross-eyed technicolor reindeer.

If the fur still looks good when it is cool, I can't wait to see animals and stuff made with it by people who can actually DO forms. It is wasted on me. ](*,)

And the cane isn't hard, it is basically just a regular old ribbon cane, done a thousand times, only this is backed with clear on only one side and combined with the way of 'striping it on' the bead, it is pretty effective.

Now watch...it will be hideous tomorrow and I'll be sorry I ever started this thread. LOL

Oh well...couldn't help it, I'm psyched about it and I'm gonna go back out and try again on this friggin dragon. I've gotta make at least ONE good one. :roll:

So what is your favorite accidental discovery?

~~Mary

[NLC Beads]

Just that a cuticle pusher makes a great bead tool. :)

[Moth]

Hi Nikki!

Never tried a cuticle pusher before! Gonna have to dig into my manicure set I see. LOL

Well, I gave up on the dragons for the night. I used up all the fur cane on the first one, and by the time I got back out there I was feeling too lazy to make any more. So, I made two rather ugly beads.

Needless to say, I am NOT ramping down the kiln, I just turned it off. With any luck...all that crap will crack and I won't even have to put it in the fish tank to mock me for the rest of my life.

Farging dragons. Who needs 'em anyway?

~~Mary

[BonfireBeads]

Okay, it's tomorrow. Let me see (yes I am an early bird, lol!)

[Shawn T]

Since I make dragon heads I wanna see too.

[Moth]

OK guys...slight set-back!!

My sister in law fell down the stairs and broke her foot this morning. I live literally 2 minutes from the emergency room, so on her way in to get the x-rays she dropped off her kids ( a two year old and 8 month old--girls). My three kids are all home today as well, so I haven't had any time to take pictures yet, but I promise I will!

Turns out she has a hairline fracture right below her ankle, so she didn't even get a cast, just this weird looking black nylon contraption she has to wear and a pain med prescription.

Tomorrow is our hubbys' side of the family's Thanksgiving dinner and SHE is the hostess. So...guess who has to be co-hostess now. LOL I swear it never ends. I just wish she had a dishwasher!!! We have family coming from all across the state so there is plenty of prep to do and cooking too! About 32 people if you count the children...which we DO. LOL

Back later.
~~Mary

[Moth]

Ok, I'm back down to three kids again, one of them is asleep, so I took a picture of the fur texture on the back of the dragon's head. I had made a bead of opaque cobalt, rolled it in gold leaf and enased it. Then, I started at what would be the nape of the neck applying the fur cane, working my way toward the face.

There is no way in creation you are ever going to see the face of this bead. LOL I think this dragon got a hold of some bad mushrooms or something. Bwahahahaha.

I will come back later with a picture of the cane and a diagram of how I built it and a better explanation.

Like I said before, this isn't revolutionary or anything...it was just a different texture than I have seen myself and thought it might be of use to someone.

~~Mary

[kimberly]

Mary,
That is very interesting cane!!! "Interesting" in the good sense of the word!!!! I am looking forward to seeing how you made it!!
Kimberly

[Moth]

It really looked like fur to me til I took the picture and blew up the little portion of it. Now it looks like fire. LOL

Thanks Kimberly.

I'll be back shortly...phone calls you know.

~~Mary

[Shawn T]

Mary Sorry about your sister and having to co-host the family dinner. Sounds like you will be doing a lot of the work.

The cane looks very cool, fur, fire, either way it is very fitting for dragons.
Can't wait to see what you do with it next.

Tapping foot, I wanna see a Mary Moth Dragon.
Oh and I udnerstand about the mushroom eating dragon, I call them dragoons, sometimes they look more like goons than dragons. Happens to me all the time. :badgrin: