Thank you for the counsel bexrox! I'm on a Hothead, and I think I may be starting to soon, as you suggest. I think your thimbles are fabulous by the way!
I plan to work up thimbles with some of my various critters on top... the Bee is a new creation. Now that I think of it, you are right about it looking like the mouse!
Does anyone want to say what their 3 favorite critters are so I can narrow what I make?
I got this thimble mandrel online at Arrow Springs and they just sent this link if you want to order online:
http://arrowsprings.com/html/mandrels_tubes.html