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My Challenge Doll... Done! Voilá! |
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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 28 May 2007 |
 Have you sent me a name suggestion yet? If not, then do some brainstorming, and then e-mail me your ideas! You can send me as many as you like. In the first week of June I’ll be choosing a name for this doll, and if the suggestion came from you… you’ll get a fabulous beady prize! No kidding… so keep those e-mails coming! I have just a few, and the names are great so far. It will be hard to settle on just one.
So… voilá. She is done. Oh, the hours! The joy! The late nights! The bliss! The needle puncture wounds! The sore back!  The planets that rolled under my desk and I had to fish them out with a ruler! The oh-man-I’ll-never-use-another-blue-or-yellow-bead-as-long-as-I-live! And yet, here she is, in all her glory. This is the prettiest bead thing I have ever made. And I know it took me a long time, but it seemed to go so fast.
Believe it or not, the planets seemed the most tedious. I worked from small to big, and by the time I got to Jupiter I was so close to being done that it seemed to be taking a long time to finish it! By the way, the planets took a lot of consideration as to how they would hang. Should each have their own little string to hang from? Should I do it like branch fringe with a planet on each dingle-dangle? Should I hang them randomly or in order? Well, my husband helpled me decide to have an orderly universe, and I think it was a smart move in the end. I love the composition of how they hang. And he helped me get the order right, too. I lined them up out of order with Mars next to the sun. I strung them up and put a tiny link of chain at the top. Then on the underside of the doll’s hands I made a small hook from 24 guage wire and attached it amid the beads. Now the planets are removable, and can be worn as earrings! Just kidding… you could knock yourself out if you turned your head too fast! And they’re too heavy anyway so I wouldn’t ever choose to wear them, even though my hubby said they were hot. :-) I decided to make them removable for shipping purposes. I didn’t want any planets accidentally rolling around in the box by the time it arrived in Maine.
 Weirdest experience with while working on this doll: Stabbing myself in the armpit with one of the points. Note to self: don’t reach across the doll while its in your lap. Find another way to get to those grapes. Also, avoid any opportunities that cause you to potentially bleed on your project.
I know what some of you are thinking: NO WAY WOULD I EVER BE CRAZY ENOUGH TO DO A PROJECT LIKE THAT!! But here’s the truth… any time you decide to join a bead challenge or Round Robin, etc. you work within your own abilities, restrictions, budget, time frame, and ambitions. Your own work is unique to you, and when you share with the outside world what you’ve hand-crafted it’s a blessing, no matter how big/small, elaborate/plain or complex/simple it is. It's your vision, and it's respected. Nobody ever told Picasso that his drawings were stupid and kids could do them. So quit belly-aching and stand up. No, really, I mean it. Get up. Stand up and raise your beading hand up and repeat after me: I will some day be committed to a collective project where I will join my work with other… oh, heck. I’m going to do a bead challenge someday! And soon! And I’m not going to make excuses for my work, or belittle it… or tell people that it's not very good. I’m going to say I did my best and that I hope it's well liked and well received. And I’m going to have fun doing it. I am a great beader! Hear me ROAR!! Now roar like a big lion. Now before you lose your nerve, keep checking the website or call or email Deb at the store to find out what the next challenge or round robin is. And then you’ll need to know this…
 Here are some of the tools I used to make this project possible, that I couldn’t have lived without. Now, these are my preferences, and they work well for me… but be your own judge. The first one is ultra suede. If you’re considering using regular fabric for a project, please think again. Regular fabrics can be unpredictable and certainly don’t have the longevity that real ultra suede does. You can use it for any kind of bead embroidery out there, and it can be left by itself since it's absolutely gorgeous stuff. No need to cover it completely. I recommend that you buy small amounts in a few colors to have on hand. Not all fabric stores have it, so if you can’t find it, call us. We’ve got a lot.
Another tool that made my beading life so easy for this project was Fireline. It's made of wires woven together, so you need to use wire cutters to snip it or it’ll ruin your scissors. When I think about 100 years from now and my Sun Doll is on auction at an antique hall, I’m grateful for Fireline, and I won’t worry that the new owners will have a doll who’s beads will occasionally fall off. That doll is going to last for centuries! Fireline comes in “crystal” color, so it's virtually invisible. I discovered this when I was more than half way through the doll. Wish I had used it from the beginning.
 Then there’s my size 10 beading needles. Most people use size 12 or 15, but I’m a die-hard 10 fan. They’re thicker and don’t bend as easily. They work fine with even size 15.0 seed Beads. I know somewhere I have some 12’s and 15’s, but my bead case is chuck full of 10’s. Ok, here are the statistics I promised you:
These statistics are based on actual pieces used, in accurate amounts. For instance, if I used 1/4 of a tube of seed beads, then I only counted the amount for the 1/4, not the entire tube. And all dollar amounts are retail. Please know that I didn’t pay this amount for supplies out of my pocket… most of it I had in my stash, or beads were given to me from friends, or mailed to me from my readers (amazing!), or I stole them. Just kidding! At the end I’ll have an actual total of what I really spent. All amounts are approximate, but as close as I could get them. Here we go!
Approximate total hours spent to complete this project from conception to finish… 184. I think I’m a pretty fast beader. This seemed to work up relatively quick I guess, since I was working with larger beads.
 $ 9.00 Ultra Suede
$ 1.00 Poly fiberfill stuffing
$ 1.20 Copper wire for the armature
$ 0.50 Rice to fill in the feet and legs for weight
$ 2.50 Sculpy Clay for the face
$ 0.00 Colored pencils to color in the face
$ 0.40 Glass beads for eyes
 $ 0.30 Varnish for face
$ 89.00 Vintage Swarovski crystal
$ 48.00 Vintage Swarovski crystal points
$ 74.00 Contemporary Swarovski crystal
$ 18.50 Faceted freshwater pearls
$ 69.50 Contemporary glass beads
$ 98.35 Vintage glass beads
 $ 1.45 Stone chips
$ 17.80 Semi-precious stone
$ 4.00 Reproduction glass button
$ 2.60 Vintage Lucite
$ 1.45 Glass cubes
$ 0.65 Misc. beads (horn, bone, wood for planets, etc.)
$ 4.50 Stone cabochon
 $ 4.00 Swarovski crystal starfish
$ 3.75 drop beads 
$ 3.15 size 8.0 seed beads
$ 4.90 size 11.0 seed beads
$ 3.85 size 15.0 seed beads
$ 67.00 Fireline (6 1/2 spools)
$ 1.60 Needles
 $ 0.00 One Band-Aid for my armpit! :-)
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Grand total
$ 532.95
Ok, so before you have a total heart attack, let me re-do this list  according to what I actually spent out of my own pocket. You know, real dollars. Because I first went to my own stash to get my beads, thread, needles, etc. It wasn’t very much in the end. Also, I got little packages of beads from friends and readers to go into the project, which brings up a good point. If you’re tackling something on a bigger scale, then recruit other beaders to invade their stash for you. Offer to trade beads with them. I also got to buy some things at a discount, where as the total you see above is a retail total you’d spend if you just walked into a store and bought it. Ok, here’s the same list, revised.
$ 9.00 Ultra Suede (I only wish I could find ultra suede at a discount!)
$ 0.00 Poly fiberfill stuffing (Raided my sewing basket.)
$ 0.00 Copper wire for the armature (This came from my husbands electrical stock.)
$ 0.00 Rice to fill in the feet and legs for weight (Raided my pantry.)
$ 1.50 Sculpy Clay (Bought this at JoAnn’s with my 40% off coupon.)
$ 0.00 Colored pencils
$ 0.00 Glass beads for eyes (From my stash.)
$ 0.30 Varnish for face ( I bought a jar of this, but only charged for what I used.)
$ 0.00 Vintage Swarovski crystal (From my stash, but I bought it at an amazing discount way back when!)
$ 0.00 Vintage Swarovski crystal points (Used a credit for these.)
$ 0.00 Contemporary Swarovski crystal (Used a gift certificate for this at a local bead store.)
$ 0.00 Faceted freshwater pearls (From my stash.)
$ 17.50 Contemporary glass beads (Most came from stash, or as gifts from pals.)
$ 0.00 Vintage glass beads ( Used some stash, but also traded vintage with another beady friend.)
$ 0.00 Stone chips ( I’m addicted to stone chips. These are from my huge stash!)
$ 6.75 Semi-precious stone ( Stash and trading.)
$ 3.20 Reproduction glass button (Found this at my friend’s bead store and couldn’t resist!
$ 0.00 Vintage Lucite (Stash-o-rama!)
$ 0.00 Glass cubes (I bought these in every color when they first came out.)
$ 0.00 Misc. beads (horn, bone, wood for planets, etc.) (Stash-o-rific!)
$ 4.50 Stone cabochon (Oy! I had to have this!)
$ 0.00 Swarovski crystal starfish (Used store credit. I love store credit!)
$ 0.00 drop beads (Stash-o-licious!)
$ 0.00 size 8.0 seed beads (As far as seed beads go, I’ve got it ALL.)
$ 0.00 size 11.0 seed beads
$ 0.00 size 15.0 seed beads
$ 28.60 Fireline (6 1/2 spools) ( Got at a discount and used some gift certificate on it.)
$ 0.00 Needles
$ 0.00 One Band-Aid for my armpit! :-)
Revised Grand Total
$71.35 Not bad!!
 Now, I went through all the trouble of adding it up as I went so I’d know what to insure it for (the cost to replace it) or what to potentially sell it for (Sorry, not for sale). You must be thinking that the stash beads and other stash stuff were once originally paid for, so the totals must be included. I can’t argue with that. But when I decided to do this I just began with a clean slate. Then I saved receipts for what I needed to get. So in the long run, I would have used those stash beads for some project eventually, but they happened to end up in my challenge piece. I realize that not everyone has a stash like mine. But you know… I’ve seen projects done in only $50.00 worth of seed beads that would put my Sun Doll to shame. What’s that old saying about “it's not what you do, it's what you do with it” or something like that. If you give ten people the same beads to work with you’ll get 10 very different end results. Work with what you’ve got and make it amazing!
Now tomorrow when my son naps I’ll have to find another project to work on. I must have something around here that needs to be done. Or, maybe I’ll take a nap, too!!
Ps… I can’t believe you read this all to the end! This was the longest article ever. Next time I’ll go easy on ya. |
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