anagramofbrat | Quick bead project musings

I got three more rows past the last picture of Bowser yesterday, and this morning I discovered that I have to put him on hold (that's what I get for trying to procrastinate) due to being completely out of any weight of black thread. Poop. I suppose I could use the interim time between now and when I can (afford to) get down to Webs for more supplies by stitching in the trailing threads on the side and clipping them, but that's such a patently unfun part of the process and with the super bendy needle I've been working with so far, damn near impossible, so on the shelf he goes until I get a little cash and time to make a run down to Hamp.

After grumbling a lot about this, I quickly took an assessment of where I am with that project and what I've learned from it. One is that I need to start buying black delicas in bulk, lol. I use too much of it to be getting it in vials and that's not likely to change anytime soon. Also bigger spools of black thread, and not the super fine kind, as it doesn't stand up well to all the pulling and tugging and yanking and tightening involved in doing this sort of thing (hence the warp thread snapping about 20 rows in). Two I need to be using stiffer needles - The one I've been using for most of this project has just been horrid. I think it's also too fine for the project, but on the other hand delica beads are super tiny and if I'm using the thicker thread for these sorts of things, a bigger gauge needle might not actually fit through the bead. Blerg.

There's also the question of what exactly I'm going to do with Bowser once he's done. I think if I had somewhat more patience, I'd quickly weave up a same size chunk of solid black, or black patterned with flying koopas or the Koopa kids or something and make it all into a fancy bag, but I know I don't have that kind of patience right now. I'm thinking this will ultimately be a wall hanging, but the question of how to finish it up still is a good one. Fringe? Koopas shells? mushrooms? black velvet backing? No idea. I might end up casting it off the loom and be so screaming tired of looking at it that i roll it up and put it away. There's also the question of whether I want to keep it or put it up on Etsy, in which case what the hell do I charge? I have no idea what constitutes any sort of fair price for something like this. Materials for it are going to net about $40 (did I mention delicas are pricey little buggers?) but what above and beyond that can I reasonably charge? Noooooooo clue.

In other news, farting about researching shit on Etsy gave me ideas for other shit - there are a cubic buttload of Nintendo sprite based things for sale made out of perler beads (the kind you buy in a huge box at Michaels for like 20 bucks, make your pattern on a pegboard and then bake in the oven so all the beads shrink and melt together). I haven't played with perler beads since I was like 14, but like most crafts that end with sticking shit in the oven (shrinkydinks, anyone?) they look like a ridiculous amount of quick easy fun. Thinking of throwing a little money at a box of them, ostensibly as maybe a crafty thing to do with Kidzilla on one of their weekends over, but also I kinda want to make some Mario or Castlevania power up coasters. I've also been thinking of buying four shades of green beads in bulk and doing screen shots of first-gen Game Boy shit, since the screen resolution is just about the upper limit of my loom (144x160). Also, in non Nintendo related geekery, I'd like to take a crack at a couple of the dragon sprites on Dragcave. But I'd also like to do some non-geeky/gaming related stuff too eventually... there's the whole murky fair use/copyright issue after all, especially if I'm selling this stuff. But beading 8-bit stuff is fun, easy and cheap. Mostly cause the patterns have limited colors already. Still, I'd like to go back to doing pictures like the deer again, pain in the ass though they may be.

So yeah. Lots of crafty shit ideas bouncing around. It's just annoying cause crafty crap of course constitutes time and money that I never feel like I have to devote to this sort of thing, and yet I recognize that being able to have at least one creative outlet is kind of a vital component of keeping Andees sane, so i don't know. There's also the bit where if I'm seriously going to devote time to doing this kind of beadwork I really need to suck it up and replace my glasses because teh eyestrain is so not fun, and that's more money I don't have.

Eh we'll see how it goes.