Chaudfroid, or Uncle Bob's periple.

This beading experience was one of the most satisfying (chaud) and frustrating (froid) ever. To explain this, I have to explain first that the batch of Permalux beads that I received from Preciosa Ornela in 2021 - ages ago - were the crappiest beads I've ever had in hands (they are not anymore, but!) I am a geometric beader at heart, and even though I tried very hard, I could not bead with these beads without the coating chipping off. It was a thick coat though, and the colors were splendid, so I was terribly bummed.

Preciosa said that they knew about it (ah bon?), that the problem had been addressed (cool!), and asked if I could try to create something with techniques that would not result in too much damage to the beads? 😒Apparently a question of cost and time running out. I tried. After all, Preciosa make tremendously beautiful photos of beadwork. (on the right). But it was not fun. Beading has to be fun. It may be challenging, but not for this type of reasons.

Later, I learned that other designers had received new batches to replace the bad one, and apparently they're much better, which is good to know.

But sometimes you need lemons to make lemonade! This is what happened.

Not wanting to keep these beads, I poured them one after the other on my beading mat without putting them back in containers. I made several things using coraling and fringing and the result was nice, but it was not really what I wanted to make. However, I ended up with a most delightful ocean of color on my tray and thought "gosh, if only I could keep it this way".

That woke up the muse (fast asleep until then): Use Uncle Bob! The skull Ezra gave!!! Do like those who poor paint in water and tadam! Ooooh. That sounded exciting!

I had everything at hands to do bead mosaic but never really "dared" on my skull. "Something" was missing. Now I had the most delightful colors to create what I envisioned, and so I turned it into something I had never seen before:

Bead dipping!

And it was super fun!

My inspiration came from an advertisement by Mercedes Benz that I saw in 2014 or so:

For the note: the finished skull should be called "Beaders Brain", but Uncle Bob is how my hubby called him years ago. Uncle Bob has made many appearances at Halloween, and now we cannot call him differently, even if he looks different now :) You will discover, if you read further, that he unfortunately doesn't wear his name well at all.

First I painted the skull with a special "concrete" paint. then I "mosaiqued" Pip beads into flowers on the skull, which I painted gold.

Then, on the left side, I added 'gold' foil, crystals in settings, cup chain and crystal mesh, to illustrate the left brain, the analytical and calculating brain.

On the right side, I added glue and then rolled the skull in the beads, starting with the jaw first. Well, that went well! So satisfying.So much fun!

Of course, after I did the jaw, I saw room for improvement and that was to mix the colors a bit more and include tiny forget-me-not's, and then I rolled the entire skull.

There remained tons of little spaces to fill and I needed more glue (in a syringe), tweezers and a looot of patience to obtain the result I was after.

It goes without saying that I tried to add huge crystals, and other things (flowers, etc) to the eyes, but that looked really creepy! So I left them empty. One can imagine all sorts of expressions like this.

Of course I ran out of varnish when I needed it the most, because I was also running out of time. Bless the husbest who ran to get another spray.

I sent photos of the drying skull to Preciosa who said that they loved it. I wasn't sure so I preferred to ask. A couple of days later I posted my big box, which was quite an expensive matter, but in my mind, Preciosa's photos are worth an effort. With a sight of relief I now could lean back and look forward to seeing them.

But then............

The war in Ukraine broke out.

The box got stuck at customs.

I had given the correct TARIC number for a sculpture made with "other" materials but perhaps they thought that it was a real skull... It is a replica used for biology class after all, but still: the Swiss would not have accepted to transport it if it had been something not ok! They have "molecular sniffers" for this.

It took well 2 more weeks for this to be sorted, and so it didn't meet the deadline, but also, the advertisement team feared that it would trigger unhappy feelings and preferred to send it back without making photos. I explained that the whole project had nothing to do with death. It was a skull, ok, but it represented a beaders brain! I suggested making photos and let them sit in a drawer if needed.

Well, skull came back but photos never got out of the drawer - if they ever made any. I have no idea about this, they never told me. When they finally published the first photos of the campaign, it started with a sweet collection for children, and a lovely fairy-tale-themed poster gave me hope for the Fall, at Halloween.

When they posted their Halloween photos past year, it included a skull, but not mine. I understood then that they wouldn't use it. December I wrote to them that without news, I would publish the photos of my work in January. 3 projects that I cannot talk about is just too much! Even 4 considering some designs part of my Muserie Workshop! 3 months have passed, it's nearly Spring, the Princess Check Pouch has been published in the meantime, and now I need to move on.

I can make collages with my GIMP too! And even if not perfect, I am quite happy with my efforts. "Skull Stories" represents the idea that the skull landed on a pile of magical books amongst which one invited it to participate in various tales. It was an interesting exercise in using layers and transparency etc. It sure asks for a lot of time and in my case, starting over after too many errors, but I "got it".

Skull Stories

Skull design, beadwork, photography and digital composition by Cath Thomas

Image of burning flames and books by Mystic Art Design. Image of globe by loulou Nash. Image of palace by Dorothe. Image of merlin by gagagart. Images of sitting and standing women by Dina Dee. Attribution was not required, but I think that it is only fair to thank all these talented artists for their lovely work and their generosity.

And if you feel like trying some bead dipping too, I highly recommend it. It's therapeutic.

I made the photos below with my brand new light box,