Two Birds in Beads (Day of the Dead)

Pocito Dove Underway

I've not mentioned Belleza, my Day of the Dead lady from Manual Salas/Tapestry Fair much this last week because I have been so busy with Real Life chores, I've not accomplished much. However, I did manage to bead both my birds.  Janet is working Pocito and also choose to bead her birds (Sheena's not at this point yet as she is working on her Pocito's face).  I thought you might like to see how differently my birds and Janet's turned out, even though they are painted in an almost identical manner.  The two Day of the Dead ladies are pictured on the left side of Blog for your reference.

Pocito's Right Dove Finished

Pocito (green background) has white doves outlined in silver.  Janet beaded them with three colors of round beads: orange beads on the beak, white pearl and silver beads on the rest of the bird.  Janet's orange and white pearl beads are size 14 from Sundance while the silver beads are size 15 from The Shepherdess Bead Store in San Diego.  She wanted all round beads but could not find silver beads in size 14 so she used the slightly smaller size 15 ones.  Janet pointed out that her beak is painted yellow and orange but she decided her canvas is already so colorful that using two colors in the tiny beak would be distracting. So her beak is solid orange.

Belleza's Glittering Crow with Yellow Eye

Belleza (purple background) has black crows outlined in silver.  I also used size 14 beads from Sundance but I used hex beads in four colors:  black, silver lined crystals, orange and peach-yellow.  My beak has both yellow and orange shades which is how it was painted.  I also put a yellow-peach bead in one bird's eye and used an orange bead for the other crow's eye.  Janet used a black stitch for her dove eye.

Belleza's Orange Eyed Crow

My birds are much harder edged than Janet's romantic little doves.  I don't think it is just the colors than make my birds crows--I think it is also the glitter that hex beads give.  Janet used round beads that are softer and that have a pearl "glow" instead of the glint that hex beads give when they reflect light.  The moral of all this is that your choice of bead type and size are as important as the color.  We both used beads of the same type (round or hex) and in the same size as much as possible.

Hope this gives you some ideas the next time you want to put beads on a needlepoint canvas.  If you want to add romance and softness, look for round beads.  If you need more glitter and shine, hex beads are the way to go.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com