Hope to see you at the next one! We'll be at the Farmer's Branch rose gardens in our Edwardian attire this Spring.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Georgian Picnic Video
Thanks toDFWCG Members Cynthia and Christopher , we have a fun video of our Georgian Picnic at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. We have such a wonderful time at these picnics, it's great to be able to share that fun with people through video!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
2012 event line-up
We had a wonderful business meeting yesterday, and thank-you SO MUCH to everybody who came out for it and helped us set our schedule for next year. I wanted to give you a run down of the events that we discussed so that you can start putting things on your calendar and start daydreaming about costumes.
February 18th: Antique Elegance show at the Civic Center in Richardson. The early birds can meet at 9:00 for the fashion show, and then we will have another meet-up at noon in the area near the little break room and where all the manikins are set up for the Cat's Meow booth. Costumes are optional, and you can dress in any historical era from Regency through 20th c. vintage. The fashion show is for Big Band Era fashions, so I'm sure 30's and 40's stuff will be big this year.
March 18th-19th: All-Con at the Crown-Plaza Hotel in Addison. We will have a club table and will be hosting multiple panels, including a knitting circle, a fabric swap, a millinery class, a class on working with rhinestones, and... what am I leaving out, Maggie? I thought there were 5 classes, but I'm drawing a blank on the last one. There will be tons of other costume-related classes and panels hosted by others, plus costume contests, a dealers room, celebrities, and all the usual con stuff.
March 31tst: Steampunk Tea Party at the Plano Heritage Farmstead. We will have food and tea plus steampunk games on the lawn of this charming historical site. We will have a gear toss, a steampunk marksmanship contest where you can bring your own modded water or nerf guns and show off your skills, and hopefully croquet for the more traditional Victorian crowd (unless any of you can think of a way to add a steampunk spin to croquet!) Costumes for this event includes anything Steampunk, Dieselpunk, or traditional Victorian or Edwardian. Tickets will be $12 for members and $15 for non-members, and we will start selling them in the next week or so.
April 14th: Edwardian day in the Park, location TBA. This one will be very similar to our Georgian Picnic - we can bring snacks and games and enjoy a lovely costumed outing in the park. Costumes can be anything from 1900-1920, and we are drawing inspiration from the Titanic anniversary, Downton Abbey, and all things Edwardian.
May 12th: Tarantula Train and Frontier Forts Days at the Ft. Worth Stockyards. We were thinking about trying this one again, but this time riding the full train ride that leaves from the Grapevine station at 1:00, then we'll have a layover at the Stockyards, then return to Grapevine on the train at 6:00. If you didn't want to do the full trip, you could just meet us at the stockyards.
June 9th(possibly): Summer Business meeting.
July 28th-29th(?): Costumers Retreat. We will share more info on that one soon!
August 11th(?): 20th c. Vintage Ice Cream Social. We had a wonderful time at Beth Marie's in Denton last year, so we were considering doing this one again. The dress would be anything 20th c. vintage, and we could do a bit of antique and book shopping on the square after enjoying some ice cream.
September 15th: Antique Elegance Show in Richardson. Similar situation to the one held in February.
October 13th: Sewing day, location TBA.
November 10th: WWII event in Waxahachie. We are looking at having our own table in the black market section of this event. We could possibly sell small items as a fundraiser for the guild, but even more than that, it would give us a place to hang out and something to do during the event.
Novmber 17th: 4th annual Georgian Picnic at the Botanic Gardens in Ft. Worth. Come enjoy food, socializing, and period games. Costumes include anything from the 18th c. or Regency periods.
December, date TBA: Lanternlight at the Plano Heritage Farmstead. Victorian holiday event that includes a tour of the main house with historical interpreters, games, food, music, wagon rides, Father Christmas, etc. It is a wonderful family-friendly event. Costume include anything Victorian or Edwardian.
January, date TBA: Titanic exhibit at the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth. We will dress in 1912 appropriate attire and visit the traveling exhibit from the Titanic Museum.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions to help us with this schedule of events, please let us know! It is possible that we might add small additional events (like movie outings) or modify some of these if we find that changes are needed, but we will try to at least keep the themes the same so that you can start making costumes and feel confident that you will have a place to wear them.
We hope you all will join us for some of these wonderful DFWCG events this year!
-jen
February 18th: Antique Elegance show at the Civic Center in Richardson. The early birds can meet at 9:00 for the fashion show, and then we will have another meet-up at noon in the area near the little break room and where all the manikins are set up for the Cat's Meow booth. Costumes are optional, and you can dress in any historical era from Regency through 20th c. vintage. The fashion show is for Big Band Era fashions, so I'm sure 30's and 40's stuff will be big this year.
March 18th-19th: All-Con at the Crown-Plaza Hotel in Addison. We will have a club table and will be hosting multiple panels, including a knitting circle, a fabric swap, a millinery class, a class on working with rhinestones, and... what am I leaving out, Maggie? I thought there were 5 classes, but I'm drawing a blank on the last one. There will be tons of other costume-related classes and panels hosted by others, plus costume contests, a dealers room, celebrities, and all the usual con stuff.
March 31tst: Steampunk Tea Party at the Plano Heritage Farmstead. We will have food and tea plus steampunk games on the lawn of this charming historical site. We will have a gear toss, a steampunk marksmanship contest where you can bring your own modded water or nerf guns and show off your skills, and hopefully croquet for the more traditional Victorian crowd (unless any of you can think of a way to add a steampunk spin to croquet!) Costumes for this event includes anything Steampunk, Dieselpunk, or traditional Victorian or Edwardian. Tickets will be $12 for members and $15 for non-members, and we will start selling them in the next week or so.
April 14th: Edwardian day in the Park, location TBA. This one will be very similar to our Georgian Picnic - we can bring snacks and games and enjoy a lovely costumed outing in the park. Costumes can be anything from 1900-1920, and we are drawing inspiration from the Titanic anniversary, Downton Abbey, and all things Edwardian.
May 12th: Tarantula Train and Frontier Forts Days at the Ft. Worth Stockyards. We were thinking about trying this one again, but this time riding the full train ride that leaves from the Grapevine station at 1:00, then we'll have a layover at the Stockyards, then return to Grapevine on the train at 6:00. If you didn't want to do the full trip, you could just meet us at the stockyards.
June 9th(possibly): Summer Business meeting.
July 28th-29th(?): Costumers Retreat. We will share more info on that one soon!
August 11th(?): 20th c. Vintage Ice Cream Social. We had a wonderful time at Beth Marie's in Denton last year, so we were considering doing this one again. The dress would be anything 20th c. vintage, and we could do a bit of antique and book shopping on the square after enjoying some ice cream.
September 15th: Antique Elegance Show in Richardson. Similar situation to the one held in February.
October 13th: Sewing day, location TBA.
November 10th: WWII event in Waxahachie. We are looking at having our own table in the black market section of this event. We could possibly sell small items as a fundraiser for the guild, but even more than that, it would give us a place to hang out and something to do during the event.
Novmber 17th: 4th annual Georgian Picnic at the Botanic Gardens in Ft. Worth. Come enjoy food, socializing, and period games. Costumes include anything from the 18th c. or Regency periods.
December, date TBA: Lanternlight at the Plano Heritage Farmstead. Victorian holiday event that includes a tour of the main house with historical interpreters, games, food, music, wagon rides, Father Christmas, etc. It is a wonderful family-friendly event. Costume include anything Victorian or Edwardian.
January, date TBA: Titanic exhibit at the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth. We will dress in 1912 appropriate attire and visit the traveling exhibit from the Titanic Museum.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions to help us with this schedule of events, please let us know! It is possible that we might add small additional events (like movie outings) or modify some of these if we find that changes are needed, but we will try to at least keep the themes the same so that you can start making costumes and feel confident that you will have a place to wear them.
We hope you all will join us for some of these wonderful DFWCG events this year!
-jen
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Mad Hatter's Tea Party
The DFWCG folk are rather fond of their tea parties. Since 2009 the guild has hosted at least one tea per year whether in someone's home or in one of the various tea houses in the DFW area. Guild participants have become so fond of their tea parties, in fact, that this year we decided to schedule two of them.
This first tea of 2012 was themed Mad Hatter's Tea Party and was held at Mitra's Tea Room in Hurst. Costumes and grand hats were encouraged, but the only real rule for attendance was that each attendee be wearing some sort of hat. Small, Large, gregarious, or modest, all kinds of hats were represented at our tea party.
Here is a partial group shot that shows the range of historical hats in attendance. And there were also a couple Sci-Fi hats in attendance. Lisa brought two hats as well as her sonic screwdriver!
We had an honored out of town guest for this tea. Maggie of Padawansguide and CostumersGuide was visiting and decided to join us. It was wonderful to host her as reading about many of the 18th century and Regency events she has attended in her home state are the inspiration for our own. Plus, her costume guides have been a big help to several of us looking for research. It was so nice to meet her in person.
The afternoon tea menu was lovely. Mitra's serves a proper cup of tea steeped in individual small tea pots as opposed to bringing out hot water tea pots and tea bags to steep in the cup.
We were so delighted with each course that we forgot to take pictures of most of it until after we dug in. Oops! These scones and muffins were great as was the cream that came with them. There was also a strawberry butter and a lemon cream that's not pictured. Both were lovely compliments.
Their chicken salad sandwiches, shown here in the round whole wheat bread, were absolutely wonderful as were their cucumber sandwiches, which got gobbled up before a picture was taken. I didn't have an egg salad sandwich, but they were all gone too, so I believe they were good also.
Our fearless leader, Jen, surprised us with some games to play as we waited between each course. First we played a guess the hat game. You can see that one in the picture of the sandwiches above. Then we played a game where we named as many hat names or types as we could think of.
Here we are all thinking very very hard to list as many hat types as we could in 5 minutes.
And here the winner of the game, Ginger, compares notes with Maggie who just barely missed the win by one hat. There was actually a tie, then a sudden death round where Ginger came up with one more hat and Maggie accepted defeat.
After the tea we all decided to head down to a local park for some nice photographs in our costumes and hats. But Beth couldn't go, so we made sure to capture her lovely bustle ensemble at the tea room.
And of course there is the obligatory group shoe shot.
It's so much fun when we can get together in a park setting and finally photograph the clothing we've worked so hard on. Jen took photographs of each of us in turn so we have new pictures to add to our scrapbooks and portfolios. Everyone looked so lovely!
Jen sporting her lovely Regency wear. I wish some of the details in the Spencer showed up better, like her lovely silk lining.
This is an outfit that several of us read about on Maggie's blog. It was just as beautiful up close as it is in pictures.
Arranging the train and shaking out the train were common occurrences with Christy's lovely dress. It takes a village for a perfect shot.
But look how beautiful it is!
We all oohed and ahhed over Ginger's lovely fur muff accessory.
Cynthia has been working on her 18th century garb for quite some time now. She hand sewed a great majority of it. Her results photographed beautifully!
Maggie's Tudor fitted gown and kirtle are part of several projects she's been working on for a couple of years via The Tudor Tailor.
Christopher and Lisa were sporting their Sci-Fi gear. Who doesn't love crazy fun hats like that?
Lisa's 2nd hat, the tardis beanie!
Our 3 Regency ladies.
The adorable couple.
And finally here we are together as a group.
We laughed a lot told funny stories and played games. It truly was a wonderful day. And just think, our next tea is just right around the corner. If you'd like to join in on our tea party fun, plan to come to our Steampunk Tea Party in March at the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano. Remember, you are not required to be in costume for our events, you can just come to chat and play games with us as well. We hope to see you then!
This first tea of 2012 was themed Mad Hatter's Tea Party and was held at Mitra's Tea Room in Hurst. Costumes and grand hats were encouraged, but the only real rule for attendance was that each attendee be wearing some sort of hat. Small, Large, gregarious, or modest, all kinds of hats were represented at our tea party.
Here is a partial group shot that shows the range of historical hats in attendance. And there were also a couple Sci-Fi hats in attendance. Lisa brought two hats as well as her sonic screwdriver!
We had an honored out of town guest for this tea. Maggie of Padawansguide and CostumersGuide was visiting and decided to join us. It was wonderful to host her as reading about many of the 18th century and Regency events she has attended in her home state are the inspiration for our own. Plus, her costume guides have been a big help to several of us looking for research. It was so nice to meet her in person.
The afternoon tea menu was lovely. Mitra's serves a proper cup of tea steeped in individual small tea pots as opposed to bringing out hot water tea pots and tea bags to steep in the cup.
We were so delighted with each course that we forgot to take pictures of most of it until after we dug in. Oops! These scones and muffins were great as was the cream that came with them. There was also a strawberry butter and a lemon cream that's not pictured. Both were lovely compliments.
Our fearless leader, Jen, surprised us with some games to play as we waited between each course. First we played a guess the hat game. You can see that one in the picture of the sandwiches above. Then we played a game where we named as many hat names or types as we could think of.
Here we are all thinking very very hard to list as many hat types as we could in 5 minutes.
After the tea we all decided to head down to a local park for some nice photographs in our costumes and hats. But Beth couldn't go, so we made sure to capture her lovely bustle ensemble at the tea room.
And of course there is the obligatory group shoe shot.
It's so much fun when we can get together in a park setting and finally photograph the clothing we've worked so hard on. Jen took photographs of each of us in turn so we have new pictures to add to our scrapbooks and portfolios. Everyone looked so lovely!
Jen sporting her lovely Regency wear. I wish some of the details in the Spencer showed up better, like her lovely silk lining.
This is an outfit that several of us read about on Maggie's blog. It was just as beautiful up close as it is in pictures.
Arranging the train and shaking out the train were common occurrences with Christy's lovely dress. It takes a village for a perfect shot.
But look how beautiful it is!
We all oohed and ahhed over Ginger's lovely fur muff accessory.
Cynthia has been working on her 18th century garb for quite some time now. She hand sewed a great majority of it. Her results photographed beautifully!
Maggie's Tudor fitted gown and kirtle are part of several projects she's been working on for a couple of years via The Tudor Tailor.
Christopher and Lisa were sporting their Sci-Fi gear. Who doesn't love crazy fun hats like that?
Lisa's 2nd hat, the tardis beanie!
Our 3 Regency ladies.
The adorable couple.
And finally here we are together as a group.
We laughed a lot told funny stories and played games. It truly was a wonderful day. And just think, our next tea is just right around the corner. If you'd like to join in on our tea party fun, plan to come to our Steampunk Tea Party in March at the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano. Remember, you are not required to be in costume for our events, you can just come to chat and play games with us as well. We hope to see you then!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Gearing up for Georgian! {18th century November Picnic}
Of course, like all of our events, costumes are not required...but gosh it makes it all the more fun!
Our first year we decided to expand the title of the picnic to "Georgian" to incorporate a number of silhouettes of this time period. We usually have everything from panniers and bum pads to sleek lines of the regency period.
There are a number of great tutorials and commercial patterns out there to get you started. I have personally used a few different patterns from commercial sellers that I think have worked quite well. Mill Farms has been easy for me to use and I have fashioned a few different jackets from their $10 pattern.
Below is my mill farm jacket at the first picnic (and as you can see with my bright pink...you don't have to be historically accurate hehe)
Fellow around the web costumer Koshka-the-Cat has a fabulous tutorial for petitcoats similar to the one above:
That jacket and petticoat are a basic and good start to the 18th century.
I have also used Sense and Sensibility patterns for regency era and found that they are easy to use...I am a more advanced sewer but I think both of these patterns (the Mill Farms and Sense and Sensibility patterns) are good for a beginner-intermediate.
As for the men: I have used the Rocking Horse Farm 1795-1820 Tailcoat pattern
...as the pattern suggests, its not for a beginner. But a great alternative costume for men that is simple would be a pirate type shirt, slim-fit khaki pants, and a vest of some sort....all of these could be found at a thrift-store (which is my favorite place to quickly refashion costumes and stay on a budget)
Now for accessories. Accessories can really put the final touches on any costume.
Think about first: the top side..meaning your hair or a hat. Most ladies and gentleman wore some type of hat for this time period.
If you go early think about a wide brimmed straw hat with a low crown for ladies. Pretty faux flowers and ribbons are great decoration. Poke bonnets work well for the Regency era. Hair is either worn up (really high and big or curled back, sometimes hidden under a mob cab)
As for the gentlemen: Top hats or tricorns are great for this period...or think George Washington hair ;)
Mitts are another great accessory which I am thinking I will be making this year (if I can get to it in time)... A great example is from Cynthia G. at www.cfgriffth.com... check out her costume galleries page for the entire 18th century outfit she finished this year! Its charming!!!...GREAT ACCESSORIES!
Be sure to check out our groups flickr pages from previous picnics for other great ideas:
<3 Kaycee
Thursday, September 15, 2011
AnimeFest 2011 & Beaded Pixel Art
Labor Day weekend I had the great pleasure to represent the DFW Costumers Guild at Anime Fest alongside fellow members Jennifer K and Gypsy James. We had an absolute Ball!!!!
Jennifer and James helped to judge the Friday night costume contest. When I met up with them on Saturday I heard all about some of the beautiful costumes they were treated to by the costume entrants. On Saturday we all three participated in judging the Hall Cosplay Contest. Again, we were just mesmerized at the skill level and beauty of some of the costumes presented before us. And in this case, we were able to ask questions of the entrants and we came away with some new Brilliant ideas for prop making ourselves. I have to say that if you are looking for innovation and smart problem solving, I have recently learned that I need to look no further than our local Anime cosplayers.
After the Hall Cosplay Contest on Saturday, I was off to present my Pixel Art Bead Jewelry panel. Wow, I had anticipated that I would have more people show up than I had tools to provide, but I had no idea that the number of people attending the panel would exceed the number of handouts I had made. We had between 40 and 45 participants in my panel. I was really surprised. And a little flustered over being able to accomplish any of my intended pieces. Originally, I had pre-made patterns that I was going to let people choose which one to make, but there was just no way any of those pieces was going to get made in an hour with me having to go around the room group by group handing out supplies and teaching people the very simple method of stringing these beads. So I changed the plan. Instead of making one of the pre-selected patterns, I quickly explained to the panel how to make their own much smaller square pattern. Below is an example of the type of pattern we switched to. This pattern along with the patterns on my original hand out is available in the above patterns link.
Thankfully pixel art is an easy concept to understand and people caught on very well. I am also thankful that a very helpful panel attendee offered to cut wire and pass out beads with me. She made my job a lot easier! Most of the panel was spent teaching different groups how to start their project. Some people finished, some people barely got started. I wish everyone could have finished their project, but I hope at least everyone came away with a good idea of how to start their own project and the confidence that they can finish something fun and crafty in a short period of time.
Sunday was another day that my fellow guild judges and I had a great time together! We were all back together again for the Cosplay Skit competition. We had so much fun with that one!!!! And we had enough awards to hand out that each of our favorites won something. It was a great way to end our participation in this fun Con!
In my panel on Saturday I promised those who didn't get a pattern handout that I would post a blog with my patterns and step by step instructions. I apologize that it has taken me this long to get this blog put together. But I hope that now any of you who had questions and didn't get to ask me because I was helping others will see this and have those questions answered. If you still have questions after this blog, please put them in the comments. I'll be sure to answer them for you.
Now, this whole idea of the panel came from my trying to re-create some Luna Lovegood jewelry for the last Harry Potter screening. The DFW Costumers Guild gathered at Studio Movie Grill on opening weekend in costume and I wanted to make sure I had the right jewelry. I made radish earrings and the beetle ring. I was really surprised at how easy it was to put those things together and I thought it would be a fun activity for a con panel. I figured there was a whole world of possibilities with seed beads and pixel art! I was right. But there were very few people online making pixel art with seed beads. The only one I saw was this person and it looked like they had the same idea I did of using the bead sprite pattern method.
As I've already mentioned, I got all of my ideas from Googling Bead Sprite designs. When I was little, Bead Sprites were most certainly not this cool. We made simple coasters with almost no design. Or we made bracelets. We did not make works of art. Some of the designs I saw in my Google search were so elaborate and detailed they were not appropriate for my panel, but I encourage you to check them out with your own Google searches because they are quite fantastic.
For my patterns, I specifically got my ideas for these patterns from these sites:
There were so many options to choose from on my search, but in the end, these blog entries presented simple items that I thought were easy to understand and reproduce. Plus, Nintendo and Mario Bros is Just Cool!
Now, on to the tutorial:
First, you need the right tools. Here I have pictured my tools. My regular needle nosed pliers have been with me for years in various projects, the other three are new since this beading hobby of mine is new. Most needle nosed pliers actually have wire cutters built in them, but I would still recommend you purchase some small wire cutters anyway. There are many situations where those needle nosed pliers won't do the job. The wire cutters can get in to smaller spaces. I also recommend narrow needle nosed pliers. Even if you don't think you will need them, they are much better in more delicate situations. Plus, sometimes you will need to use a pair of pliers in each hand to pull wire through tight beads. Those purple pliers are for rolling and looping wire. I use them more than the second pair of pliers. Pliers will be your most expensive investment in this particular beading project.
First, you need the right tools. Here I have pictured my tools. My regular needle nosed pliers have been with me for years in various projects, the other three are new since this beading hobby of mine is new. Most needle nosed pliers actually have wire cutters built in them, but I would still recommend you purchase some small wire cutters anyway. There are many situations where those needle nosed pliers won't do the job. The wire cutters can get in to smaller spaces. I also recommend narrow needle nosed pliers. Even if you don't think you will need them, they are much better in more delicate situations. Plus, sometimes you will need to use a pair of pliers in each hand to pull wire through tight beads. Those purple pliers are for rolling and looping wire. I use them more than the second pair of pliers. Pliers will be your most expensive investment in this particular beading project.
Many people in the panel asked me what kind of wire I was using. You can get many gauges of wire at your local craft store. Use the smallest gauge. And remember, the larger the number, the thinner the wire. The day I went wire shopping, the smallest gauge I could find was 24 gauge. I found this 28 gauge wire at Home Depot in the picture hanging accessories aisle. It's my favorite. And I recommend using wire as opposed to thread for this work because thread is flimsy and you have to use needles and be more careful with the beads buckling. With wire, you just need the wire, beads, and pliers and the object holds a shape better.
The beads you are using are your basic run of the mill seed beads. You can purchase them for under $2 a package at your local craft store and they come in all sorts of colors.
Now let's get started! Threading beads with wire is easy. You just insert the end of the wire into the seed bead opening. Here's where your pattern comes into play. For the first (meaning the bottom) row, thread the entire count of beads onto the wire and let them fall all the way to the center of the wire.
Like so. Pretend you can see the ends of this wire and the meet up in the middle so the sides are even.
For the second row, thread all the beads for that row in the pattern just like you did the first row, except stop them from falling very far down the wire.
Now you are going to pick up the end of the wire on the other side and thread it through the beads like so.
Your object is to work the wire and beads so that you have opposite ends of wire coming out of each side of the row. Be aware that some seed beads suffer from having smaller openings. Sometimes you will have beads that cannot be double threaded like this. So it would be a good idea to eyeball each bead and try to determine the smaller opening beads to discard for this project. Otherwise, you will spend a bunch of time threading, then taking the row apart, then picking new beads, then re-threading. It's a pain. I speak as someone who keeps forgetting to cull small beads and pulling my hair out over this often.
Pull the wire as tightly as you can.
Here you see me using my thumb and fingers to manipulate the bottom row from a curve to a line. This only happens during the first and second row construction when you are making square pieces. You shouldn't have to manipulate rows on square pieces after this.
Here you can see where I've made a third row. I made that row by duplicating the instructions for the second row. In a square piece, this is really easy because you are just counting beads according to the pattern. Be aware that if you have beads which differ wildly in width, you may need to adjust bead count in the pattern for that discrepancy.
This is my near finished Domo. As you can see, he is not perfectly square. This is for several reasons. First, I messed up one of the red bead rows and shorted it. I decided to leave that in so you could see how missing beads in the pattern can affect things. But that's not the only reason Domo is distorted. Some of the rows have differing size beads. You can tell this the most on the bottom tooth row. Those white beads are smaller. The same thing happened with my Ankh at the top of the blog post. I actually even tried to adjust the bead counts in some rows to account for smaller or larger beads. If you really want your projects to look perfect, you should pick through your beads at the start of the project to attempt to keep bead size uniform. You're already picking through to choose for large opening sizes, you may as well pick through for uniform size as well.
Now to finish our little Domo, I use the clothes hangar method. I pinch together the remaining wire...
and then twist.
Then cut the excess wire and use the rolling pliers to bend the twisted wire into a loop.
These more narrow needle nose pliers are great for pinching the loop together.
Then all that's left to do is to clip the excess wire away and thread some ribbon or chain through your new pendant. Or if you are making earrings, thread the wire through the loop end of the fish hook earring before you clamp it down and then as you are clamping down, twist the pendant loop so your earrings hang properly facing forward.
Now you have your own pixel bead art! And how simple was that? Once you are comfortable with the process, here is a website with a few more Bead Sprite patterns you can work with. And Pixelgasm has even more fun ideas you can convert from Bead Sprites. If you're feeling really confident, you can also try your hand at making patterns for little Kaos. This site doesn't have the grids set up, but the kaos are small and simple enough that if you can make the Mario Mushrooms in my pattern, you should be able to figure out how to pattern some of the kaos. To start patterning, all you have to remember is to keep it on a grid. And each bead should represent one square on that grid. Easy Peasy!
Happy Beading!
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