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You may already realize this, but when I'm not writing for Collector Times, I have my own small business creating beaded jewelry. Of course, I don't stop being a geek when I take off my CT hat. Most of my creations have fantasy and mythological inspirations - lots of faeries and dragons, a couple Medusa necklaces, plenty of steampunk. And then there's the subject of this article.
Cthulhu, In All His Hideous Glory.
I'd had the idea to bead a Toy Vault plush Cthulhu for years, but I shelved it away as crazy and time consuming. That is, until I signed up to attend Bead Unique's Tahoe Mountain Bead Retreat and found out they were having an Ugly Beaded Project contest. I had no interest in making an ugly piece of jewelry. Why waste my time and resources on something that I'd never wear, sell, or give to a loved one? Then I remembered my old Cthulhu idea. There's nothing uglier than a Great Old One.
Knowing that I had to have him done in time for retreat on the first weekend of October, I started beading Cthulhu during the first week of August. Armed with an inch-long beading needle, some dark green thread, and some tiny matte iridescent green seed beads, I began to outline the detail of his face. I quickly broke my first needle trying to shove it through the seam. Clearly this was going to be a challenging project, but I was determined that I could do it.
Now might be a good time to mention that although I had done lots of bead embroidered jewelry projects before, this was my first time working on a stuffed form. A smart beader would have started out with a simple shape and a nice woven cotton to learn on, but no, I had to choose plush Cthulhu with all his weird seams and his low-nap plush. On the bright side, any doll I try after this will feel quite easy in comparison.
I worked on Cthulhu almost every day for nearly two months straight. I worked on him during gaming nights, much to the delight of my group. I brought him along with me to NY, even tucking him into my purse to meet an on-line friend for the first time. I posted frequent status updates on Facebook, Twitter and my blog, where my friends encouraged me, while at the same time telling me that he was far too cute for an ugly contest.
Finally, I completed Cthulhu the day before I was due to leave for Tahoe - I was really convinced that I was going to be putting the finishing touches on during the flight. I bet you thought that CT articles were the only thing I turned in at the last minute!
On the night of the Ugly Contest, the judges passed him up, but I did win Voters Choice for "I don't think so" Ugly. I'm pretty sure that was all of my friends voting that they thought he was cute instead of ugly, and I'm OK with that. Really, the contest pales in comparison to the fun of passing him around and getting compliments not just from my friends, but from teachers and famous beaders, despite all the flaws in his work.
Cthulhu now occupies a happy spot in the glass-fronted cabinet of my desk, comfortably perched on a stack of books. I'm considering buying a special glass-domed display just for him, and maybe making some sigil-inscribed stones for him to sit on, but that's a project for another day. For now I'm happy to have found an unusual way to combine two things that I love.
If you'd like to read more about the process, including what beads and techniques I used, and see all of the in-progress photos, this link will show all of the blog posts I made while working on him:
http://erthefae.blogspot.com/search/label/cthulhu
And of course, if you'd like to see my jewelry, you can always click on the link at the bottom of any of my Collector Times articles, or visit my Etsy shop at http://erthefae.etsy.com
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