This is another mouse where I kind of had to hunt around for the body after stringing the tails, which include, among other things, a frosted dichro solid that I think Page gave to me many years ago as a sample (which unfortunately for her I've never had any luck in copying), a couple of beads with dark, high-silver bearing glasses—one in blue violets, the other a very dark red-purple with blue haze, some more of Frances’ spacers with that silver pixie dust I still have sitting on my bench, and what I believe is the last remaining bead from a series of floral pixies I did some years ago.
floral cylindrical mouse with assorted designer beads, including highly reactive artisan glass, a silver pixie by frances, freshwater pearls, a rhinestone rondell, round pressed rose czech beads, with purple iris hex tubular peyote on sterling link. focal, 25mm/1", 24.5cm/9.75" overall; final assembly & photography, Dec 2017.
Sara Sally Legrand is a big fan of using ‘black iron’ wire, which is dead soft, and about 14 or 16 gauge—thick—in her lampwork, and I currently have a lot of it on hand. It makes a handsome (albeit sometimes slightly rusty) and subdued finding for the mouse part. This was definitely a case of using up beads, but I do think some people find the smaller focal in relation to the tails more suitable.
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Sylvus Tarn