Fancy Fish Blog Hop

I was hooked (pun intended) when Karen Williams decided to host a blog hop using her Fancy Fish tutorial.  I had been eyeing the tutorial for weeks and was excited to have an excuse to get it.

Karen mentioned in her post that she was looking for a design team and was kind enough to allow me to join.

As part of the team, I received a Fancy Fish kit along with the tutorial.  My kit contained different shade of blue seed beads, blue thread and several colors of core beads.  The core beads give shape to the beaded fish and really make them come alive.

I got to work and produced my first fish.

I used the size 8 beads from the kit to accent the tail and fins.  I added a 3mm crystal for the eye.

My husband, the fish expert, said it looked "very cool."  That is seriously high praise.  :)

I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo, but Karen uses right angle weave in her design.  In her tutorial, she illustrates how thread color can make a difference in the finished fish.  Because right angle weave is an open weave, the core bead can show through a bit as well.

Karen included a burgundy core bead in the kit.  At first, I wasn't sure how it would work, but I love it in this fish.

I love how the burgundy bead peeks through.

In the tutorial, Karen also shows how to add stripes to the fish.  In the fish above, I used that technique to create a small blue stripe.

For my third fish, I went a bit wild with the stripes and used the rest of the colors in the kit.

I also used the size 8 beads in this fish.

I loved how so many different fish can be created from the beads in the kit.

When my daughter saw me making fish, she asked for a "Nemo" fish.  I looked at a few pictures of clown fish and altered the tail and fins from the tutorial to create this.

It's not a perfect clown fish, but my daughter really liked it.

For my last fish, I used fringe beads for the tail, fins and eyes.

I like how the drop beads stand up a bit and produce a great dorsal fin.

While beading these, I learned a few things about fish that I didn't know.  I could tell that Karen put a great deal of thought into her design.

If you would like to bead some of your own fish, check out Karen's tutorial.  If you are new to right angle weave, don't worry.  The first few pages in the tutorial show you exactly what you need to know.

I was able to find a few oval core beads at Michaels, but just in case, Karen sells core beads for her fish, as well as other tutorials, in her etsy shop.

Karen, thank you for a wonderful hop and it was an honor to be part of your team.

Please take some time to visit thee other blogs in the hop.  I bet you will see some cute and fancy fish.

Karen Williams - Baublicious - our host

Francie Broadie - FAB Custom Jewelry

Shirley Moore - Beads and Bread

Bobbie Rafferty - Beadsong Jewelry

Tanya Goodwin - A Work in Progress - you are here

Cynthia Machata - Antiquity Travelers

Kathy Jo - KJ's Beadacious Beads

Therese Frank - Therese's Treasures

Nancy Sopp - AlaskanNancy

Alison Oman (featured on Karen's blog)

Dolores Dwight (featured on Karen's blog)

Amy Severino - Amybeads

Eleanor Pigman - Eleanor Pigman