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2005-12-18, 1:36pm
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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New Member needs help with Cats....
Greetings all,
I have been a lurker of this site for a few months (about as long as I have been making beads) but I finally took the time to register. I have a slight problem. I am trying to make a set of beads to give to my mother-in-law for Christmas. She is a huge cat fan and would want them representative of her beloved cats (one is all white, another a chocolate siamese, and two new ones I haven't seen). The problem is, she is very picky and complains if everything isn't perfect. The bigger problem is, all my attempts to make my beads look representational look more like bunny rabbits than cats.
So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to make cat beads of any shape or variety, that would be greatly appreciated. They can be larger pendants for a necklace, smaller beads for a strand, small pendants for earrings, whatever. I have been experimenting mainly with sculptural, but am open to anything really.
I use a hot head and have no experience in doing off mandrel work or making my own stringers. Please help! (I'll post some pictures of what I have gotten so far when I can get my digital camera to work).
Update: Apparently my own mother has heard of my endeavours and has decided that I have to make a Christmas ornament for each person of the family. I now also have to create a Tyrannosaurus, Parrot, Rose, and Hedgehog... BY TUESDAY (2 days)!!! Any ideas?
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2005-12-18, 3:05pm
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It's time to sparkle
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Join Date: Jun 16, 2005
Location: Saint Anna, WI
Posts: 6,194
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Hi Brimmy-
I have some pics I can show you of cats, but there will be some difficulty making them on a hothead. Not impossible, just difficult. The ears and nose may burn off in too fluffy of a flame.
As for your mom not thinking they're good enough-that is her problem, not yours. Do your best, do it with love, and don't let her attacks touch you.
Anyhoo, here they are. Copy away-I don't make them anymore.
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Jude
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2005-12-18, 3:07pm
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It's time to sparkle
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Join Date: Jun 16, 2005
Location: Saint Anna, WI
Posts: 6,194
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ooops, I didn't notice we were in the tutorial section. The pics aren't actually a tut, are they?
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Jude
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2005-12-18, 3:28pm
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Thanks for the pics!
She is actually my future mother-in-law. I need to keep her happy for now, once everything is finalized, I can say "Screw it.", but until then, I need to keep the peace.
As for pics vs. tutorials... Pictures usually are good enough of a tutorial for me. I rarely follow the exact instructions anyways, so having pictures of what other people have created gives me reassurance that it is actually possible.
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2005-12-18, 3:28pm
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Goofbead
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Join Date: Jun 20, 2005
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 1,383
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Brimmy, I make a round bead attached to a cone and then smoosh flat (all black). Put two large white dots side by side at the bottom of the round part (head) don't melt them down all the way but flatten them. Put a little pink dot at the top of where the two dots meet for the nose and a little short line of pink at the bottom and smoosh for the tongue. Then make two dots of white for eyes with tiny black dots in the middle for the pupils.
Then make two small raised dots of black on either side of the top of the head. Flatten and then pinch the tops to make them pointy. You can add a dab of pink in the center (these are the ears). Now go to the bottom of the cone shape and put 4 white dots in a row - raised slightly and smooshed. In each of the dots use your razor tool and make two parallel lines in each dot. These are the paws. Last you make a little black tail with a white tip either sticking off of one side or on the back of the bead to make it two sided.
You can play with this basic form and try color variations. Simple but a really cute kitty. Sorry I don't have a pic of my actual beads.
__________________
*~~ Christy ~~*
"Wherever you go, there you are" - Buckaroo Banzai
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2005-12-19, 1:59am
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Thanks for the imput people. I have tried many different suggestions (most without success), but I seem to have hit one that may work really well (two of two have survived so far). When the latest batch cools, I will take some pics.
Unfortunately, I am now required to make an ornament for each member of the family now. (See update on first post). I need to figure out how to make a Tyrannosaurus, Parrot, Rose, Lizard and Hedgehog by TUESDAY (two days away!!). Any suggestions?
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2005-12-19, 3:33am
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Okay, the below two images are the beads I created today. Please forgive the bad quality photographs (why there are two) as I don't have any sort of fancy set up and it is 3am so there is no natural light.
Only the beads that have survived have shown up here. Any that broke while being made or while cooling are not shown here (there are too many).
Bead #1 : This was my first attempt at a representational cat. I messed up on the hind legs, and found it beyond rabbit-ish, so I added a short tail and long ears. One side looks very much like a white rabbit, while the other (not shown) is just a jumble of odd shaped bumps.
Bead #2 : Attempt #2 on a white cat. This one I was determined not to have explode on me, so it ended up too close to the flame and all the details blurred together. It looks more like a baby seal with an odd shaped tail and ears. I may in the future develop this shape as such, so not a complete loss.
Bead #3 : My third attempt on a cat from Softbleu's suggested technique. Again, I got the bead too close to the flame for fear of it exploding on me as well, so the details are a bit mushy. Sorry for the image quality, but the ears turned out really well, even with little pink centres, while the tail is pathetically thin and short (not shown in picture). This has potential as a cat shape, but not for a white one (all the details disappear). I will try this one again when I find a good mix for Chocolate Siamese colouring.
Bead #4 : My final attempt at cat beads and the one that I will be continuing with for this project. With most details obscured by being curled up this is a much easier bead, while still staying very representational. I am going to try this one as a Chocolate Siamese when I finish the other eight white cats needed.
Bead #5 : This one was actually made before the cats. It is a red apple with a little worm sticking out. The worm turned out amazingly well, and gave me hope that sculptural beads were indeed possible on a hothead torch.
Bead #6 : Though technically broken (cracks throughout, I hope it survives annealing), this is by far my favourite. By request of my hubby who needs a half inch Christmas Ornament and wanted a Christmas Dinosaur, this was the one of five attempts that didn't explode almost instantly after being removed from the heat. I will keep working at it to see if I can create it without breakage.
Anyways, now that people have seen my style of work, are there any suggestions on how to make the Tyrannosaurus, Parrot, Rose, Lizard and Hedgehog needed?
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2005-12-20, 6:49pm
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More ideas than talent
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Join Date: Sep 17, 2005
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Posts: 2,565
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How are you cooling your beads down? Are you using vermiculite or a fibre blanket?
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Wendy
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2005-12-21, 12:04am
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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I am using vermiculite at the moment. If I'm not doing details (like little ears or spines on a hedgehog) I rarely have issues with them breaking. Its just when I'm trying to get those little details that the beads break.
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2005-12-21, 2:00am
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More ideas than talent
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Join Date: Sep 17, 2005
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Posts: 2,565
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Try flashing your beads in and out of the flame before you put them in the vermiculite. It evens out the temperature in the bead. Might make it less prone to breaking.
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Wendy
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2005-12-21, 3:43am
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Usually I can actually feel them crack about halfway through. I have yet to find the perfect median between heating it so it doesn't crack, yet keeping it cool so the details aren't blurred in.
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2005-12-21, 10:01am
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 07, 2005
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,135
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Hi Brimmy,
So you are not using a kiln to anneal your beads? I had my kiln moved next to where I was working (the garage) and just pop them in right out of the flame. I use a hothead also, you can do anything on a hothead once you get a feel for it (practice)
Tracy
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2005-12-21, 12:53pm
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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I don't have a kiln, I don't have a studio. All I have is a hot head duct taped to my coffee table (my man and I are in a two room apartment) with a pile of glass on the floor below. I so need a proper space to work from... **sigh** I get all my beads annealed later at a local supplier.
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2005-12-21, 5:20pm
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More ideas than talent
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Join Date: Sep 17, 2005
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Posts: 2,565
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I work at the kitchen table on my hothead - but I use a G-clamp to clamp it to the table. I would be seriously worried about using duct tape only to hold the torch in place. What would happen if it fell in your lap?
Try flashing your beads occassionally through the flame when you're working on them. Might make it less prone to cracking while making as well.
I don't have a kiln yet either.
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Wendy
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2005-12-21, 6:44pm
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Don't worry, its quite secure. You can't kick it over unless you kick over the entire table. Its the MAPP gas cannister that is attached to both the table leg and the floor.
I keep the beads at a constant almost glow (I don't let the colour return until I'm done the bead) and they still crack. I think its just something I will have to get used to until I can get a kiln or different set up. (I can usually feel them crack halfway through making them. The details added make it impossible to fix though).
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2005-12-21, 9:15pm
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Cats & Glass!
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Join Date: Jul 15, 2005
Location: Chelsea, AL
Posts: 1,648
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Brimmy,
I've made some cat face beads (I'll post one below). This may not be what you're looking for but it's relatively easy. They might be hard to do on a Hot Head (the cheeks might melt in while you were doing the eyes, etc.).
I was kind of where you are last year. I kept getting requests from people that weren't quite realistic for my abilities at that time. I think I've improved a lot over the last year, but I've learned one thing - just say "no!" if you're not ready to do something yet. It's stressful, for one. Also, if you're not annealing these beads, I wouldn't give them away as gifts as they are scuptural and probably incurred a lot of stress in the glass as you made them. They could likely break in your giftees' hands - a cutting hazard and kind of embarassing for you and them. That's my two cents! You learn through trying though so don't give up but realize that being new, working on a Hothead and without a kiln are all kind of challenging!
Janelle
Lentil based cat face - make a lentil and fire polish. Add dot for chin, then two for cheeks (which I dimple with a brass poker), add a nose, then two eyes out of base color plus black dots on top. Finally add ears!
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Janelle Zorko Schultz
Pigeon Point Glass
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2005-12-21, 9:19pm
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Cats & Glass!
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Join Date: Jul 15, 2005
Location: Chelsea, AL
Posts: 1,648
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Oh yes, that cracking halfway through is likely because you are not keeping the core warm all the way through. It is either cracking as it cools or cracking because it got cold and then you hit it with heat after it got cold and it thermal shocked. if a part gets really cool, you can save it by heating it very slowly - rather than hitting it with too much heat at once. Hope this helps!
Janelle
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Janelle Zorko Schultz
Pigeon Point Glass
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2005-12-21, 9:53pm
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More ideas than talent
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Join Date: Sep 17, 2005
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Posts: 2,565
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Janelle, I've done similar cat heads on a hot head and they've been fine in terms of holding detail (of course it didn't look quite as nice as yours but that's a different story).
Brimmy, make sure you keep roating the bead occasionally too just in case it's a problem with the bead being hot on one side and getting too cold on the other.
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Wendy
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2005-12-21, 11:48pm
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Farewell promises nothing
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Join Date: Dec 18, 2005
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 2,756
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Janelle : Thank you for the picture and advice. My problem is that I am getting too detailed. I don't like doing (forgive me for the term) cartoony figures. I have been trying to make all of my creatures naturalistic. So, every little details like ridges down a spine or individual petals on a flower or even every little feather on the parrot are included. The simple designs work well, but bore me to make, the more complicated and wonderful ones are great fun, but seem to almost always break. The only figures I have seemed to gotten down right in terms of making them realistic are human torsos, cats and flowers now. My lizards, parrots, hedgehogs, dinosaurs and faces all still look cartoony.
I will try to take better photos and post them here once they get back from being annealed.
As for taking commissions and making gifts when I am not ready, well... I always say "I am interested, but I cannot take the assignment at this time." if I am not comfortable with my abilities on that subject. Many times, the customer is willing to either wait or get a discount in allowing me to experiment while creating their item. This basically pays me to learn and gets them a cheaper deal (with a promise of an excellent finished product if they wait long enough, its up to them when they say its good enough).
With gifts, it depends who is getting the gift. Gifts that I just give people, I will not allow to go unannealed or cracked or scratched or smeared or with any sort of blemish regardless of what the medium is. With my immediate friends and family, they know that they will usually get an over abundance of "experimental gifts". They know that these items are either failed attempts, experiments or have some sort of flaw. Basically they are my testing grounds. I give my mom a necklace and it breaks on her, I know not to sell any like it. I have given my mom cracked but annealed beads to basically give harsh treatment to. This gives me a general idea of how much abuse my beads can take and I then know that the whole beads will last at least that long. All companies should go through some sort of product testing. My little gifts to my family is my product testing. I am however always very careful to tell them when it is a test item and when it is a legitimate gift.
That and my mom is worse than me for throwing things out. If a bead cracks, she still wants it as a documentation of my work so I can look back and see where I was and what I was doing. Either to remind me that I can only get better, or to reinspire some ideas.
These particular beads (the cat, hedgehog, dinosaur, alien, lizard, parrot and flower) were all special requests as gifts from my immediate family. Since we will be in mexico, we won't have a proper Christmas tree this year. So, my grandma found a little tiny 6" tree that she is packing and instructed everyone to bring an ornament no larger than 1/2" tall. My mom then turned to me and asked me to make something special for her, something that I havent done before. Everyone else quickly jumped on that bandwagon, and now I am expected to make one little special bead for everyone. I chose to do sculptural beads, and since these are not meant to ever be worn or abused, I have been very liberal in adding extremely fragile details (like every little feather on the parrot). This has given me no end of headaches, but I can definately see an improvement from my first beads made not quite a week ago. Situations like this commonly come up in my family. They are always purposely asking for things they think will challenge me a great deal (I think my brother takes pleasure in making me swear). They also know that the product of these requests are usually flawed and that if they do randomly break or fail in some way, that I will not feel bad or expect them to.
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2006-03-12, 6:58pm
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CRAZY4PETS
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Join Date: Feb 15, 2006
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
Posts: 52
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Kitty Cat Beads ~^..^~
Here are a couple of kitties too. Do you have any presses? You can make cats with or without a press. If you have trouble making a full bodied cat bead, you could also try a round for the head and decorate with eyes, nose, ears, etc. Then do a separate bead for the body with tail and feet. Just join them with a head pin afterwards to give the effect of one bead but in reality it is a 2 piece bead. A lentil press works really well too. You just make a lentil, then add a blob and smash it on graphite marver for the head, then add eyes, nose, ears, mouth, etc. Also you can do a round bead and hold the mandrel vertically, then add 4 good sized dots at the bottom of the bead for feet, then a blob in front for the head and decorate with eyes, etc, and then add a tail in the back. Tons of ways to do them, just have to find the most comfortable preference for yourself.
I have tried all of the above techiques and have made them with horizontal holes and vertical holes as well. It took me a ton of practice to get some that actually looked like cats. Cats were tough for me. I prefer dogs myself. lol That was my nitch however, I love, love, love making animal beads of all types but my all time favorite is dogs. Just wanted to share a few kitty cat beads with ya. Both of these in the picture were done with a lentil press. Also cat heads are very easy to do with the lentil press as well. Have made sets of those also
Hope you don't mind my terminology = BLOB, etc. LOL LOL LOL That is what I call it!
Don't know if any of this helps but that is what I had to do and lots of hours of practice and made lots of "What the heck is that beads?" before I finally had some that started to resemble kitties
Cartoony? Yes they are but that gives them character. LOL LOL LOL
I prefer to call them whimsical which is a nicer term than cartoony. LOL LOL LOL
PS: They are all litter box trained too
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LOVE YOUR PETS AND THEY WILL LOVE YOU BACK
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2006-03-12, 7:34pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Dec 15, 2005
Location: near Lake George NY
Posts: 157
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LOVE the kitties....show us your dogs and other animals too!!!
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2006-03-16, 11:24am
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Anna Duhame
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Join Date: Aug 27, 2005
Location: Saint Cloud, FL
Posts: 1,135
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~Anna
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2006-03-16, 3:05pm
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Dec 15, 2005
Location: near Lake George NY
Posts: 157
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Nice Job Hummingbird ....Thanks for the tips!!
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2006-03-16, 10:19pm
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CRAZY4PETS
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Join Date: Feb 15, 2006
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
Posts: 52
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Here are some of my animal beads :o)
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LOVE YOUR PETS AND THEY WILL LOVE YOU BACK
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2006-03-27, 7:24am
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Anna Duhame
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Join Date: Aug 27, 2005
Location: Saint Cloud, FL
Posts: 1,135
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Wow, those dogs are super cute!
I really love the schnauzer and the poodle! They are all adorable! Nice work!!!
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~Anna
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