The Urchin Bead

My first beaded bead.  How exciting.  It was based on the urchin bead pattern from Marcia Decoster's Beaded Opulence.  The goal was to achieve something like:

 Eye catching isn't it?!

The pattern is based on embellished right angle weave with a variety of bead sized.  I had to improvise a bit as I didn't have the exact sized recommended in my seed bead stash so it was a bit of a gamble on how it was going to turn out.  Specifically, I used cylinder beads instead of the largest seed beads, and delica beads instead of the crystal embellishments.  Step 1: lots and lots and lots and lots of right angle weave stitches.  My goodness!  I spend an entire evening making this thing when I estimated it would take a couple hours.  So many tiny stitches!  After telling my friend about my many hours of bead stitching, he gave me the nickname 'the bead surgeon'.  I approve, haha.  So how did my bead turn out?

Not  to bad for a first attempt.  I will definitely be giving this another shot with the exact bead sizes specified in the pattern.

This one is quite large... about an inch and a half across.  I am also going to try making one half the height and with only three spines.  I hope that the results will be small and light enough to make earrings out of.

My biggest lesson from this experience is that beaded beads take lots of time!  It's amazing the amount of effort it takes to make something so small.  The results all worth it though!