KIM BAIRD

This was inspired by the song. Written and performed by Sheb Wooley, this single record was released June 9, 1958. It remained on the Billboard Top 100 for 6 weeks. I remember the song well as a child.

I used a repurposed “Crown Royal” bag as the background. This piece includes: feathers, seed beads, doll parts, an horn Christmas tree ornament that has hung on my tree for 30 years, and an eye made especially for this project by Jill Lawrence of Twisted Sister Arts.

Techniques include, ladder stitch, dangles, netting, beveling, and bead soup gluing.

I found this "Tribal" creature shortly after last year's bead retreat in a small bead store in Waldport, Or. I immediately thought this beast needs to come alive. The first step, just embroider some beads around the "beast". The rest just flowed. My inner "beast" took over and I was surprised at what came out of me. In this challenge are African Trade Beads, snake vertebrae, bear claw, dentalium shell, turquoise, bone wood, and leather. Also in this piece, I used seed beads, heshi shells, antique nail heads, and peanut seed beads.