My goal: To portray some of the "icons "of the island in beadwork on each of
the plates of the turtles shell. Items included: a horses head in profile, a
bicycle, Arch rock, a blockhouse, a sailing ship, a geranium, trilliums,
lilacs, fudge, a vintage sportsman's, lake/rock scenery, a column and flag
at the Grand, and a lightpost with hanging baskets. Many of the plates include 3-D elements.

My Method: After making a template of each plate, I drew a "cartoon" of the item on paper and used that as guide for the beadwork. The beadwork was assembled using only glass beads and wire. I've used about 42,000 beads (each placed individually by hand) and 600 yards of wire. After each plate
was completed, they were assembled over the turtle for fit. I then removed
assembled shell and base coated the turtle. I replaced the shell, added the border and then laced the shell beneath to secure it in place.

My inspirations: The actual images I created have many sources: my own
photos, vintage Gardiner photos, vintage posters, a vintage needlebook, a
1912 beading pattern and , of course, the Island itself.

Challenges: Size!!! The turtle would not fit in our apartment, so he has
been in the basement of our under construction new home. Also, the sheer
scale of the project - up to now my largest beaded piece was 7"x 10". The
scale demanded that I use extremely larger beads than I'm accustomed to, which majorly affected the methods I had to use. This has been a major learning experience for me. (and very stressful)

I was very closely supervised on this project by both of my cats - they
found the bouncy wire to be great fun.