Amy Kopperude's Blog

I never thought I'd by keying in that three-number combination. To finish this monolithic accomplishment is so very fulfilling for me. When I finished Bead Bugs and turned in the last installment, I was both relieved and sad. The same is true for my spider project, which has lasted much longer that I originally intended, due to some unforeseen life challenges.

Not too terribly far into my spider project, I had decided that my last spider would be a dead spider. I thought, what a great way to end my beaded spider project...with a real sense of finality. To bring it to a "dead" stop. But 2012 was a real year of trial and discovery for me both personally and spiritually, and just a couple of months ago, my idea for the dead spider transformed. Experience has shown me that even when things seem to be at their end--finished, dead, kaput--new life comes out of that darkness. There is always a way to move forward and to keep doors and windows open for potential and power and love! I don't know if I can say goodbye to this project. It has been therapeutic for me in some difficult moments. It has brought me joy and wonder. It has given me faith about myself and my abilities. It has brought me closer to some amazing people and the gifts that we can all share with one another. It has changed how I see my world.

In some ways, I feel resurrected. Something dead in me has been brought back to life. I am discovering how to be a different, better person. I can give this project a stamp of approval and move on to the next big, wonderful moment...and I'm so excited to share that with all of you who have followed me and encouraged me these many months.

"The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Galatians 5:22

Thank you.

As I wind down my spider project with this second to last spider, I am excited to complete my Oz series with a lucky number 7, and on the weekend opening of Oz: The Great and Powerful . We love the scarecrow for his gentle wisdom and his attempt to find strength of mind and might in his most fearsome hour. His is Dorothy's first companion on the road to Oz, and he sees her to the very end of her journey. He stands for loyalty and friendship, so I saved the best for last.

Materials: fabric covered beads, felt, brass bird bead, bamboo tube beads, seed and E beads, straw, yellow paint, thread, rusted wire

I had hoped to make 13 Alfred Hitchcock spiders, but only found time for 9--the Notorious spider being the last in the series. But who knows, maybe there'll be some Hitchcock encore spiders.

This spider features a key as the main component. The key was also used on movie posters and was a featured symbol in the film. The skull and cross bones on the key are meant to represent Alicia's (Ingrid Bergman) poisoning. The heart ties in the romance between Alicia and Devlin (Cary Grant). The "N" and "S" are the beginning and end of the word "Notorious," which is spelled out in a wire arcing over the framed heart bead.

Materials: key, skull charm, pewter paint, green patina, metal letters, bead frame, red-painted heart bead, matte burgundy bugle beads, matte burgundy and sage green seed beads, bronze wire

The Syntrogel tin was cut with a
Dremel tool.Gonna go back in time....to 1984. The flux capacitor spider is made from an old drug sample tin and watch hands. And 1.21 jigawatts of pure creativity. Very few beads were used for this spider.

Materials: Syntrogel tin, pewter paint, watch hands, resistors, light bulbs, blue seed beads, clear bugle beads

Bigfoot. Abominable Snowman. Bumble. The yeti takes many forms. Today's yeti spider is felted from Angora goat roving given to me--along with a few pointers--by my good friend and felting artist Donna Montgomery. I started out with a beaded base and firm wire, then wrapped and needled the felt into place.

Materials: Angora goat roving, tan glass beads, barrel seed beads, rusted wire

It was hard to come up with a name for this spider. I just really liked the combination of colors and beads. The focal bead reminds me of those shell-submerged resin tables that people had back in the 70s/80s, but I couldn't come up with a cool name related to that. So when I asked for help on Facebook, I felt that the best idea related to Men In Black--the Arquilian galaxy that is worn on "Orion's belt." Excellent!

Materials: resin pendant, round green flecked bead, iridescent black spacer, black twist bugle beads, black shell beads, sage green seed beads, green wire

I bought a string of brown/amber/yellow rhinestone sliders and used one to make a spider stick pin by threading two wires through each of the two sets of holes, applying E-6000 glue to the back to hold the wires in place, and placing a stick pin base in the glue. Then I beaded the legs, and don't it look purty!?

Materials: rhinestone slider, iris brown bugle beads, yellow seed beads, brown wire, stick pin base

If you haven't already read this article, check out what the York Dispatch had to say about my book, Bead Bugs. The next author event is scheduled for Friday, February 1 (First Fridays), at Watchmaker's Daughter in downtown York, PA. Stop by to talk about the book, purchase a copy to have signed by moi, and see some of my beaded bug creations, including several spider and dragonfly pins that are for sale.

After some silly banter about monkey spiders with fellow oddball Keith Busher (of Precious Mutations), the topic of flying monkeys arose, and I remembered that I had this fairly ugly clay bead that would be the perfect focal bead for a winged monkey spider, matching the colors of the monkey vest in the Wizard of Oz movie to a T. What is Dorothy without her ruby slippers, Glinda without her pink bubble and starry wand, or Dorothy's walking companions without their deepest desires for a brain, a heart, and courage? Why, nothing of course. So it is with great excitement that I introduce the creepiest of my Oz spiders.
The real story of where the winged monkeys come from in L. Frank Baum's original stories about Oz, as described on Wikipedia, is this:
The Winged Monkeys were once a free people, living in the forests of Oz. They were carefree, but rather mischievous. One day the King of the Winged Monkeys, as a prank, tossed a richly dressed man into a river, ruining his costume of silk and velvet. The man, whose name was Quelala, was good natured enough, but his fiancée, a sorceress named Gayelette was furious, and punished the Winged Monkeys by making them the slaves to the Golden Cap she had prepared as a wedding present for her betrothed. The cap allows its possessor to command the winged monkeys three times.Quelala used the Golden Cap only once, commanding the Winged Monkeys to stay away from Gayelette. Eventually the cap fell into the hands of the Wicked Witch of the West, who used the Winged Monkeys to conquer the Winkie Country, defeat the Great Oz, and capture Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, destroying the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman in the process.After the witch was melted, Dorothy took the cap and used it. The first time, she commanded the Winged Monkeys to carry her and her companions to the Emerald City. Then she asked them to carry her home to Kansas, but they could not, thus resulting in her wasting the cap's charm. Her third request was to carry her and her friends over the mountain of the Hammer-Heads. Clockwise from top: Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Glinda, Elphaba, and Dorothy.Dorothy finally gave the cap to Glinda, who ordered the monkeys to carry Dorothy's companions back to their homes in Oz, and then to cease to bother people. She then gave them the cap as their own to free them.Materials: clay bead, blue rondelle bead, blue/white swirl bead, various blue bugle beads and seed beads, Tim Holtz metal wings, blue wool yarn, pewter and aqua blue wire

I got a kick out of a link to a hoax about a poisonous spider that lurked under toilet seats. The telamonia spider, while real, was purported to be hanging around in of all places, our worst nightmare for the discovery of poisonous or biting insects, the bathroom.

After friends saw the link on Facebook and commented that they thought it was one of my beaded spiders, I figured I had better get to work on one.

Materials: oval and round wood beads, light and dark brown and butterscotch bugle beads, light and dark brown seed beads, pewter wire, ivory enamel paint