Beaded Horse - Cheval

I have been wanting to create a mosaic with seed beads for the longest time and finally took the time to do it.  I'm so glad I did!  So much fun working so tiny and detailed, exactly how I like to work.

I started out with a 7x7x2" wooden horse I found at a garage sale and sealed it with primer.  I loosely drew a design on the horse, but I ended up not following it and worked spontaneously one section at a time.  Once I finished the first side, I duplicated the patterns on the other side to match.

I used glass fusions as accents, and cut millefiori for the eyes.  I mostly glued the beads down while they were still on the string, but I also had to put them on one by one with tweezers, a tricky business!

Once I was nearly done, I drilled a hole in the backside, created 15-20 beaded strings and then (after grouting the horse) attached the beads for the tail.  It took nearly 100 hours to make, but I will definitely be doing this again!