You saw my Mardi Gras Haul last week and I promised to give you some ideas on how to shrink your pile of beads after carnival. In this post I will show you how to create the ultra small (not safe for small children) craft and kid favorite for alleviating boredom while waiting for parades, the bead dog. These interesting little crafts can be made with most beads, but are best made from those cheap non-pearls that are kind of see-through and come in all sorts of colors. The best bead dogs have a special nose made from the end of these plastic necklaces. Of course the long nose is not a requirement and a normal string of beads can usually make four or more of these doggies. All you need to make one is a string of beads and a pair of scissors or (if you're a purist, like me) just a string of beads and your fingers. Also be sure to clean and dry each string of beads before using. No one likes a sticky beer smelling bead dog.

Step 1: The perfect necklace

First you need to find that perfect cheapo bead necklace from your haul. Sure you can use almost any string of beads, but no one really want to waste some pearls on a bead dog and the clear plastic beads that have a special plastic clasp are the easiest to use. Plus the size means you finished bead dog can double as a jack when made as part of a set of ten and added to one of those super balls you caught.

The rest of the instructions after the jump.

Step 2: The length

Next up select the length from the string of beads you will need to construct your bead dog. Since this will be made in the simple style, I am going to use a string of 11 beads (leave them connected to each other for now). Why 11? The first (including the small nose-like piece) is the head. Second is the neck. Third is the body. Fourth and fifth is the tail. Sixth and seventh for ears. Eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh for legs. You can have the body be longer for a doxen dachshund style dog. Plus the tail could be longer or even the legs and ears. For now though, let's keep this simple.

Step 3: Separation

Now to break apart that string of 11 from the main necklace. There are two ways to do this. Scissors can snip the small piece of string between beads quite easily of you can use the twist method. The twist method allows you to make a bead dog anywhere anytime. All you do is grasp the two beads you want to separate (they must be right next to each other on the string) and twist) as you twist the beads the string will tighten and the beads may be pushed apart a little bit, but you will start to hear a ripping or cracking sound. This is the string between the beads snapping apart and making your separation.

Step 4: Ears, legs and feet

Use your chosen separation method to break apart three pairs of beads from the end of the string. These will make your ears and legs/feet.

Step 5: Attaching the Ears

Take one pair of beads (the ears pair) and push their center between the first and second beads on the main string so they kind of flip up between them. Now carefully twist them once around so they tighten onto the main string and lock in place. You can twist more that once, but the more times you do the more likely it is the beads will either be pushed off their string or even snapped off.

Step 6: Front paws

Similarly to what you did with the ears, attach the front paws to the main string. This time you want the legs to face the opposite way of the ears so hold the string with the ears up and push the legs down between the second and third beads on the main string.

Step 7: Back paws

These are the same as the front paws but back one more. Make sure they face the same direction as the other legs otherwise you're just making weird art.

Step 8: All done

Now take cool close up pics of your bead dog and make a whole lot more. You can make a bunch for jacks or vary the colors in the dog itself or more.

You can also vary design by not separating the parts. Take the second, third, fourth and fifth beads and loop them. Then twist to make neat tall pointy ears. Do the same with the legs and make a tall dog. Leave that long string attached and have a huge tail.

Remember, bead dogs like to be in groups so make a bunch and have them hang out.

Also remember they are very very small.