Made before simulated.

Long before Beady Little Eyes, small creatures and jewelry were made from beads, wire and stone through Bare Paw Designs. This work is the game's physical ancestry. Its construction choices became questions for the game: How close can beads sit? What holds a stone? Where does wire need to bend, wrap or carry weight?

See Beady Little Eyes

A handmade copper dragon standing in sunlight with its beaded wings spread. — Physical objectDragon · physical bead, wire and stone work.

From the workbench

Dragonflies, scorpions, owls, dragons and turtles. Each begins with a frame and takes shape one material decision at a time.

Handmade pink-beaded copper dragonfly resting on lava stone in sunlight. — Physical objectBeads, wire and stone, made by hand.

A copper-wire and beaded scorpion with stone claws and a raised tail, resting on rock. — Physical objectScorpion · physical bead, wire and stone work.

A wire-and-bead owl with spread wings hanging against a tree trunk. — Physical objectOwl · physical bead, wire and stone work.

A small handmade turtle with a dark stone shell resting on wood beside water. — Physical objectTurtle · original reference photograph.

Bead soup

The maker called a mixed supply of beads “bead soup.” He would load a long run onto a spool before building a piece, then adjust the sequence by hand as the form emerged. The phrase comes from his own account of making the work, and it captures something the game keeps returning to: materials are never interchangeable just because they are small.

Close view of the dragon's copper framework and densely beaded wing. — Physical objectA closer look at the original wire and bead construction.

These pieces were made before the game existed. Beady Little Eyes carries their constraints forward: the closeness of beads, the behavior of wire and the idea that a stone can be structural. The game grows from the work, rather than using it as decoration.

Explore the game See Bare Paw Designs