The Voyage of the "Beastie" - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts Beasties

Beasties Ahoy!

All Dressed Up and Ready to Dive! CrawCrafts BeastiesAttentive Beastie fans will surely remember this guy from last Tuesday’s post! Diver Beastie headed off to join, of all things, a marauding crew of pirates across the water in the UK. Incredibly, his arrival coincided perfectly with his new pirate captain’s birthday… They even had a portrait photographer handy when they met for the first time!
Diver Beastie Meets the Cap'n - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesAs you can see, he made his journey in a treasure chest – I figured it was the best way to help him fit in.
Diver Beastie and His Treasure Chest - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesIt looks like he’s got on the Cap’n’s good side already!
Diver Beastie and the Cap'n - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesI reckon it’s time to meet the rest of the crew! All aboard the good ship Beastie!
All Aboard the Good Ship Beastie! FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesPirate Beastie is on the lookout for treasure in the crow’s nest, while Diver Beastie has found himself a comfy seat in the stern…
This is the Life! FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesIt looks like the hold is already packed with pieces of eight… But is any pirate likely to pass up the opportunity to find MORE TREASURE?

Nope, I didn’t think so! Off we go!
The Voyage of the "Beastie" - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesBut wait a second – the ship seems to be riding low in the water. What’s going on here?
A Stowaway on the Pirate Ship - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesEeeeeek! A stowaway! Looks like Pint Beastie might have had one too many bottles of grog and fallen asleep in the hold. Well, it’s probably too late to turn back now, so… Congratulations Pint Beastie! You’re the newest member of this happy band of buccaneers! Now it’s time for them all to sail off in search of adventure – and yes, more treasure!
Pirate Beastie and Crew Sail Off in Search of Adventure - FocalHeart/CrawCrafts BeastiesWho knows where this boatful of brigands will wash up next?

Thanks to Noémie at FocalHeart for sending me her photos, including some taken by the Cap’n himself! All of us here at Beastie Towers love to see how our monster friends around the world are getting on.

As usual, we’ll be back on Tuesday – stop by to find out what Explorer Beastie and I have been up to over the past week! And in the meantime, have a great weekend!

Who's That Beastie? - CrawCrafts Beasties

In Search of Sunken Treasure…

Regular visitors to the BeastieBlog might remember Pirate Beastie, who went to live with Pirate-in-Training Thom last Autumn.
Pirate Beastie, by CrawCrafts BeastiesThey’ve been having some great adventures together ever since – they even got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow at Hallowe’en! But it seems like these two daring buccaneers have run into some difficulty lately – namely, how do you get at treasure that’s trapped in a sunken shipwreck?

So a special request was put in, and this little monster answered the call!
Did Somebody Call Diver Beastie? CrawCrafts BeastiesUm, can you really get down to the ocean floor like that? Where’s all your Beastie dive kit?
Beastie Dive Kit, by CrawCrafts Beasties
Oh, super! There it is. Don’t forget your flippers, too…
Diver Beastie's Flippers, by CrawCrafts Beasties
And now it’s time to put it all together! First of all, he has a belt with a felt dive knife…
Dive Knife and Belt for Diver Beastie - CrawCrafts Beasties
…Then it’s time to put on the flippers!
Diver Beastie Gets His Flippers On! CrawCrafts Beasties
His oxygen tank is mounted on the back of his BCD (buoyancy control device, the black vest-like thing), and it’s connected to his regulator and dive mask…
Beastie Breathing Apparatus - CrawCrafts Beasties…So it’s really easiest to put everything on at once!
All Dressed Up and Ready to Dive! CrawCrafts Beasties
And that leaves just one more thing to do – a little research on some of the interesting creatures he may encounter on his underwater travels!
What's Under the Sea, Diver Beastie? CrawCrafts Beasties
(Diver Beastie is reading “Unusual Creatures – A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals” by Michael Hearst. Great fun for those of us interested in nature’s oddities!)

I can’t wait to see how this Diver Beastie settles into his new home. And thanks to Noémie from FocalHeart for welcoming another Beastie into her family!

Don’t forget that Friday posts are back, so we’ll see you later in the week for more Beastie antics with Paddy and Plunkett!

Live and Let Dive

This Must be Underwater Love... CrawCrafts Beasties
Time for another new Beastie! Can anyone guess what type of woolly monster we’re meeting today?
Diver Beastie, by CrawCrafts Beasties
Ta-daaaaaah! It’s more than a year since I made my first Diver Beastie, and it seems he made quite the impression on a fellow traveller when he visited Iceland and Greenland a few months ago! It was so exciting to get a commission like this out of the blue, and thanks to some expert guidance, I was able to tailor this Beastie to match her new dive buddy’s gear as closely as possible! Let’s take a look, shall we?
Diver Beastie (Before She Gets in the Water) - CrawCrafts Beasties
Like all Diver Beasties, this one lives in her wetsuit! She’s also got a weight belt, which goes on before all her scuba gear…
Diver Beastie's Scuba Gear - CrawCrafts BeastiesDiver Beastie's Dive Tank - CrawCrafts Beasties

…And the rest of her underwater wardrobe!
Kit - CrawCrafts Beasties
This includes her dive hood…Diver Beastie Gets Dressed! CrawCrafts Beasties
…Computer…
Diver Beastie's Dive Computer - CrawCrafts Beasties
…And, of course, her fins!
Diver Beastie's Flippers! CrawCrafts Beasties
Then it’s time to put on her breathing apparatus, which includes a tank, BCD (buoyancy control device), two regulators (one as a backup, just in case), air gauge and mask!
Diver Beastie, Ready For Action! CrawCrafts Beasties
Ready to go!
Diver Beastie in Full Gear - CrawCrafts BeastiesDiver Beastie - Back View (CrawCrafts Beasties)

Unfortunately, diving opportunities are few and far between in central Dublin in the dead of winter… so rather than have Diver Beastie all dressed up with nowhere to go, I set her down in front of an episode of “The Blue Planet”. Hopefully this will tide her over until her first real dive!
Diver Beastie Doing Dive Research - CrawCrafts BeastiesToo Close for Comfort? Diver Beastie, by CrawCrafts Beasties

I’ll have another new Beastie friend for you next week – and don’t forget to stop by on Friday to find out where Grim Reaper Beastie spent Christmas!

Come dive with me…

Diver Beastie

Every now and again, Beastie development takes a bigger-than-usual leap forward – often when I take on a commission, which pushes me out of my comfort zone and gets me thinking of new methods and accessories. And this was definitely the case with Diver Beastie! He taught me a lot about diving equipment, and encouraged me to experiment with some new materials in my quest to shrink human-sized tanks, regulators and dive masks to Beastie proportions. So, without further ado, I’m delighted to introduce Diver Beastie! Let’s take a look at all the cool stuff he has…
Wetsuit, Line Cutter, Dive Knife and Watch

Diver Beastie lives in his wetsuit. You can just about see the snazzy yellow flashes down the side of his legs in this picture! The red thing hanging from his belt is a line cutter –  although he’s also carrying a dive knife (inspired by every James Bond film I’ve ever seen), knives aren’t permitted in some diving sites. The line cutter is a safer tool, which can be used to cut through tangled or snagged lines. It’s always best to be prepared! Diver Beastie is also very proud of his watch/dive computer, which you can see on his left wrist. He also has…
Diver Beastie Flippers

… Felt flippers…
Diver Beastie Tank

… An air tank…
Diver Beastie Mask and Regulator

… A dive mask and a regulator! Put all that together and you get…

Finished Diver Beastie!

One Diver Beastie, ready for action!

Then it was time to send him off to his new home… in Texas! He was very keen to swim there himself, but I managed to talk him out of it… the last thing I wanted was for him to end up as a shark’s lunch. Also, going by plane is a lot quicker. And it looks like he arrived safely! He now lives with two fellow diving enthusiasts, and enjoys borrowing their equipment…
Diver Beastie in Texas

…Marvelling at their enormous human-sized dive tanks…
Diver Beastie with Tank
… And scooting around in a conveniently Beastie-sized Landrover, which also came over from Ireland!
Diver Beastie with Landrover

Thanks to Tracy for sharing photos of Diver Beastie in his new home! And to everyone else for keeping up with the Beasties and their adventures – talk to you again soon!