Actual Beadwork Completed

I couldn't resist Anne Choi's latest bead, the Ouroboros and Mandrake, combined with an ee cummings verse. I bought it and made it into a fancy key fob, in memory of my Mom who lived with Alzheimers for the last years of her life. The verse reads "when time from time shall set us free, forgetting me, remember me". The ouroboros and mandrake combined remind me of the magical, spiritual qualities of life, that we are all in a cycle of renewal and disintegration and that it's OK. All is as it should be in any given moment, if we can just let go and accept.





My other big splurge recently was a new stethoscope. When I first took the office nurse job, the culture shock was so great that I felt I'd never need a stethoscope again, and gave my old one to the nurse who took my place in the ER. Well, I've decided that I probably DO need a stethoscope from time to time, so I got a decent Littman and in my usual fashion, beaded it up. This time I used delicas, and I'm not sure I really like the look-I actually think smaller beads might have looked better, but it's done and I like it enough to use it. The pattern on the ear pieces is one I made that I call the 'eye of Fatima', in a nod to the healing hand of Fatima with the eye on the palm. The main tubing is beaded with a yin/yang symbol bordered by a celtic knotwork pattern.