I wanted to make a bracelet using the new Redbalifrog Ouroboros Bali Style bead and when researching what an Ouroboros is, I learned that the symbol of a dragon eating its own tail originated in ancient Egypt. Since I already had the Tutankhamen bead I thought I’d make an Egypt inspired bracelet. We spent three weeks travelling around Egypt many years ago.
Here is the Valley of the Kings, which contains 63 tombs and chambers. There isn’t anything in them anymore, of course, but it’s still fun to see. When walking around amazing historical sites like this I always like to imagine what it must have been like back then.
We spent 4 days on a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sailboat. Traveling down the Nile in the summer when it was a gazillion degrees out was not very much fun, to tell the truth. We all ended soaking scarves in water and wrapping them around our heads to help deal with the heat. I’m m-e-l-t-i-n-g!!!!
We took an extended trip west into the White Desert. These are massive chalk formations.
While camping out in the desert, pita bread was made for us by cooking it in the sand, under the coals. Yes, it was a bit gritty.
Now for some beads! The Tutankhamen ($33 USD) is really cute. I keep it on my keychain so it’s a bit beat up.
The Ouroboros Bali Style ($33 USD) is quite slender but has some incredible detail. There are green crystals in the eyes!
Another new bead is Surya the Sun ($37 USD), which has Hindu origins. Each side is different.
While in Egypt we bought a little glass container full of sand which has a picture of a camel layered in it. You can get these all over the place there. The best colour matching was actually using True Beadz with the Redbalifrog Volcanic Fossil ($33 USD) in the middle. That is True Touch Sand to the left and True Touch Sunset on the right. On either end are Treasures.
Next I made up a bigger bracelet using all Redbalifrog silvers and Trollbeads glass.
Below left to right are Hawaiian Floral Stopper, Pink Prism, Suriya the Sun, Scirocco, Sunflower and Daylight Brilliance.
Below left to right after the Daylight Brilliance is Tutankhamen, Feldspar Moonstone, Pomegranate and Blossom Shade.
Below left to right after Blossom Shade are Lotus Flower, Scirocco, Ouroboros Bali Style, Pink Prism and Hawaiian Floral Stopper.
I’m going to keep together the big bracelet for a while as I really like the peach shades with the silver. 😍 I’m not sure that I would travel to Egypt these days, but has anyone been or is it on the bucket list? When we were there we had to travel by convoy with all the other tourist buses and there were guys with machine guns stationed at the front and back of the convoys. Much easier to stay at home and play with beads! 😬
Disclosure: For this blog I may receive some items as promotional samples.
Hi Martha! I love your travelogue posts as I love to travel through others! That way I don’t have to m-e-l-t! The landscapes you’ve shown us here are incredible. Thank you for providing the additional definitions and descriptions of things you mentioned. So interesting! Was any additional heat required to cook the pita bread or was the sand hot enough already? I’m not sure I could have stood the heat. How do people do it who live there? I don’t have very many Redbalifrog pieces; just frangipani and tree of life, but there are many unique designs in that line. I have always liked the pomegranate. Thanks for the wonderful post!
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Glad you enjoyed it, Dawn! That was a miserable time-4 days on the boat and over 40 C the whole time. At one point a guy from our boat went and begged for ice cubes from a fancier river cruising ship and they gave us some! LOL! They cooked the pita bread overnight, putting in under where dinner had been cooked that night. I remember it being very tasty but it was hard to shake all the sand out! The Redbalifrog Pomegranate is such a beautifully made bead. Thanks for reading, Dawn! 💕
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Hi Martha, I love all your bracelet designs and I always enjoy your travel posts. I am really loving Redbalifrog and my wish list is constantly growing. Many years ago (1980’s) I traveled to Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. It was a wonderful experience, but even then there were armed guards and a lot of stipulations so I cannot imagine what it’s like now. I’ve been wanting to do a bracelet showing my travels…King Tut would be perfect for my pyramid climb.( Those were the days when I could actually do something like that…not anymore).
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Suzanne, a travel bracelet sounds like a great idea. I don’t know if you saw lots of sunflowers in Turkey like I did, but that might be another one for the list. Our trip to Egypt was in 1996, a few months before a mass shooting at Luxor killed 62 tourists. I feel badly for the people who used to make a living in the tourist industry. Just a word about the King Tut bead-it is open on the bottom, like a real mask. That would bother some people, so just thought I’d mention it.
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Hi Martha, I traveled to Egypt vicariously through neighbors who went there in 1996 the same week as you, a week before that massacre. My neighbors and I looked at photos over Sangria and tapas and I must say I really enjoyed the trip! I admire your adventurous spirit and love seeing all the exotic places you visit.
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Hi Elise! I’m so happy you enjoy these kinds of posts. Maybe my next one should be a Syria Inspired one. 😬
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I really don’t mind if the King Tut bead is open on the bottom. I love the Sunflower bead… It would be a perfect representation of Turkey! I think some countries will be easy to come up with beads to represent, others might be a little trickier. I’m planning to do a separate bracelet just for Africa, also. That should be pretty easy, though. My trip was shortly before the Achille Lauro incident.. the thought that we had been docked at the same port was quite unnerving.
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Oh my goodness-yes, we are lucky every day we are alive, I think!
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Hi Martha!
What a wonderful post. I love hearing about your travel experiences and how you incorporate beads to reflect on memories ( aren’t memory beads the best? ) was Egypt a pleasure trip or a mission type of trip? I love your Egypt bracelet , king tut and the ourovoros bead are top for me, think oroboros might be top of my RBF list whenever I decide to do another purchase from them again 🙂
Ohm has a Pyramid bead for anyone looking to make their own Egypt/travel bracelet.
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Oh, I should look at the pyramid bead, thanks for the tip! The Egypt trip was just as tourists-we went to some countries on our way home from working in South Korea, where we taught English for one year. Gotta do that kind of thing while you can (before kids, house, etc)!
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Well Martha, I’ve just updated my Redbalifrog wishlist! I have come to the realization that I need to buy one of their bracelets (and the leather strap). I’m thinking that way I won’t have to worry about the stoppers not fitting… or getting stuck. I was wondering if it’s the Snake bracelet that you have?
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Hi Suzanne! I have the Silver Chain Bracelet which is so pretty that I usually wear itself. And then the leather straps just hold the beads, which you already know. Do you have a bangle? That’s where I usually wear the decorative stoppers.
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That’s exactly the bracelet I was wondering about, Martha. I saw it in one of your recent posts and I really like how it looks without anything on it. No, I don’t have a bangle yet. Add it to The List! The few Redbalifrog beads I have, I’ve been wearing on my Trollbeads bracelet… but I don’t want to do that anymore. As it is, I need to get another set of the Star stoppers because the ones I just got are stuck. Good thing I like the bracelet because it’s never coming apart again. Thank you for answering all my questions, Martha! You’re my go- to source in the bead world!
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My pleasure, Suzanne. I love chatting about beads! If we lived closer we could get together for beads n’ coffee!
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Wow your full bracelet is gorgeous! The color inspiration from the sand treasure momento is perfect! I adore the colors.
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Thanks for reading, Faye! I am really loving the full bracelet with the silver and peach tones.
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Love your photos! I would love to see Egypt one day but the current political climate doesn’t seem very safe for visitors.
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Yes, you’d definitely want to go with a tour group and research ahead of time. 😬
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Most definitely! And if possible, I would want to eat where locals eat.
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Oh my goodness, yes! We had the most awesome meal for $2 at a hole in the wall kind of place in Luxor. Yum!
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