Ouroboros

A while back in July, Lynn Davis had a great Studio Saturday post on Art Bead Scene, where she showed off some circle links she had made, among other things. At the time, I ended up being inspired to use some simple links I had made for another project in a necklace. However, I also had a brainwave and decided that a coiled snake, or a snake eating its own tail (an Ouroboros), would make a beautiful circle link, jotted a note in my ideas books and then - promptly turned to other things. I finally sat down a few days ago and decided to try to make one - here's the result. As is usual for me, I kept the design pretty simple, although I do like how the scale pattern turned out on the snake's body.

I didn't realize this at the time, but the Ouroboros is evidently a symbol of infinity or immortality and is an alchemical symbol. Needless to say, I find this all pretty inspiring from a design perspective. Also, as Lynn pointed out, the circle link generally is pretty versatile. I think this would make an excellent focal, part of a toggle clasp or a link in an over-the-top bracelet.

On other fronts, we took the Short One out to a local farm to pick pumpkins and have fun at the Halloween festival they had set up for the season. The farm does a nice job of it - pony rides, hayrides, corn maze, some carnival games and rides, even.

At one point, I found and gave the SO a big yellow pumpkin blossom to carry around. He was so pleased - until a goat came up and ate it. The word "unconsolable" doesn't even begin to describe what followed. The sheer tragedy of having a goat eat your flower was hard to even comprehend much less to convey to anyone else (although he tried). It was hard for H. and I not to laugh, but ultimately we managed to haul our wailing child over to the duck carnival game - the kind where the child picks a plastic numbered duck from a stream of water and gets a prize - and he won a big teddy bear, which managed to console him. It was hard to explain that he wasn't allowed to keep the duck, though.

Maybe it's just a lack in my childhood, but I don't remember farms running these types of fairs when I was a kid. It's a nice seasonal activity, though, and since the SO does not know what c-a-n-d-y is yet, a nice way to start celebrating Halloween without getting into what some might consider the really crucial part of the holiday. I just found out today at the SO's cooking class that there's a big apple orchard north of where we live, too, so I imagine that may be on our list of things to do in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for visiting!