Tears for Lost Companions

I made this pattern after seeing a request on the Bead-Patterns.com Bulletin Board. The fireman in this image doesn't really exist because I created a composite from 3 different people from pictures of the September 11 tragedy in the New York Times. The person who contributed the "lion share" of the sad features was an EMT at the funeral of a fellow EMT who died in the collapse of WTC. I liked this pattern so much I decided to make it myself. It was done in brick stitch with up to 3 layers of brick stitch on the face and helmet. The straps are spiral ropes( a reinforced spiral rope) with two of Lynne Thompson's beads(see Lampwork Links).

I also read in the New York Times about Rescue Squad 1 which was an elite rescue and firefighting unit from Midtown Manhattan. Because the call from the burning WTC came in between shifts at Rescue Squad 1, two shifts responded. Half of the Squad bravely went into the burning WTC towers to try to save the people trapped there and died there themselves. Small as it is, I wanted to dedicate this pattern and this beadwork to their memory by placing a 1 on the firefighter's helmet. In ancient Egypt they believed that a person only truly dies when there is no one to remember and speak there name. I believe we honor them by remembering.

actual size 

There are tears in crystal silver-lined beads which are hard to make out in the photo.