The Ba Released depicts a woman or girl's Ba (soul) upon release from the body on death. The Egyptians conceived of the soul differently than we do., although Tibetans and many other cultures conceive of the soul in the same mannner as the ancient Egyptians rather that the way western European culture does. A living person was conceived as three parts ( some records increase this to seven) : the body, the ka (impersonal life-force), and the Ba ( personal life-force). The Ka and Ba are prominently features in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings. Survival of the ka and the ba both depended on preservation of the body, hence mummification. The Ba is usually is depicted as a human-headed falcon bird perched on the coffin. This ba is human to the waist. If she doesn't look Egyptian, that's because the Egyptians were a racially more diverse people that we normally think of encompassing both lighter and darker phenotypes that the medium brown. Rameses II, after the preservation effort in Paris, was found to be a light skinned redhead. The god Seth was supposed to be a red-head and Rameses family had a special devotion to Seth, so maybe his was a family of redheads. This Ba could have been one of Ramses II's sisters or one of his numerous daughters.
This piece is an amulet pouch done in square stitch with 11/0 seed beads. The 3-D effect is done by square stitching in selective areas two or three layers of beads. To make the beads lie properly in the second or third layer, "warp" threads are added after the beads are square stitched to the layer below. Normally in square stitch what would correspond to the warp and wef threads in loom weaving are added when the bead is looped onto the bead above it. When you square stitch to the bead below it, the "warp" thread you are adding is perpindicular to the plane of the beadwork. To make the beads lie properly when you have a larger group of then, it looks better to add "warp" threads with thin Nymo (0 and thinner). The reason for this are: first, in square stitch even without reinforcement many people recommend, you have gone through each bead three times (twice when it was added and then once when you add a bead below it). There is not much room for more thread inside Czech seed beads secondly it looks better when the thread is thinner. If you only add a small number or beads and the area is wider than long, you can get away with just reinforcing without adding "warp" threads. She was made in flat square stitch and then the sides were sewn up in a 3 bead row of square stitch on the sides.