My Dad's Cremains Arrived Today

The husband woke me up today and said as I drank my coffee that he signed for my Dad at the post office, and that my Dad was waiting for me downstairs. So I got up and there was this small box wrapped up tight sitting all alone on the wrapping table.



I went ahead and opened it up and was very happy to see a heart-shaped box inside. It is a Biodegradable Heart Urn and came with instructions on how to utilize the urn and its lovely possibilities.

The Heart Urn can be used for a Water Burial or a Biodegradable Burial. Also tucked in with the Heart Urn is a card with a heart on it that apparently has seeds, and when planted, wildflowers will grow. And in the envelope, my Dad's Washington State Burial Transit Permit, which "Must Accompany Remains to Destination."

I opened up the Heart Urn and there he was, tucked in his baggie and tied with a cremation-bling that I know he would have loved (he loved his bling).

Dad was born 11 11 33 (1111)
Died died 10 10 09 (1010)
His cremation number is 2020.
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When we called in Hospice, they informed us that because of Dad diagnosis with brain and lung cancer, he would be eligible to donate his body to MedCure, which provides organs and tissues to researchers and educators in order to find cures for many diseases or conditions, such as lung and brain cancer.

Once MedCure harvested what they needed from my Dad for their studies, they took care of everything associated with his donation. This meant that someone from MedCure assisted both my Mom and I throughout the entire process and made it incredibly easy.

They took care of having someone pick my Dad up immediately after he died, and transported his body to Portland, they helped with the Death Certificate, they did the cremation and returned the cremains in that most lovely heart shaped urn.

And best of all, it did not cost my Mother a single thin dime towards funeral and/or memorial expenses, which my parents and I are absolutely against paying for.

I have only positive feelings with the outcome of my Dad and his gift to medical research, and his gift to Mom by not having her bank account bled dry from greedy funeral directors.

I am going to keep Dad here in my studio and build a nice framed curio memorial for his ashes, and decorate it with his beloved boxes of bling that he loved so much. And of course, I will post it here as a celebration of my Dad's life and his gift to others.

Egyptian Mummies: Shroud, Fingers, Bones and Bits

Charles emailed and was curious about the Egyptian Mummy Linen that I just received in the mail the other day and asked if I could post pictures of it, and also, if it was the real deal.

And here it is, the Egyptian Mummy Linen in a rather large plastic bag with some identifying stickers adhered to it. Because of who I deal with, I can assure you that all of my Egyptian Mummy items are in fact very real.

This is one side of the bag with some
colorful scraps mixed in with the other linen.

And here is the other side, where you can
really see the linen a lot better.

And here is a close-up of the linen.
I am always amazed that something this old
can survive this long and still remain intact.

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I thought I would go ahead and post some of the Ancient Egyptian Mummy items that I have acquired over the years through trades (usually arcane research work in exchange for Egyptian Mummy bits). I received most of the Egyptian Mummy bits from the proprietor of the Niagara Falls Museum, the same place where Ramses the King mummy had been hiding out in one of the mummy exhibits.

This arrived sometime last year, a box of
Mummy Bones with a lovely patina bones and teeth.

With the box of bones is a container
that holds Ancient Egyptian bitumen chunks
(I also found bits of bones, teeth and fabric mixed in).
I love how the color looks like what
Ancient Egypt must look like.

Framed Curio Exhibit I made using Egyptian Mummy bones,
bitumen and shroud/linen. The colorful print is
an original from the early 1800s. You can go to my website
right here and find out more
about this particular Framed Curio Exhibit.

Real Ancient Egyptian Mummy finger (long since sold)

About two or three years ago, we bought two authentic Ancient Egyptian Mummies from a man who bought them from a museum many years ago. It seems the museum was about to throw them out and he made an offer and they sold them to him, original cases included. They lingered in his basement for years and years until his wife basically got sick of having them taking up space, and told him to get rid of the mummies. So he called us.

We bought them and brought them back home where they resided in our living room for about a month and a half. One is completely intact (sans its wrapping and missing only a foot) and the other mummy had been disarticulated as a college project. The mummy was all there, but really, it was just a case filled with a skull, bones and an awful lot of bitumen.

Here they are right smack dab in the living room

The hand-carved skull and crossbones on the floor under the table originally came from some castle in Germany. We found it lodged in a garden and made an offer to the owner which she happily accepted. The jars in the case contain real shrunken heads, all of them long since sold.

Here is a close up of the intact mummy.
The item next to his head is his hair mat,
and his major organs had all been removed.

Another view of the mummies in our living room.

Here you can get a better idea of the dis-articulated mummy and all the bones scattered about in the different boxes. The skull was in tucked safely in a box in the case and I was surprised by how amazingly intact it was, and it had most of its teeth. The "dirt" you see on the floor of the case is the bitumen, the resin that was used to coat the body before wrapping it in linen/shroud.
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