Hello, dear friends! My name is Kim "Dandy" Mennillo. Dandy is my grandma name. My children and grandchildren are my muses in my creative ruminations and endeavors — thus, Dandy's Reflections.

I have a deep desire to teach the virtues, for I believe we can truly know God only through His Names and Attributes. Creativity, I have discovered, is my strongest virtue. I've been creating prayer beads and jewelry for several years and decided to sell some of my one-of-a-kind pieces. It is my dearest wish to share the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith through my artistic endeavors.

Every two years since its inception, I have had the honor of being a vendor at the Wings to the Spirit arts conference in Pensacola Beach, Florida. But I also sell my jewelry at Baha'i events locally in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. Everyone always asks, "Do you have a website?" Well, I finally do, friends, and I welcome you to browse to your heart's content. Prayer beads are wonderful for any occasion!

My creations are either inspired by the Bahá'í Writings, or I choose Writings appropriate to a piece I create. As often as possible, I use semi-precious stones. But other elements inspire me, too, that are fun or interesting to incorporate. Each piece has a title and description, a list of the materials used and a passage from the Writings. Every stone, every color symbolizes a virtue or has a spiritual meaning. A clear crystal might symbolize water or spirituality, green would indicate springtime or leaves, white equals purity, and so on. The placement of tinier spacer beads between larger ones often indicates the spirit of God running through all things, or represents the water cascading down the terraces on Mt. Carmel. At times, though, these spacer beads will be rougher in texture between the ones sliding through your fingers, to remind us of the tests and difficulties God blesses us with as we strive to be steadfast and loving Bahá'ís.

Each set of prayer beads consists of 19 stones on one end and 3 or 5 on the other. These latter are what I refer to as 5-count beads. They help you keep track of the number times you recite "Alláh-u-Abhá" without having to actually count 95 times. If there are five 5-count stones, hold one at a time as the other hand fingers the 19 beads while you recite "Alláh-u-Abhá" (5x19=95). If there are three 5-count beads, the hand holding them goes in one direction three times and back two, making that a 5-count as well (see diagram below).

Prayer Beads with Five 5-count Beads:

1>2>3>4>5     x                                   19                                    = 95

O O O O O . . . . . O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

Prayer Beads with Three 5-count Beads:

1>2>3      x                                    19   

O O O  . . . . . O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O = 95

 5<4

I welcome comments and feedback. You may reach me at gnats2eagles@yahoo.com or kim.mennillo@yahoo.com. May God bless with abundant happiness and joy!