Printer Friendly - Making a Rosary
Since I’ve had requests for rosary instructions, and I’ve been on a prayer bead kick, I thought this would be a good time to show how I make rosaries. Rosaries can be made using either the knotting method, or they can be made with wire or chain. This week, I’ll show how to make one using the method that requires knots to be made in between each bead. If you’d like a quick lesson on knotting, refer to my Traditional Knotting article or my Knotting for Cheaters article.
To start you’ll need the following:
6 - 8mm beads
53 - 6mm beads
nylon cord w/attached needle
cross
center piece or rose bead & eye-pin
4 bead tips
scissors
corsage pin
For this rosary, I combined 8mm rose quartz beads with 6mm carnelian beads. Also, I had a beautiful cloisonné bead that had a flower on it, so I decided to use that as my center piece. The center pieces for rosaries are usually the most difficult piece to find. Though I’ve provided a list of rosary component suppliers at the end of this article, if you don’t have a center piece you can also substitute a rose or flower bead instead. (Roses are also used to symbolize Mary.) Instead of a metal cross, I decided to use a cross made of rose quartz. I also selected burgundy colored nylon cord since most of the bead are carnelian. You can use just about any combination of beads and components you want as long as you have the correct number and put them in the correct positions.
1. First, add a bead tip to the end of your cord.
2. String on 10 carnelian beads knotting between each one.
3. String on 1 rose quartz bead and add a knot.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 - three more times, and then repeat step 2.
5. Finish off the piece with another bead tip.
6. Next, you add your chose of a center piece. You can either use the traditional metal center piece that has two loops on the top and one on the bottom, or you can create your own center by adding an eye-pin to a flower bead.
7. Close the hooks of the bead tips (that are on both ends of your strand finished in step 5) either around the loops of a metal center piece or around the large loop of your flower bead center piece.
8. Next it’s time to make the part of the rosary that dangles. Start by adding a bead tip to the end of the cord.
9. Slip on an 8mm bead and add a knot.
10. Slip on 3 - 6mm beads knotting between each bead.
11. Finish this section by adding another 8mm bead and then another bead tip. You’ll have a short strand of beads.
12. Connect this short strand to the end of the center piece or flower bead by closing the hook of the bead tip around the loop of the center piece.
13. Connect the cross in the same manner described in step 12.
Other Techniques You Can Try:
If you prefer to work with chain, you can create the same design using techniques described in my feature on making Y-necklaces. If you prefer to work with wire, you can use the bead and wire chain technique to make a rosary. Just make sure you have the correct number of beads since each bead denotes a certain pray. The larger beads (8mm) are for "Our Father." The smaller beads (6mm) are for "Hail Mary." I’ve made a number of rosaries and I find these two sizes work best for me. Though I’ve used 4mm beads, I just don’t think they look as good as the 6mm size.
Suppliers of Rosary Components:
Bally Bead Company
Fire Mountain
Our Lady's Rosary Makers
The Rosary Workshop
For more information on prayer beads, take a look at the Prayer Beads Netlinks section.
Comments? Questions? Ideas? Share them on the jewelry making forum.
All graphics created by Tammy Powley.