More Malas
In a previous feature, I described how to make a mala bead bracelet similar to one I had seen in a catalog. Though I liked that one, after I toured various web sites dealing with prayer beads, I became inspired. I spent half the day creating new bracelet designs. All mala bracelets should have 27 beads and a tassel, but there is a variety of ways they can be put together.
Wire & Chain
In this design, I used eye pins to connect the beads together. By simply creating a loop on the end of the eye pin, I connected each bead together. I used gun metal colored eye pins, so I thought hematite and natural howlite (which is white with inclusions of gray) would look nice.
Instead of eye pins, a wire wrapper might prefer to use wire to connect the beads. If so, the wire and bead chain technique could be used. In either case, expect the finished of 27 beads to be longer than a knotted bracelet. Just as with last week’s bracelet, I added a spring ring clasp that could be attached in between the beads. Though my design seems large for a bracelet, it seems to work well worn as an anklet.
For the tassel, I attached about four - 1 inch pieces of gun metal chain onto the end of an eye pin and added an 8mm hematite bead to it. So far, this is my favorite mala.
Beaded Tassel
I wanted to try other ways to create a tassel, so with this mala I used a glass bead, some head pins, and a few bugle beads to create a different kind of tassel. I just slipped the bugle beads onto three head pins and wrapped the end of the head pin around to create loops on the ends of all three. Then I also added an eye pin to the glass bead.
Then I attached the three head pins onto the end of the eye pin to create a tassel.
Next, I used 27 - 6mm carnelian bead and knotted in between each one creating the mala bracelet using clam shell bead tips as in last week’s project. I finished the bracelet by adding the tassel to the end of one of the bead tips and added a spring ring clasp on the other end.
This bracelet also closes by attaching the spring ring clasp in between the knots. Both these designs follow the basic patter of 27 beads and a tassel, but you can get different looks by just using different beads and findings.
For more information on prayer beads, take a look at the Prayer Beads Subject area of my site.
Here's a printer friendly copy of this file.
find out about new additions to this site each week.
