How I Spent My Saturday Evening

I haven't made a rosary in a few weeks, and I had the urge to make something, so I decided that while I made a new rosary, I would show you the process, step by step.

First things first. Get a glass of wine (but not communion wine) or other beverage of your choice.

Second have a comfortable chair to sit in.

Third, gather your materials.

You are now ready to begin.

This is an Episcopal/Anglican "rosary" and as such, it will contain a total of 33 beads (not counting the accents), instead of the 60 beads in the Roman Catholic rosary.

To make this rosary I need eye pins which I use to chain the beads together, a cross... in this case I am using a Jerusalem Cross that I bought at the National Cathedral a few months ago, 28 8mm hematite beads, and 5 larger beads known as "cruciform beads" which, when stretched and spread out, make the sign of the cross. I also use additional small "seed beads" as aesthetic accents.

This is what my supplies looked like when I started:



The Jerusalem Cross:


We start assembly by sandwiching a bead (I am using 8mm Hematite) between two black seed beads...


...then snipping the eye pin until there is about 1/4 inch left, then bending it at a right angle... like this:


I keep doing this until I have gotten all 28 finished.


Next, I decide what my accent beads are going to look like for my "separators"... these are going to be a string of accent beads that separate the 8mm beads from the larger cruciform beads. Once I get this done, I make ten "separators":


Then I move on to the cruciform beads... I usually will put some accent beads on them, too:


Now I can begin the assembly. For this, I'll need round nose pliers, and angled pliers. Using the round-nosed pliers, I make an eyelet with the straight portion of the eye-pin, and use that to chain that pin to the next. I will do this until I have four strings of seven beads. After that, I will attach the "separators" to the cruciform beads in the same manner:


Next, I attach the cross to the first of the large beads (known as the "invitatory" bead), and then the second large bead, which is the first cruciform bead.


Then I attach the first separators to the cross/invitatory/first cruciform string, and then to each seven bead string (each string of seven is known as a "week"). Note that the cruciform beads separate each "week".


Continue until you are finished:


Done!

I will confess right now, that I had more than one glass of wine while I did this... it takes a while, as it is detailed work.

Cheers,

GF