2012-01-17

Beads for a Milwaukee Brewers Rosary

Navy strands for Rosary Guy. Photo credit: Michelle at JSM Bead Coop.
I am considering making a rosary in the colors of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. I have discovered that it is not going to be as easy as I first thought, because navy colored beads are hard to come by and navy colored beads in simple rounds or oval shapes are even harder to find.

My local bead store, JSM Bead Coop had a few suggestions for me, as seen above. The strands from top to bottom are:
  1. Night Blue Swarovski (glass) pearls 6 mm. These are a little darker than the Brewers' navy color, and have just a hint of red in them, making them look slightly purple. They have a slight pearlescent shimmer to them, but not as much as other Swarovski pearls because these are so dark. These are available in both strands and loose, so it will be possible to buy only the number of pearls I need.
  2. Opaque navy "twists" rhombus (diamond) shapes twisted along their axis. they are about 8 mm in length. They have a high gloss. They are the Navy color used by the Brewers. There are 16 of them in a strand. I would need 4 strands to make a rosary.
  3. Matte navy "pillows". These have a non-glossy finish and each bead is about 8mm x 10mm x 2mm. They are close to the Brewers' navy color. There are 26 to a strand. I would have to buy 3 strands to make a rosary.
  4. I am not sure what to call the shape of this bead, they are rectangular prisms with all eight corners cut off to give them a faceted look. Let's call them "faceted rectangles".  They are made with 2 colors of glass fused together (crystal clear and navy, the navy is slightly darker than brewer navy). I am guessing they are about 9mm x 5 mm x 3mm. 22 to a strand. I would need to buy 3 strands to make a rosary.
  5. Larger rhombus twists like the ones in strand #2 , about half-again as large in each direction. To use them just as the HM beads, I would need 5 strands. If I wanted to use them for both the OF beads and the HM beads, I would need 6 strands.
  6. The same glossy opaque navy glass as in strands 2 and 5, these are somewhat cube shaped with the edges and corners so well rounded as to make them resemble globes as much as cubes. they are drilled from vertex to opposite vertex and they are about 12 or 13 mm long. (half an inch). There are 17 to a strand. I would need 4 strands to make a rosary.
  7. The bottom 3 strands are made of cobalt glass. #7 looks brighter in color than the next two because it is a little thinner and so more light passes through in this picture. These are a rich (slightly purple) blue color. #7 is a 6mm round (that is, a sphere). There are 50 on a strand. I would need 2 strands to make a rosary.
  8. these are irregular cobalt cubes about 10 mm. they are drilled from center of a face to the center of the opposite face. There are 25 per strand. I would need 3 strands to make a rosary.
  9. These are 8mm rounds (spheres). There are 25 per strand. I would need 3 strands to make a rosary.
What do you think? which would you choose for a Brewers rosary?