putting it together

The hardest thing about making this rosary was making the Our-Father beads, but the second hardest was finding a centerpiece which would compliment the rugged yet flashy turquoise. I knew from the beginning that I wanted a Guadalupe centerpiece, but I couldn't find one that looked right. Finally the rosary was completed except for the centerpiece. the decades are all strung, but the two decades above the centerpiece could not be crimped until I had something to crimp them to. The centerpieces I disliked the least are shown above with the unfinished rosary. After taking this photo, I decided not to go with either of them, and I found 3 more Guadalupe centerpieces on the web from two suppliers. I sent away for them. And they arrived Tuesday Feb 17. (they would have arrived on Monday, but the post office was closed.) One of them was just right. I am glad I waited.

Rosary of stabilized natural turquoise nuggets with Our Lady of Guadalupe centerpiece

Technical Information
This rosary is made with a combination of wire-wrapping and cable-stringing techniques.
Materials:
stabilized turquoise nuggets (53 large nuggets, and 18 chips)
49-strand stainless-steel-&-nylon beading cable
20-gauge silver craft-wire (copper wire coated with nickel-silver alloy (Nickel-silver is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. It contains no silver.))
silver-lined crystal seed beads.
sterling-silver crimp-tubes and sterling-silver wire-guardians
nickel-silver crucifix
nickel-silver Our Lady of Guadalupe centerpiece

Each Our-Father bead is made of 2 to 4 stabilized turquoise chips, strung on a length of 20-gauge craft wire. The chips are then caged together (wrapped in a spiral made from a second length of wire); and the ends of the stringing wire are then looped and wrapped to capture the caging wire.
Each decade is strung separately, on a separate length of beading cable, the turquoise nuggets separated by seed beads. The ends of the piece of cable are connected to the Our-Father beads or to the centerpiece with wire-guardians and crimp tubes.
The centerpiece and the crucifix are attached to the adjacent Our-Father beads with wrapped wire bows made from 20-gauge craft wire.

turquoise Guadalupe rosary

Centerpiece and Our-Father bead

Here you see the bottom of the circlet, the centerpiece and the top of the drop. Note the crimp tubes and the wire guardians linked to the bails a the top of the centerpiece. Wire guardians protect the cable from abrasion at the link with the bail.

I knew I wanted a Guadalupe centerpiece for this rosary, but I had a hard time finding something that looked right. I am glad I waited for this one from Lewis and Company. The rough edge and irregular form compliment the rough look of the rosary.

I linked the drop to the centerpiece with a wrapped wire bow. This is a good shot of it. Below it is the second Our-Father bead. The wrapped loop at the bottom of the Our-Father intersects with the wire guardian for the cable on which the three introductory Hail-Mary beads are strung.

Crucifix and Our-Father bead

This is the bottom of the drop from the turquoise rosary. From the top you see the bottom of the first Hail-Mary bead, seven silver-lined crystal seed beads, a sterling silver crimp tube, a sterling silver wire guardian, the first Our-Father bead [4 turquoise chips, caged, and strung together on a wrapped wire link]. Below that is a wrapped wire bow, and at the bottom, the crucifix.

turquoise rosary, caged Our Fathers

 

turquoise Our Lady of Guadalupe rosary

Photos from a digital camera

A friend came over with his digital camera, and took some more pictures of the Lutheran Lenten Chaplet.

Lutheran lenten chaplet

http://archive.elca.org/communication/rosary.html

I finished this project today. It is a rosary-like chaplet patterned on the structure of the liturgical season of Lent. The charcoal-gray pearl after the cross represents Ash Wednesday the next 3 amethyst crystals represent the next 3 Lenten weekdays, and the lavender pearl represents the first Sunday of lent. Skipping over the large white pearl in the center, the amethyst crystals represent the weekdays of Lent, and the pearls represent the Sundays. The rose pearl stands for Lætare Sunday. Finally, the large white pearl in the center symbolizes Easter Sunday.

*Around the circle, then, are beads for the days of Lent plus the Sundays of Lent (a little larger, a different color to make them stand out), for, of course, the Sundays are all celebrated as "little Easters" and thus are not counted among the 40 days of Lent. First four Lent beads, then one Sunday, then the rest in groups of six and one. The last bead is Easter and may be larger and lighter in color than all.