Brown Wooden Rosary

 

I finished a new rosary on Saturday. Its wooden beads are stained a warm brown color, and its metal parts are brass and gilt. The circlet is about 30.75 inches in circumference. The drop is 6.125 inches long from the top of the centerpiece to the bottom of the crucifix. The rosary is 21.25 inches long from the middle of the third decade to the bottom of the crucifix.

This is a simple and unpretentious rosary. Because the beads are wooden, it feels relatively light and has a pleasant texture as the beads move through the hand.

The Ave beads are wooden ovals about 7mm x 4mm, stained a dark brown. I got them from Ave Maria's Circle [AMC 521].

The crucifix is a style sometimes called "papal" or "JP2," and is about 38mm long (1.5 inches) 35mm without the eyelet at the top, and about 23mm wide. It also comes from Ave Maria's Circle [AMC 344] the rough bark-like texture goes all around the crucifix. This crucifix could not be engraved. On the back of the crucifix, and the bottom of the upright is the word, "ITALY."

The centerpiece is about 16mm in diameter, just a little smaller than a dime. Including the eyelets, it is about 19 mm wide at the widest, and 21 mm long. The front of the centerpiece is an image of Mary based on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but also includes a representation of her immaculate heart. The reverse shows the mystical rose. It comes from TierraCast, and I bought it at the JSM Bead Coop.

The Pater beads are rectangles 7mm x 4mm. I got them from Ave Maria's Circle, but they are no longer up on the site. The rosary is wired with 22-gauge brass wire. I bought the wire at JSM Bead Coop. All loops are wrapped, but for the beads, the wrap is tucked inside the bead. While this adds strength to the wraps, I also did it to simplify the look, to keep the rosary from getting too long, and to let the beads, rather then the wire, dominate the appearance of the finished rosary. the paters are connected to the decades of aves and the centerpiece and crucifix by wrapped-wire bows. I make my bows with two layers of wire because when I started wire-wrapping rosaries, I didn't think I had the precision needed to make them in the way I saw them made by others. I have since found that the way I developed to do it was already in use, and these kind of bows are called "Sailors' Knots." There are 14 of them in the rosary.

Scanner is set up and working.

My goddaughter set my scanner/printer up and helped me get it working. (Woo hoo!) and so, blogging will resume. Now I will focus on my digital camera. If I can find the software it needs, I can get it functioning too.

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?

business card 3

Here is the third design. The background color looks aged and distressed. It has a drawing of a rosary. Here I used the slogan, "Hold on to things that last." I described my wares as "durable rosaries: custom designs, handcrafted."  I used my initials rather than my full first and middle names. (Most folks know me by my initials).  Which card has the best slogan? Which product description best describes my rosaries? Which fonts work best for the text? What do you think about the backgrounds and graphics? 

Give me some feedback, people.

business card 2

okay, here is the second card. I used the slogan: "custom prayer beads." Is that better than, "custom rosaries, handcrafted?" What impression does this card give, compared to the previous card? Are there circumstances where this card is more appropriate than the previous card? Are there any circumstances where it is less appropriate?

I am back!

I apologize for not posting for over a year. I want this blog to be mostly photographs with commentary, but for a year I have not had a digital camera nor a scanner to get photographs in digital form. I finally have a scanner, but I need to set it up, and since it seems complicated, I want to get some help with that.

In the meantime I had my first craft show, and for the show I got some business cards from Vistaprint. They offer three background graphics featuring rosaries and I got a small number of each, just to test things out.

So while I am waiting to set up my scanner, I thought I would post on my business cards to get some feedback. Please comment, not only on the graphics from Vistaprint, but also on the text. Above is one of the designs, and in the next few days I will post the other two, and talk some about the text and fonts I chose.

Priest's rosary 3: as seen from the back.

     Ordinarily such a large crucifix would provide a lot of space on the back for an engraved message, but that is not the case here because of the slump in the center of the cross. The slump is formed as the molten metal hardens and contracts as it cools in the mold.

     The back of the centerpiece shows a descending dove and a sunburst of seven rays, showing the descent of the Holy Spirit and his seven-fold gifts (Isaiah 11:2-3). The Latin words around the top of the medallion are "Veni Creator Spiritus" (Come Creator Spirit). Together with the image on the front of the Father reconciling His prodigal son to Himself, this image of the Holy Spirit recalls Christ's words to the apostles, "When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." (John 20:22-23).

Priest's rosary 2: with Paters and links aligned

All the beads are strung on lengths of heavy (18 gauge) craft wire, and the loops which link each bead to the next are closed with wire wraps. On either side of each howlite bead is a wrapped wire bow which links it to the rest of the rosary and helps define it as an Our-Father bead. The way the howlite Our-Fathers contrast with the black onyx Hail-Marys reminds me of how the white Roman collar contrasting with the black clerical suit identifies priests. On either side of each howlite bead, is a wrapped wire bow which links it, but also provides distance and definition. All the wire is 18 gauge, all links use wrapped wire loops, and wrapped wire bows connect the crucifix and centerpiece and separate the Our-Fathers from the decades of Hail-Marys, providing for a very sturdy and durable rosary.

a rosary for the Year of the Priest

This rosary started with a large crucifix SCX330 from Catholic Prayer Cards showing Christ our High Priest offering Himself on the Cross to His Father for our sakes (Hebrews 3:1). The cross is 2.75 inches tall. The centerpiece, from Our Lady's Rosary Makers (OLRM #595) is seven eighths of an inch (0.875") long and half an inch wide. The centerpiece is based on a detail from "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt showing the Father welcoming back His wayward son (Luke 15:11-42). The crucifix and centerpiece are made of white base metal, probably nickel-silver, and heavy (18 gauge) nickel-silver craft wire is used throughout. The Hail-Mary beads are 8mm rounds of black onyx and the Our Father beads are 10mm howlite rounds. I got the craft wire, onyx and howlite at JSM Bead Coop.

This is a large rosary. The circlet is 42 inches around; the drop is about 9.5 inches from the top of the centerpiece to the bottom of the crucifix. From the middle of the third decade to the bottom of the crucifix, the rosary is 30.5 inches long. It has a heavy and substantial feel.

amethyst dyed Mexican onyx - after

The original beads had a large center hole, and were shaped somewhat like donuts. I found some similarly colored pressed glass beads that were "flying saucer" shaped, close enough in shape, though not a perfect match. They were as big, or slightly bigger than the largest of the remaining original beads. I would call the color of the new beads "vanilla/raspberry-swirl." I chose some cathedral beads in the same white/purple glass for the Our-Father beads.

I had almost enough original beads for all the Hail-Mary beads on the circlet, so I put 3 of the new Hail-Mary beads on the drop and then sorted the original beads by width, graduating the beads from the largest, near the centerpiece, to the smallest, on the opposite side of the circlet. The only new Hail-Mary bead on circlet could then be placed just on the other side of the centerpiece from the largest original bead, where it blends in very well.

I strung each of the original beads on top of 4 #15 silver-lined crystal seed beads. This was to fill the large hole in the donut-shaped beads, keeping the bead centered on the beading cable, and limiting the amount of wobble, to which the bead is subject. I added the centerpiece. I don't think the original ever had one. I used a nickel-silver Fatima centerpiece from Our Lady's Rosary Makers. I made a wrapped-wire bail for the cross from 18 gauge nickel-silver craft wire.

amethyst dyed Mexican onyx

The owner brought this to me to restore if I could. She had had it for many years, and it had great sentimental value for her. Originally it had been a standard 5 decade ["Dominican"] rosary. The same beads were use for the Our-Father and the Hail-Mary beads. Only a long separation between the Our-Father beads and the Hail-Mary beads distinguished them. Silver-lined bugle beads and #7 silver-lined seed beads separated the OFs from the HMs. Within the decades, the Hail-Mary beads were separated from each other by a single #7 silver-lined seed bead. Of the original 59 beads, only 49 remained. of the original seed beads and bugles less than half remained and they had lost most of the original silver lining. The beads were strung on a single strand of clear mono-filament fishing line, which was brittle with age. The beads varied somewhat in length and diameter. They seemed to be carved from Mexican onyx, and were dyed an amethyst shade of purple. There was a simple cross carved of the same substance. There was no centerpiece.

The owner asked me to keep as much of the remaining parts as I could, and fill in as needed.

Stabat Mater dolorosa

I bought these beads at JSM Bead Coop. They are a dark purple fiber-optic (cat's-eye) bead. These are the same color and kind of bead as were in a rosary I re-worked for the owner some time ago. I was so pleased with how that one came out that I thought I would try to replicate it from scratch (except that the original used bead-caps on all the beads, and I thought it would look better without them). I re-worked the original rosary using 21 and 18 gauge sterling silver wire. I started to use the same wire on the replica I was trying to make, but I began making mistakes, and wasting expensive wire. I had let too much time go by without practicing my wire skills. I decided to use base metal for this rosary and to use it as a opportunity to practice those wire skills. I used 20-gauge nickel-silver wire for the Hail-Mary beads, but I didn't have 18-gauge nickel-silver wire for Our-Father beads and bows, but I did have non-tarnishing brass wire in that gauge. I thought that since this is "just a practice" rosary, I wouldn't buy a new spool for it, but just use up the wire I had. It turns out that the contrasting colors adds something special to the appearance of this rosary.

Despite being brand new, this rosary gives a sense of age, as if it might have been handed down from someone's great-grandparents, perhaps because of its dark cast, substantial weight and sturdy construction. The construction is, in fact, very sturdy. It may not have come from someone's great-grandparents, but it may be handed down to someone's great grandchildren.

The wire and beads come from the Bead Coop, the centerpiece is from Ave Maria's Circle, and the crucifix from Our Lady's Rosary Makers.

two Anglican rosaries

I made an Anglican rosary suitable for a man. I used 9x7mm black oval wooden beads for the week beads, and 10mm howlite globes for the invitatory and cruciform beads. The cross is carved from black horn. The rosary is cable-strung and the beads are fixed in place by separating them with matte black seed-beads. I showed it to a friend of a friend who prays the Anglican rosary. She was taken with its large size and soft, flexible drape (apparently the one she uses is small and stiff). She said she liked it, but wondered if I could make something more feminine. The result is the pink Anglican rosary at the top of the picture. For week beads I used frosted pink 10mm drucs with a partial AB finish. It uses the same 10mm howlite globes for the invitatory and cruciform beads. It is cable-strung and the beads are fixed in place with silver-lined crystal seed beads. The ornate base-metal cross has a faux oxidized silver finish.

Lutheran prayer beads

This week I made these two sets of Lutheran prayer beads. The larger set is the "Lutheran rosary" or "Lutheran Lenten Chaplet" of the same kind I made back in February. The smaller one is called the Wreath of Christ - Frälsarkransen or Savior Ring.

For the Lenten Chaplet, I got the black cross from my local bead store (JSM Bead Coop). It is carved from horn. The cable is covered with #15 matte black seed-beads from JSM. The small black beads (the weekday beads) are 7 millimeter wooden ovals [AMC #522] from Ave Maria's Circle. They slide on the cable as your fingers move over them in prayer. The larger black and gray globes (the Sunday beads) are fixed in position on the cable. They are snowflake obsidian and come from JSM too. The large white globe (the Easter bead) is howlite, and also comes from JSM.

The largest bead on the Savior Ring is the gold God bead. I used a gold colored globe of dichroic glass from JSM. Next largest in size are the seven 8mm rounds. Five of them are glass druks from JSM, and two are glass pearls [OLRM #655] from Our Lady's Rosary Makers. The 6mm rounds are Swarovski glass pearls. There are also six 5x9mm clear glass ovals from JSM. For an explanation of how these beads are prayed, go here.

brown Saint Joseph rosary 5

This shows the back of the crucifix and centerpiece. It is also the best picture for telling how well (or poorly) the colors of the crucifix, Hail-Mary beads, and Our-Father beads go together.

brown Saint Joseph rosary 4

the Our-Father beads are strung on 20 gauge copper wire and are connected to the decades of Hail-Mary beads with wrapped wire bows of the same wire.

brown Saint Joseph rosary 3

brown Saint Joseph rosary 2

brown Saint Joseph rosary

I made this to be like the black Saint Joseph rosary below, except I wanted to use brown wooden beads and crucifix. The copper wire for the Hail-Mary beads is 22 gauge and for the Our-Father beads and the wrapped wire bows, 20 gauge, both from the JSM Bead Coop. The crucifix is a 55mm (2 3/16 inch) long wooden crucifix stained golden brown (or "honey oak") with the corpus and titulus in nickel silver [AMC #350] from Ave Maria Circle. The Hail-Mary beads are 9x6mm oval, wooden beads stained a rosy brown from Our Lady's Rosary Makers [OLRM #761]. The Our-Father beads are 10.5x7mm, oval ridged wooden beads stained a light reddish brown (light brown) --[AMC #544] None of these colors match. The St. Joseph centerpiece is 25mm (1 inch) including the lower bail [AMC #242]. Wrapped wire bows are used to attach the crucifix and center, and to separate the Our-Father beads from the Hail-Marys.

Saint Benedict Rosary 2

Each bead is strung on silver colored craft wire. The Our-Father and Hail-Mary beads are strung on 20 gauge and 22 gauge wire respectively. The wire bows connecting the centerpiece, crucifix and Our-Father beads are made with 20 gauge wire. All loops are wrapped.