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.

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.

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.

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.

Saint Benedict Rosary

This rosary features a St Benedict medal centerpiece and a St Benedict crucifix. The crucifix (#502A at OLRM) including the bail, is 55 mm long (two and one eighth inches ) and the centerpiece (#597 at OLRM) is 16 mm in diameter (roughly dime-sized). The Hail-Mary beads are black wooden ovals, 9mm by 5mm (#508 at AMC) and the Our-Father beads are 10.5mm by 7mm grooved wooden ovals (#543 at AMC).

remaking a broken habit

This is a remake of a broken habit rosary I got at St Vincent de Paul thrift shop in Sheboygan, WI. It was missing 2 beads and the crucifix. I replaced the Our-Father beads with dramatic black and white swirled glass "tablets" (by which I mean a sort of rectangular prism with rounded corners and edges) 20mm x 11mm x 7mm, from JSM Bead Coop. I added a metal-bound black wooden crucifix, 57mm x 31mm [OLRM 549] from Our Lady's Rosary Makers. The Hail-Mary beads are 14mm x 9mm black wooden ovals. They were originally strung on tough stainless steel eye-pins, which I retained as much as possible, but I used 20-gauge nickel-silver craft wire, and wrapped wire loops and bows for the parts I had to replace.

rosary with caged Our-Father beads

I liked the St Joe rosary so much that I used the same Hail-Mary beads and Our-Father beads from Ave Maria's Circle on my next project. I used OLRM 509, a 49mm* nickel-sliver "dogwood" crucifix from Our Lady's Rosary Makers, and AMC 2226, a 25mm* nickel-silver miraculous medal center from Ave Maria's Circle. I was planing the turquoise Guadalupe rosary so I decided to use this rosary to practice caging the Our-Father beads. Each Our-Father bead is caged in a 6-inch helix of wire. Like the St Joseph rosary, each bead is strung on a wrapped wire link, and wrapped wire bows are used as connectors (instead of jump rings) and to separate the Our-Father beads from the decades of Hail-Mary beads (instead of a few links of chain). I used 20 gauge nickel-silver craft wire for the links, bows and cages. (*measurements include bails)

Saint Joseph Rosary, black wood and copper wire

This rosary came out very well. Everything except the wire is from Ave Maria's Circle. The wire is 20 gauge copper wire from the JSM Bead Coop. The crucifix is 2 1/8 inch wooden crucifix stained black with the corpus and titulus in nickel silver [AMC #351]. The crucifix lacks the metal binding/backing that is common to this kind of crucifix. I wasn't sure how I would like it, but it turns out that the lack of backing emphasizes its simplicity and "woodenness." The Hail-Mary beads are 9x6mm oval, black wooden beads [AMC #508] which I bought in bulk. The Our-Father beads are 10.5x7mm, oval ridged black wooden beads--[AMC #543] This crucifix and these beads go very well together. The center is a 1-inch St. Joseph Center [AMC #242]. Wrapped wire bows are used to attach the crucifix and center, and to separate the Our-Father beads from the Hail-Marys. I didn't plan it this way, but the simplicity and wooden parts evoke a sense of St. Joseph. I like this rosary very much, but a friend of mine asked for it, and I gave it to him. I will have to make myself another one.