ROSARY MAKERS GUIDE

Greetings of peace!  

I have been a rosary maker for the past 12 years.  Recently, I came upon a website about making rosaries from flowers.  The rosary beads shown came in different colors, and they were scented as well.  I tried a proceedure of boiling the petals, drying them to make into beads, but not only was it too tedious, but the beads yielded only a black color.  

Can you please help me? Would you know of a proceedure by which we can make beads from flowers where we retain a bit of their scent and color as well?  

Thank you!  God be with you!

Hello Ira,

Those of us who have tried making rose petal beads have met with the same outcome as you describe. We too have noted a number of sites that offer flower petal beads in varying pastel colors. We can only guess that a polymer or clay additive has been used to create the color, or they have been painted once they were dry. All of our past attempts produced only black color beads.

We do note however, that you should not BOIL the mash, but only simmer it, reducing the water down, an hour at a time. Never let the mash become totally dry while simmering.

We used a rose scented oil to enhance the scent. If you use the oil, use an "essence" as this is most pure and the scent will last longer. Funny thing about scented beads, whether natural or oil-scented, the scent is most noticeable when the beads are in use as the heat from our hands brings out the scent. But unfortunately the scent will fade over time.

We found good, clear directions HERE for making rose/flower petal beads.

For anyone wishing to have rosaries made from flowers, we advise you avoid an outfit called Keepsake Rosaries. For more information, please see our Rosary Supplies page.

Hope that helps...a little.

God bless,

-Mary