I’ve been drawn to the idea of prayer beads for quite a while now. For Iain and Elijah’s first birthdays we had family and friends contribute blessings for them while stringing beads on a necklace for each of them (still treasured possessions for both). But I’ve not worked with the idea of combining beads and spirit much at all since then. I’ve found myself particularly interested in making a set for myself of beads focusing on this pregnancy and upcoming birth and the premier issue of Living Crafts (winter 2008) with it’s detailed article on the making of prayer bead sets, was just the thing to start me off.

I used a lot of rose quarts and amethyst, some fresh water pearls, a couple of garnets (my birthstone), and some crystals that reminded me of the baby’s birthstone (I was unable to find the actual birthstone). These were the stones that seemed to hold significance for me right now. I also used sage green seed beads as spacers and added in a couple of silver Celtic knot charms that I was drawn to.

There are lots of articles and information on prayer beads around the web. I don’t have time to post a bunch of links right now, but if you do a simple search, you should be able to turn up some interesting stuff.

This is my favorite source of inspiration and just plain gorgeous jewelery! And more inspiration for prayer beads from many different faiths on Flickr.

A note on the rag balls, since several people requested instructions. I based mine off of a pattern for a felt ball found in The Children’s Year by Stephanie Cooper, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marye Rowling. I think that they would be really lovely in felt too, by the way, and I have plans to make one of that sort in the future! The extent of the “pattern” is a pentagram that can be traced to make a template (it would be simple enough to make your own) and instructions to cut 12 of them and sew them together to create a dodecahedron. Leave one seam open for stuffing. The books warns that you must stuff them quite firmly or they will loose there shape. As for the details, you kind of have to figure that out on your own! I, personally, had some issues with figuring out the placement for piecing the top, but with just playing around a bit, I figured it out with little difficulty. If any of you do get around to making one, please come back and post a link for me, I would love to see them!