How to Make a 5 Decade Rosary Using Real Rose Petals

You will need at least 1/2 cup of very finely chopped or ground rose petals. These rose petals can be either fresh or dried. Also, you should have a pot and water to cook the roses in. To make the rosary itself, you'll need wire, chain links, and pliers for a wire rosary plus a center piece and crucifix. Optional items are rose oil, cornstarch, and glue.

Instructions For Making The Beads

Take the roses and cook them with sufficient amount of water to barely cover the roses. Heat for a few hours but don't let it come to a boil. You can make the beads a beautiful black by cooking in a rusty saucepan. Then take the rose petal mixture, drain, and store in a dry place out of the light taking precautions to not let it get moldy or mildewed.

Repeat this process for 5 days in a row. Then drain the mixture after its final cooking. Let the mixture cool. Knead the roses with your fingers and form into balls or ovals depending on how you want your rosary beads formed. These will shrink in drying, so make them larger than the desired outcome.

You will need 59 beads total for one 5 decade rosary. 53 Hail Mary beads and 6 Our Father beads. You may make the Our Father beads bigger than the rest.

Poke each bead with rosary wire slightly thicker than that you will be using when you make the rosary. Then thread with string and allow to dry. Make sure you turn the beads every so often while drying so they do not stick to the string and dry evenly. It can take up to a couple of weeks to thoroughly dry.

When the beads are dry, then you may start making the rosary. Using the wire and pliers you can make a wire version. Or you may make a string version if you prefer.

To make the beads stronger, you may mix in a small amount of glue or cornstarch into the mixture during the last cooking session. To add more fragrance to the rosary, you may apply a few drops of rose oil either adding them to the mixture before the beads are formed or by rubbing it on the dry beads.

Instructions For Creating The Rosary

Starting from a upper hand corner of the center piece, put a few chain links up and then attach 10 Hail Mary beads and put chain links to separate the Our Father bead, which goes on next. Put on more links and 10 more Hail Mary beads. Separate with chain and Our Father bead. Repeat 3 more times so that you end up with 5 of these 10 bead "decades". On the fifth, you will not put an Our Father bead at the end, but you will instead attach it to the other top hand corner of the center piece.

Next, you will fasten on the bottom of the 3 sided centerpiece some chain link, then an Our Father bead, more chain link, 3 Hail Mary beads, chain link, an Our Father bead, and after some chain link, a crucifix.

Then your wire rosary is complete. Check out the accompanying link for more detailed instructions on how to make wire rosaries.