Bead Jewelry Idea – Prayer Beads

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A sample of the divinely beautiful prayer beads at FullCircleBeads.com

I was in my local bead shop the other day and browsing through all the new pendendants they had gotten in when I saw a woman on the other side of the table who was piling on pieces like there was no tomorrow. Most of them were cross pendants of one form or another, most were sterling silver but a few were made of jade or some other colored stone. I said hello and we started talking. It turns out she was teaching a class at the local senior center on how to make your own prayer beads just in time for Easter. But then she told me that she normally makes her own Rosaries and regularly sells them at craft shows and church bazaars!

I came home and started looking into this and it turns out the the Rosary is just one of many different types of prayer beads one can use in a variety of different faiths and religions. In fact, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam many different faiths of Christianity and even some Native American and African faiths and cultures all use different types of prayer beads!

Prayer Bead are not really bead jewelry in the typical fashion sense, but rather the beads are usually used as a counting mechanism where the person says a prayer or thinks about certain things for each bead on the string.

There are lots of bead jewelry artisans making prayer beads on the Internet. Here are a few great resources you can check out:

GiGi Beads – Probably the best site to see lots (hundreds?) of samples of great hand-made prayer bead strings. GiGi Beads is run by the Trinity Prayer Beads Ministry this site has an amazing assortment of Christian prayer beads and Rosaries. It’s almost too much to browse through at any one sitting. They have prayers beads for different denomonations, different saints, different causes and all sorts of cool “series” of prayer beads. A lot of their prayer beads are amazingly colorful and beautiful (they even have some lampwork beads!), which makes you really forget about the “traditional” looking Rosary with cheap black plastic beads. A lot of the pieces here are truly inspiring works of art!

Full Circle Beads – Featuring primarily Anglican prayer beads, these beautiful bead sets are made out of a variety of materials with with many different wonderful cross pendants. Their site is easy to navigate and filled with sharp, colorful photos.

Twelve Beads – A slightly less sectarian approach, these beads are meant to be used by people in various 12 step programs as a reminder and way to count through 12 different prayers. I love this idea and the beads are unique and beautiful. The site includes a lot of information about all sorts of prayer beads, and until recently their navigation was a little tedious. Now it’s really easy to browse through all their bead jewelry and strands and get a real sense of all they have to offer. I especially like some of the pieces that have an “unexpected” pendant where you would normally find a cross or religious symbol. There’s some great, unique and innovative designs here!

Islamic Jewellry World – This website is filled with all sorts of jewelry and gifts, but they have a section just for Tasbeeth Prayer Beads. Many of them are made out of wood or other organic material and they all appear to be VERY affordable. These are all very simple rings of beads, but they are still wonderful to browse through.

If you’re going to make prayer beads then I suggest you pick you craft shows carefully, do your homework and think carefully about packaging. Prayer beads in particular often come with sample prayers, instructions on use or even a written history of the prayer bead tradition for a particular faith.