I've been raiding my mother's rose garden for a couple of weeks and have gotten tired of making potpourri so I decided to try my hand at rose petal beads. These are so much fun (and, apparently, where the "rosary" got it's name from) Decided to make this set of meditation beads with them as a belated Summer Solstice project (let me just mention that suns are a pain to bend out of wire) Beads aren't all that pretty-- my next batch looks to be turning out better, but they smell heavenly! I think I'm going to try cooking the next set in cast iron (they say that that will turn them black) and make moon spacers out of silver wire.

You are so talented! That's beautiful, can't wait to see the black ones! :thumbsup:

:butterfly Those are so cool! I too can't wait to see the black ones!:thumbsup:

I have been making them for years!(even tried to selll them here!)
I put the rose petals in a blender with water, cook them in my casr iron kettel, then put them in the blender again to make a smooth paste, then cook them down as much as I can.
i made them with the children in my care this year and they made mother's day necklaces

enjoy!
trisha

nt

I just did a google search on "rose petal beads" but they're really easy. You can add orris root, gum arabic, flour, or rose oil, but mine are just the rose petals and water. Some say to break up the petals with a blender or mortar and pestle before cooking them, I just went ahead and put my petals in the pot (I tried dry and fresh-- didn't seem to matter) The traditional method is to let them simmer for about an hour a day for 6 days, but I was in a hurry so I did 2 hours a day over 3 days-- you can probably just do them in a day. Apparently, if you cook them in enamel they keep more color-- kinda of a brown/red (I did mix petal colors). If you cook them in cast iron they go black, which is what is usual. Then I put them in my food processor. Took them out and strained through cheesecloth which gave me a clay-like paste. Sat down and rolled them into litle balls on waxed paper and in my palms. One of the instruction sets I had said you could snake them and then cut beads, but I don't know that the clay will hold up to that. 50-75% shrinkage is apparently normal. I don't think mine shrunk quite that much-- or I was overcompensating, because these are pretty big. I'm making the next set smaller.
You can't put holes in them immediately-- it's too hard to keep the shape. You're supposed to let these air dry over the course of weeks being careful not to let them mold. Once again, I was in a hurry, so I put them on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven. after about 5 hours I pulled them out and they were hard enough to take wire and poke holes throught the beads. I strung them on the wire and then put them back in the oven, "jiggling" them on the wire once in awhile to keep the holes open. Cooked them for another 5 hours, then hung them up because I was going to bed. Put them back in the next day for most of the day. I think I put them in a little long, because they lost a good portion of their scent so I think I'll cook them less next time and I might add some rose oil. Easy, huh
-H

absolutely beautiful. and i LOVE your wire work.

i first heard about rose petal beads when i was a child, and i've always thought about making some, but just never seem to get around to it. :sigh:
maybe i can talk someone into trading me for some, lol.

oh, Hastings, they are lovely :) I have some from the most beautiful necklace i have ever seen until Anna yanked it off my neck and broke it... sigh.. I need to restring that baby!

Trade with Lissa ;) She makes AWESOME play food and would be a lovely addition to your-I mean your daughter's toy collection ;)

would love to trade (I don't knit-- only crochet and your food looks scrumptious) How many would you like? My mom just deadheaded her roses again and I've got a couple of bucketfulls waiting.
-H

ummmmm. i dunno. lol.

i'm not sure what i'd do with them, so i don't have an amount in mind. i'll probably incorporate them into a necklace.

how 'bout if you check out my instock store (link in my sig) and decide what you want and how many beads you'd be willing to trade? does that sound ok?

thanks mama

BEAUTIFUL JOB MAMA!

Wow, it looks great!

Wonder if I could use my food dehydrator to make the beads??

Originally posted by Shelly
Wow, it looks great!

Wonder if I could use my food dehydrator to make the beads??

I was thinking about trying that-- my mom suggested it yesterday-- can't see why it wouldn't work.
-H

really cool....and so pretty!

i think i'd try the food dehydrator. seems like it should speed up the drying process, and at the same time your house will smell divine :D

I think if you are willing to go the slower route you would be surprised, the rose oil is in that liquid you strained out. I cook mine over the course of a few days, just turn the pot on while I am in the kitchen. The ones that are black seem to look better over a long period of time. You can even freeze the petals too. Sometimes I cook it up and them freeze it until Iget around to it.
trisha
rose petal beads (http://public.fotki.com/trisha_l/rose_petal_beads/)