I have been back beading again with great gusto and loving it. I have spent the last 6 months learning new skills as well with my beading. I have always loved browsing
, in the same way you window shop at a shopping centre.. the delight at looking at really beautiful things. I've slowly learnt how to chain in the same style, with Annie's encouragement when I've need it ~ a classical style that has taken time to learn, time to perfect and improve. I'm still creating religious pieces in wire, but now I have two styles to offer.
I have also been inspired by another dear friend as well. My friend Anna, through asking me to custom make a certain style of tenner for herself and her family, has given me a design of tenner that I am now creating for others and I use myself.
I would like to mention here too, that this dear friend makes it a habit of inspiring me by her talent and ideas. If you remember my felting creations a few months back, it was Anna who had originally given me the idea when she sent me a beautiful Mother Teresa three doll set (Mother Teresa, the Bishop, a poor woman).
The new designed tenner has an extra 3 Ave beads (as all rosary beads have at the beginning) and a rosary centre. The rosary centre becomes my "Pater bead" the way a rosary centre on a normal pair of rosary beads becomes a Pater bead, for the first Our Father of the first decade given out.
When using this design of tenner for the Divine Mercy Chaplet, I offer the first three prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, I Believe) on the first 3 Ave beads. The rosary centre is where I offer the "Eternal Father" prayer for each decade. When the chaplet is nearly finished and I'm ready to offer the last prayer that is repeated three times, "Holy God, Holy Might One, Holy Immortal One..." I slip my hand back to the first 3 Ave beads to recite them. This design works so beautifully, for the recitation of these two prayers!
I often put a lot of thought into the beads, rosary parts chosen. I like to give a tenner a theme that is very tangible and recognisable. I have below some photos of some of my themed tenners.
Mother of Good Counsel Tenner
This tenner matches the colours of the image of Our Lady you can see at the very top of this posting. The Pater, a Petrosky Stone, matches Our Lady's hair and tunic trim. The first 3 Aves are Blue Chatoyant "Hawke Eye" gemstones, to match Our Lady's tunic. The 10 Aves match the Child Jesus' tunic, Red Jasper gemstones...not only do the colours match, but the markings on the Jasper looked exactly like the crackling of the egg-shell thin fresco, especially in the bottom, right hand corner. The crucifix was chosen with cherubs, as cherubim transported this miraculous image from Albania to Genezzano, Italy and they hold the picture in mid air, a few inches from the church wall in which the angels placed it. The rosary centre is an Ave Maria Crown and the medal is a Mother of Good Counsel medal.
Via Dolorosa Tenner
This tenner's theme was the 'Via Dolorosa' Mary's sorrowful journey to Calvary. I chose an Irish Penal Cross due to the instruments of the Passion are incorporated onto the front and back of the crucifix. The Pater represents the sky on Good Friday...maybe it was a fine day but we know that the sky changed, clouds billow and build. The first 3 Aves represent the Blood Red Moon Eclipse that took place at the Crucifixion, the first Ave shows a normal moon, the second Ave, the eclipse starts to take place, half pale, half blood, then the third Ave is blood red. These three Aves are all Mookaite gemstones. The rosary centre features the thorn crowned Jesus on one side, Our Lady's sorrowful profile on the other. The African Opal gemstones are really beautiful, duck egg blue streaked with blood red, representing Mary's sorrowful journey to calvary. The final medal is the Crucifixion scene with Our Lady and St John at the foot of the cross. The Via Dolorosa.
The tenner below is another themed tenner and the first of my new design of tenner. This tenner has a very touching theme of a personal nature for the lady who owns it, every part, every bead.
I particularly love this tenner.
Here is another themed tenner below, the theme was St Basil the Great (Doctor of the Church). The crucifix represented St Basil's magnificent defence of the Trinity in a time of Church history where heresies needed correction. The rosary centre is of St Benedict, because of St Basil's influence on St Benedict's monasticism. The Holy Spirit medal represented St Basil's principle theological writings which were on the Holy Spirit. The Pater bead and the 10 Aves are Petrosky Stones and represent a particular rock face, which was the final resting place of the Sword of Roland, Durendal. Durendal contained a few holy relics, one of the relics was the Blood of St Basil. The first 3 Ave beads have a threefold theme, St Basil was by nature, hot-blooded and fiery in nature. He came from the line of martyrs. The holy relic of his blood in Durendal.
This tenner was a confirmation gift for a young boy. His confirmation names are St Columbus and St Jerome. The skull Pater bead represents on of St Jerome's well known symbols. The Holy Spirit represented by the dove was appropriate for St Columba, his name means "dove". The 3 Aves were a beautiful Labradorite, that threw of vivid flashes of blue, very Marian, leading to the rosary centre of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, a title dear to this boy. The 10 Aves were Blue Chatoyant "Hawke Eye" gemstones, which had personal significance to this young fellow.
If you have a gift idea in mind for someone or you would like a religious piece for yourself you would like custom made, with a theme (or not) please feel free to email me. 
I have also made some rosary bracelets that feature a crucifix, rosary centre and medal. It is similar to my tenner design except there are 3 Aves before the rosary centre, 7 Aves after the rosary centre. The placement of the first 3 Ave beads allow someone to use the beads in the same way I explained above with my tenner. When the rosary is given out on this bracelet, the Pater bead is used to offer the Our Father, then the 10 Aves are offered, when the third Hail Mary has been said, the hand slips over the rosary centre and continues onto the 4th Hail Mary. This may seem unusual, but I have been using this with great success and is not in anyway confusing.
By adding the rosary centre in between the 10 Aves, you have a lovely focal point when wearing the bracelet throughout the day.
This tenner is for a young woman who has St Philomena and St Bernadette in her name, the medal is in honour of St Philomena, the rosary centre has the Lourdes scene with St Bernadette kneeling. The pieces chosen for these sort of rosary bracelets need to be small, the crucifix definitely no bigger than 1 1/2", 1" is preferable. The medal should be no bigger than 1". The rosary centre between 1/2" to 1". Since sterling silver is so very expensive compared to solid bronze, this is a lovely way to have a one decade rosary in sterling silver, one that you can wear always.
Here is another sterling silver one decade rosary bracelet, with a beautiful Our Lady of the Pillar medal, an Ave Maria Crown rosary centre (so small and fine, with a tiny little crown!) and a beautiful French crucifix. The Pater and Ave beads are Aquamarine gemstones. This one is for sale over in my jewellery gallery.
This rosary is in honour of St Therese with a "Shower of Roses" theme, it is in chain. The Paters are Mookaite with solid bronze leaf bead caps, the Aves are Mookaite gemstones, all representing a garden of roses. This one is not on my beading site for sale as yet, but it has been made to sell, so if you are interested,
email me privately.
I love this rosary. It is like looking at the sea! Mary's name means "a sea" and it is very, very Marian! The Paters and Aves are Aquamarine gemstones. This also has been made to sell, but it is not on my site as yet,
email me privately if you are interested in it.
This rosary was my oldest son's rosary which was originally on wire, re-made with chain..I added a beautiful Mother of Good Counsel medal. The Paters are carved bone, the Aves are Fossilized Crazy Lace Agate gemstones.
This is another rosary that was originally made on wire but has been re-made in chain. It belongs to one of my daughters. I re-made it for her as her confirmation gift in late October. The only changes were the Pater beads, the 8mm Swarovski Crystals were removed and replaced with Aquamarine gemstones.
I've always made religious jewellery, mainly necklaces. I have created
five new pieces to sell, two are in chain, three on wire. Below, is one of the chain necklaces, 'Lily of the Valley' with a rosary centre, featuring Our Lady's profile surrounded by lilies. There are two beautiful lily link medals attached half way up each side of the necklace, as you can see in the photo below.
I have a few pairs of rosary beads in
my rosary gallery, the one I'm featuring here below is called, "Faithful Companions of Jesus" ~ the crucifix is breathtaking! It features the Crucifixion scene with the two Mary's standing at the foot of the cross. It is a lovely big rosary with 8mm Ave beads in Aquamarine, the Paters are Rainforest Jasper, each sitting in a natural brass 'acorn' bead cap. Very feminine.
This rosary is also in my latest rosary gallery, it is called, "Mother of Good Counsel" as it features are stunning rosary centre of Mother of Good Counsel, it is also features 8mm sized Ave beads and is suitable for a man or woman.
I've finally designed my own rosary bags, which I'm very happy with. They are made from 100% cotton, very well constructed to last as long as your rosary (so that's a long time!). I have hand carved a stamp with my own logo, a beautiful Ave Maria Crown featuring flowers and vine. It is colour-fast and fully washable.
I really enjoyed making my Ave Maria stamp, it is a craft posting in itself, and I will save that for another day!
