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Please refer to MHR's very detailed pages on materials and sizing and how to wire loop beads if
you are a first time visitor new to rosary making.
As mentioned in the page on wire looping, there are many different rosary chaining styles.
If you're not embellishing your beads with ring caps or bead caps, the speed method of
stringing several beads onto your wire at once, bending, cutting and looping as you go is probably
the best method for you. If you have chosen embellishments, every cap or ring has to fit tightly
against your beads. This requires attention to detail, and detail takes time.
The instructions offered here should be considered a way to get started until you adapt your own
favored method of creating handmade chained rosaries.
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53 beads for the Aves (Hail Mary's)
6 beads for the Paters (Our Fathers)
Optional rings (106 for Aves, 12 for Paters) or
Optional bead caps (106 for Aves, 12 for Paters)
Chain cut into 14 segments of the same # of links,
or 14 two hole jewelry connectors
Wire
Jump rings (3 small for center, 1 large for crucifix)
1 rosary center medal (centrepiece)
1 crucifix (cross with corpus) or cross
Optional bead board (try a bath towel if you don't
have a bead board)
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Side cutters
For opening unsoldered chain:
Ridged bent nose pliers and
Ridged needle nose pliers
Flat nose pliers (listed here as optional, but the best tool for closing chain links, aligning loops, etc.)
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Lay out your design:
Before looping a single bead, it's good to see all the elements gathered, to be
sure everything works together for a great overall look. It's also a good idea to make a final check
that the wire gauge you've chosen will pass through the Hail Mary beads, the Our Father beads
and the holes in the bead caps you may have selected as embellishments.
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If your beading is often interrupted by household matters or your work schedule, a nice way to stay
organized is to lay out the decades with the Paters between, and the drop. This way, you don't need to continually recount the beads you've already looped if you're called away from your workspace.
From a design standpoint, laying out all the beads of the decades and drop is an especially good idea if your
bead material comes in a natural range of colors. The jasper shown here has beads from cream to mauve to olive. Pictured is the initial, totally random layout of Aves. From here, you can take out a dark bead,
put in a light, replacing until your "randomness" is balanced across the decades and pleases your eye.
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The drop consists of the crucifix, two Our Father beads, three Hail Mary beads, a center medal and chain.
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When making a rosary, the wire looping instructions differ slightly from general looping instructions
concerning the six Our Father beads. Notice in the photo above that chain extends from both sides of
the Our Father beads. As you progress chaining your rosary, try to keep in mind that you will need
to add the chain before closing each loop of a Pater, to avoid having to close and reopen the loops.
You may choose to make all six Pater segments at once following the directions immediately
below, to speed your way along in chaining the drop and decades without error.
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Make the first 3/4 curl of an Our Father bead. Before closing the loop, add a segment of chain.
Now flip the bead over to make the second loop. Make your 3/4 curl,
then add another segment of chain
before repositioning your hand
and closing the loop.
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The drop has three Hail Mary beads
above the first Our Father bead.
Make the first loop of the first Hail Mary bead.
Flip the bead over,
and make your 3/4 curl of the second loop of this bead.
Add the last link of chain of one side of an Our Father bead section
into the loop and close.
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Loop the next bead, adding the first
Hail Mary bead/Our Father
segment before completing the second loop.
So far, your drop should look like this:
chain, Our Father bead, chain, and two Hail Mary beads.
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On the third (last) Hail Mary bead of the drop, you will need
to add elements to both of the loops!
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Make the first 3/4 curl of the last Hail Mary bead.
Before closing, add the length of drop
you already have completed.
Close the first loop and flip the bead.
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Make the second 3/4 curl of the last Hail Mary bead.
Before closing, add the last link of chain
of a second Our Father bead segment
which you prepared beforehand.
Close the loop.
You have now completed linking all the beads of the drop!
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To add the drop to the center medal, open a small jump ring
or split ring of the heaviest gauge which will fit through the
loops of the rosary center medal (centrepiece). Try to keep your
jump rings here 4mm in diameter or smaller so they don't interfere
with the look and feel of your piece. Small oval jump rings are really nice
to use with the center as an alternative to round rings.
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Thread the ring through the bottom loop
of the center medal, then through
the last link of chain of the beaded drop.
Close the ring using a motion
toward and away from your body.
See the "How to Wire Loop Beads" page
for info on using jump rings.
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To attach the crucifix or cross to the rosary drop, open a large
round or oval jump ring or split ring.
Use a strong, heavy gauge ring.
Thread the ring through the bail of the crucifix. Leaving the ring
open, take hold of one side of the ring with chain nose pliers.
With your other hand, take hold of the rosary center medal and
lift it from your work table so that the whole length of the drop
dangles freely in the air. Allow any twist to settle out of the drop.
Be sure that the front of the medal is facing you.
With the front of the crucifix also facing toward you, lift the
open ring on the bail and slip it through the first link of
free chain on your beaded segment.
Before closing the ring, make sure that the crucifix is not twisting
90 degrees to the center, or worse, that it's on backwards!
Try correcting any twist by realigning the loops of the
Pater bead above the crucifix.
Close the large jump ring. Your crucifix is now attached,
and your entire drop portion is completed. Well done!
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As you make the two loops for each bead of the decades, aim for consistency
in the size of the loops which you are forming from one bead to the next.
When the five decades are finished, you want to be able to fold this portion of your rosary
in half lengthwise and have your Our Father beads line up with one another!
This requires that each individual decade must be the same length as the others.
This alignment is so very important to the finished result of your rosary, it can make or break your piece.
Try to keep this in mind as you go, and you'll have fewer adjustments to make before attaching
the set of decades to the center medal.
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To make the first bead of each decade:
Complete one loop of the first bead.
Make a 3/4 curl of the second loop.
For the very first Ave bead of the first decade, add a loose piece of
chain before closing this loop. This chain will lead from the center medal.
For the first Hail Mary bead of each subsequent decade,
add the last link of chain which leads from the Our Father bead
already joined to the previous decade.
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Continue creating a linked chain of eight more Hail Mary beads
by adding the free loop of each previous bead into the 3/4 curl
of the second loop of the bead which follows.
You should now have nine connected beads wiith
a segment of chain trailing from the first bead.
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For the tenth bead of each decade, you will be adding
elements into both loops.
Make a 3/4 curl of the first loop of the tenth bead.
Add the last link of chain leading from the next
Our Father bead segment, which you have prepared beforehand,
into this loop and close it.
Flip the bead and make a 3/4 curl of its second loop.
Add the free loop of the ninth bead into this loop and close it.
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Continue building your decades and
add the Our Father sections to separate them
in this way until you come to the very last bead
of the fifth decade.
Into the first loop of this last bead, you will be
adding a loose segment of chain, that is,
chain not attached to an Our Father bead.
This chain will lead from the last bead to
the rosary center medal (centrepiece).
Make a 3/4 curl of the second loop of the last bead,
add the free loop of the ninth bead of this decade,
and close the loop.
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You should now have five sets of ten Hail Mary beads, separated by four Our Father bead segments
(an Our Father bead with chain on either side), with a length of loose chain at the end of the
first bead and the last bead. Congratulations! You're almost done with your first chained rosary!
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Open a small jump ring or split ring.
Use the same size and style
of ring as you did to attach the drop to the center.
Thread the jump ring through the top right loop of the
rosary center medal (centrepiece),
then slip the last link of the free chain attached
to your first decade onto it as well.
Close the jump ring.
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Thread a jump ring through the top left loop of the
rosary center. Before slipping on the remaining free
segment of chain attached to your last decade,
lift the entire rosary off your worktable by the center
and let it dangle. The five connected decades in a row
will be two or three feet long, so hold your arm up!
Allow any twist in the chained beads to settle,
then thread the free chain from the last bead
onto the jump ring and close.
Lift the rosary by the center one more time and let it
dangle. Check for alignment of the decades and the
Our Father beads,* and make a final check for twist
(the decades curling around each other).
Refer to the "Avoiding and Correcting Problems" page
(coming soon) for twist and alignment fixes.
You, dear friend, are now a rosary maker! Bravo!
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*Sometimes, it's the loops of the center medal which are out of level with each other!
For this reason, it's best to have the five decades attached to the center before you set about
finessing (a nice way of saying do over!) some beads here and there
so everything lines up beautifully.
**A section on using two-hole connectors will soon be added to this page.
In the meantime, please refer to the bottom of the How to Wire Loop Beads page
for lots of info on using connectors.
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Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now
yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy
as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:8-9
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