How to Make Your Own Wood Rosary Bracelet

Use wooden beads to create a simple rosary.

Praying with rosary beads is ingrained in traditional Catholic culture, and rosaries form an important part of the religious practices of many Catholics. A rosary bracelet is an abbreviated version of the classic rosary that you can wear as a regular bracelet. Rosary bracelets usually have several standard components: ten Hail Mary beads representing one decade of the traditional rosary, one Our Father bead, a crucifix, and a medallion.

Things You'll Need

• 20 inches 20-gauge wire
• 11 wooden beads
• Crucifix
• Medallion
• Round-nose pliers
• Chain-nose pliers
• Jump rings
• Clasp

Instructions

1. Purchase your materials. You can buy wire and pliers at most craft stores, as well as wooden beads. You also can use wooden beads that have some sentimental value to you, or even wooden beads that you or a relative whittled. Also, if you have a broken or favorite wooden rosary you want to re-make into a bracelet, you can carefully remove the beads from the original to use to make several bracelets. You may have to purchase crucifixes and medallions online or at a bead store.

2. Cut 11 1.5-inch pieces of 20-gauge wire with cutting pliers. Each of these wires will form a bead link with one of the rosary beads, and you can later join together these links to create your rosary. Make sure you wear eye protection when you cut wire because small shards of metal can fly away from the clippers and injure you.

3. Wrap the end of one of the wires around your round-nose pliers to create a small loop.

4. Slide one bead onto the free end of the wire and let it stop at the loop. Then wrap the other side of the wire around your round-nose pliers to create a second loop. Your bead should be trapped between the two loops. This is called a bead link.

5. Repeat until you have made bead links out of all 11 beads in your rosary.

6. Hold the two ends of a jump ring with two pairs of chain-nose pliers and twist the pliers in opposite directions to open up the ring.

7. Thread your opened jump ring through two bead links and then use your chain-nose pliers to twist the ring closed again. You should end up with two bead links joined together by a jump ring.

8. Continue adding bead links to your chain with jump rings until you have completed a chain of all eleven rosary beads.

9. Open a larger jump ring and slide both your crucifix and your medallion onto the ring. Thread this ring through the bead link at the end of your chain and then close it.

10. Connect a clasp to the free end of your bead link chain with another jump ring. You should be able to clasp this bracelet by attaching the clasp to the large jump ring with the crucifix and medallion on it. Your rosary bracelet is now ready to wear and/or use in prayer.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also make a rosary more quickly by using elastic cord and spacer beads. Just cut a length of cord and string your eleven wooden beads on, separated by small spacer beads. Add spacers to the ends until the bracelet is large enough to fit around your wrist and then tie the cord off.

References

• The Catholic Company: Rosary Bracelets