I believe it is the Carmalite order of nuns that makes rosary’s out of rose petals. When my brother died, we had one rosary and four chaplets (the finger rosary mentioned above) made from the flowers from the funeral. The nun said that with use, the beads would smooth out and take on the look of marble. As none of them have been used, I cannot tell you if the claim is fact or fiction - although I don’t believe a cloistered order would go out of their way for a sales pitch.
The funeral home recomended a local artisan for making the beads out of the flowers, so if you ever want to leave beads behind Scarlett67 you could always consider flower petals.
We used to get them for First Communions, Confirmations, and the like. And as prizes for selling Christmas Cards and Holy Childhood Christmas Seals and the like.
The coolest ones (if you’re in Parochial Grammar School) ere the ones that glowed in th dark. I had three ets of those.
I am a Protestant, and I was learning about assorted meditation techniques. When I learned about the rosary, it seemed like a beautiful and restful way to pray, so I bought a rosary to try it.
I substituted another very old prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”) for the Hail Marys.
I wouldn’t call it a regular practice, but I use it from time to time as a part of private prayer and meditation.
So, not that interesting, really.
I made one for my mother, a devout Catholic, in sterling and garnets (her birthstone).
I used sterling wire and 6mm garnet beads. I just used a plain y-connector set with a high-dome 12x10 cabochon and a plain cross set with a 3mm cab. I thought it turned out pretty well in its simplicity.
You can buy crucifixes and religious medallions, but I think the simpler stuff is classy.
Hmm- I have one that belonged to my grandfather. It’s faceted glass beads and the crucifix is bent.
I have one made of olive wood cut from the Garden of Gethsemane- yes, folks, it’s still there, and the trees require occasional pruning. I got it as a confirmation gift from a couple that goes to my church. They picked it up on a church sponsored trip to the Holy Land. It has been touched to the rock in Gethsemane where Jesus prayed His “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”, to the rock on Golgotha where He was crucified, and to the rock in His tomb that his body was laid on.
I have a few that I made myself- one from Sculpey beads- I made the crucifixes myself with sort of a stick-figure Christ, one made from seashells which I scavenged from those cheap seashell necklaces you get in some Chinese restaraunts, and a couple made from rose petal beads (and let me tell you, THAT was a project). The rose petal ones I plan to sell. Again with the Sculpey crucifixes- I’ve actually gotten high praise for them. I also make my own medallions from Sculpey- I have a really nice metal one on my seashell rosary that is three dimensional enough that I could press it into a hunk of Sculpey and make a mold, which then became the soure of other medallions.
Then there’s the green plastic bead rosary that a lady in my church gave me shortly after I began attending…
And an Irish rosary that has “made in Italy” stamped on the back of the crucifix. It’s made of green glass beads with little shamrocks molded into them.
A cheesy green plastic one that glows in the dark.
My newest one was given to me by Fr. Francis- it’s the festival of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel this week, and he has a boxful of them that were blessed by the Pope. It’s inexpensive, black plastic beads and the medallion is embossed with the Knights of Columbus logo.