OK, look, I very carefully molded you guys to all be pretty much the same size to start with. I even used a bead of known size to compare each of you to before I set you on the fiberglass cutting board to dry.
You all came from the same hunk of rose-petal paste. None of you started off with any more or any less moisture than the bead next to you. I even periodically mushed the paste up to keep the moisture even throughout.
So, how come when you all got dry enough to string, some of you came out almost twice the size as the others? A shade of difference, I can see- after all, I’m making you guys by hand, and this isn’t an exact science. But really, this is just ridiculous. I started off with sixty of you, enough for a rosary plus an extra, and ended up having to make an extra thirty so I could cherry pick by taking the largest and the ten smallest beads out and ending up with an average I could work with- some minor variance in size, but not so much that it would be obvious once I got you strung. Thing is, the extra beads will most likely end up being wasted, or, maybe I’ll just save them and toss them in with the next batch of petals I cook, but dammit, it took me quite a chunk of time to make you guys, and you don’t have the decency to shrink up to be more or less the same size when you dry?
Thea, I know what you’re talking about, and I had the same problem when I made rose petal beads. Although I managed to make a weakness into a virtue – the sizes varied so much I just decided to make that part of my design.
Thea , you’re a better person than I am for even attempting to make your own. All I can do is work with a finished product created by a nice person in a Czech or Austrian bead factory.
Just a WAG - Did you squeeze or mold some more tightly than others, perhaps? S’all I can think of to explain the phenomenon.
I’ve always wanted to make rose petal beads but can never get organized. Good for you for trying, it really is a lot of work.
The only resource I have mentions absolutely nothing about different sizes. They go on for ages about how moisture changes texture, drying times, etc. so that’s where I’d look first. I’m just guessing from my ceramics experience and experiments with other media, though. Heck, I wonder if you could use a rock polisher to smooth them and wear the big ones down to a smaller size, hmmmm.
Also, I wonder if a bead maker for sculpey beads would work for rose beads? Let me know if you’re interested, I might be able to dig up the website where I found that little contraption.
Ashes, what’s to organize? You grind the petals up in a food processor, put 'em in a pot and boil 'em for a few minutes, then turn the heat down and simmer them for a few days. No, actually, I simmer them for whatever time I’m home on a few days, check 'em every hour or so, then when I’m asleep or not home, I turn the stove off. When the cell structure in the petals breaks down enough that they get mushy, then you turn the heat waaayyyyy down and start the evaporative process. Takes a lot of patience, but it isn’t really labor intensive.
I have found that when I’m making larger beads, the relative difference in size when they’re dry isn’t all that great. It’s when I want smaller beads that I have a problem
And I’d love the url for that Sculpey bead maker. I also do a lot of Sculpey beads, and this would save me a lot of time.
As a professional polymer clay (Sculpey and Fimo) crafter, I have had excellent results using translucent polymer clay with dried rose petals mixed in. Not quite the same thing as actual rose petal beads, but lovely just the same. My email address is in my profile Thea and I happen to have one of those nifty bead rollers. Personally, I do not like it at all, but other polymer beadmakers rave about the durn thing. If you want mine, email me and I’ll send it along gratis.
Oh suuuure just add another project, with a million steps to it, on the pile. I have about six quilts, two scarves to crochet, three sculpture projects, five dresses to sew, two paintings, two pillows, and a pair of sandals to finish beading.
I must make rose petal beads now, the other stuff can wait! It’s so much fun to have the attention span of a gnat-- anything fun you wanna do can always be fit in.
Lessee, which of my neighbors wouldn’t mind naked rose bushes? And I have to make it all more difficult by experimenting. Would a crockpot help in the cooking? Wheee!
I think a crockpot would work for the first stage, but not the evaporation. Well, maybe if you left the lid off.
Thea, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I know you’re an adult convert to Catholcism, and I wondered if you’ve talked about how it happened. I mean in a Straight Dope thread. I was going to say, “How it happened in a thread here”, but that sounded grammatically ambiguous.
Mr. Lissar and I are edging towards conversion, although we haven’t started taking classes, and I was curious about your experiences. Thanks. I know this is an enormous hijack. Sorry.
Lissla, I’ve talked about it in a coupla threads, but I’m too lazy to do a search right now, or to type out the whole experience.
I do recommend the Byzantine Rite, though. It’s a lot less rationalistic, more mystical, and less guilt-inducing than Latin Rite Catholicism. Plus there’s more pot-luck dinners, and if you’ve got Arabs in the congregation, that means lots of free hummus.
Now I want to try making rose petal beads too. I’m sure your finished rosaries must be lovely, and if they smell good (as that webpage says), that’s even better.
I’m sure your finished rosaries must be lovely, and if they smell good (as that webpage says), that’s even better.