Prayer Bracelet – Make Your Own
My first Prayer Bracelet was threaded onto elastic
It did not survive
It fell apart
Scattering beads everywhere
Best use something more substantial
Easiest solution is to
Purchase a bracelet kit at a craft shop
It should include tiger tail, grips and clasps
You will need to find wire cutters and pliers
Follow the instructions
I am using 24 gauge silver wire
There are 18 beads in a basic prayer band
Including 8 smaller identical beads
I used a few more – 29
17 individual beads,
4 freshwater pearls
8 white quartz beads
It makes a large band so use fewer for a cosier fit…
They can be as plain or as expensive as you wish
Glass, crystal or semi precious
Each of my main beads is distinct in texture or shape
One is hand-blown from a studio on Kangaroo Island SA
What ever you choose
Make it distinctive and meaningful
To suit yourself
Thread beads in this order
- One larger gold or special bead
or three beads combined for the Trinity
In Remembrance of God
- 1 white quartz bead
- 1 small – Me bead
- 1 Baptism bead
- 1 white quartz
- 1 Wilderness
- 1 white quartz
- 1 Serenity
- 1 white quartz
- 2 Love beads ( I also added a heart ornament)
- 1 white quartz
- 4 freshwater pearls +3 small blue alternating
- 1 white quartz
- 1 lumpy Darkness
- 1 white quartz
- 1 Resurrection (I have shouldered with 2 jet beads)
- 1 white quartz
Plan where the clasp will be and adjust the order of threading accordingly
Don’t forget to include a couple of crimps – these look like tiny silver beads but are made of soft metal
They will be be crushed with pliers to secure wire ends etc…
Here I have twisted a loop in the wire to receive the lobster claw clasp
The wire ends have both been returned through two crimps which are then crushed to keep all in place
Likewise two crimps were threaded before the clasp
The wire was fed back through both crimps leaving a loop holding the lobster claw clasp
The crimps were then crushed to secure
The excess wire end was trimmed and hidden in the final bead
Now the bracelet is ready to use
Using the band seems awkward at first
Before long each bead becomes familiar and the flow easy
I was concerned I might be tempted to rush through prayers
Or the process make prayer repetitive
That has not been the case
If time is short, I begin with the God bead
Then move to the bead I feel is most significant for the circumstance…
BUT
I do not omit the silences…
I Allow God
I Give Him time and space
To remind me of His opinion
His encouragement
Listening for Him
Hearing Him
Perhaps a Scripture will come to mind
A song to lift my heart
Or settle me in Peace
Then Later
He reveals something in my day
To reassure
He’s with me …
Words and Photographs © Denise Stanford 2010
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Within the Vine 