Comments on: Rose Petal Beads

By: Laura Love

Laura Love — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:06:53 +0000

Hi;
I’ve been making rose petal beads for 3 years now. I am still finding new things to add to the technique. I like that you dry the paste and rehydrate it later. If you want, please go to my website and have a look. It’s a wetpaint website so you can join and add content if you like.

Thanks

Laura

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:21:39 +0000

Rose–I bet that was the best-smelling factory possible. Hope you like your beads!

By: Rose from FineCraftGuild dot com

Rose from FineCraftGuild dot com — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:37:21 +0000

Now THIS is very interesting.

I went to Fragonard, the French perfume maker, in the South of France, and it was mind boggling how many rose pedals were needed for an ounce of perfume… It seems you’re getting more yield out of yours.

I want to research this some more, and then try this also, as… well, I love roses.

By: CB

CB — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:45:04 +0000

A few rusty nails will do the job too (of turning the rose mash black).

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:48:23 +0000

Oh, very nice method, Alice. I wonder if my mother knows where her old grinder is . . .

By: Alice

Alice — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:37:40 +0000

I have made rose beads but used a different method. I ground the rose petals up using a hand grinder. I added water to get a clay consistancy. I then put them in a cast iron pan and allowed them to sit, stirring occasionaly. When they turned black I molded the beads. I sat them outside but out of the sun to dry. You have to turn them once in a while to dry evenly.
Make the holes large for stringing, they shrink as they dry.
To get them the same size just use some measuring device. A teaspoon or some thing that makes them the size you want.

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:20:16 +0000

Shay–I guess this is one of those ideas that has and will keep going. I want to make more soon.

By: Shay

Shay — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:20:23 +0000

I have a couple of vintage magazines (pre-WWI) that have articles on how to make rose petal beads. It’s so nice to see that someone has actually re-created these.

By: Tomato Lady

Tomato Lady — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:38:41 +0000

Cathy–I’m very glad to have information from someone who has seen this done by the experts. Thank you for the inside scoop!

By: Cathy Champion

Cathy Champion — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:15:13 +0000

I studied at a monastery where the nuns made rosaries from rose petals. This is what I learned:

If you use flower petals from a florist they won’t smell as nice (if at all) as they are grown for looks and and not the aroma, so add some good quality rose oil to your mixture when you form the beads.

You can add red food coloring (the paste kind, not the liquid) to the mixture, or dry tempera paint (powder) to alter the color also, but do a little at a time or they will look artificial.

The larger the bead, the longer it takes to dry but it’s more durable. Small beads are very fragile.

Silk cord is nice to string them on; knot the cord after each bead like they do fine pearl necklaces so they don’t rub against each other. Also, the knots keep the beads from sliding off if your strand should break.

I hope this helps!