FW: Has anyone ever made herbal or floral beads?

[Guest guest]

Both of the below recipes come from Jeanne Rose’s book,

“Herbs and Things”. I refer to it as her psychedelic herb

book because the cover of the one I purchased is a bright

purple with chartreuse pictures. Additionally, it has a lot

of recipes with ingredients that are somewhat “out there”;

not to be found in the modern herbal or grocery store. I

will give you the recipes exactly as it is in her book, and

then below will make a few comments of my own.

 

 

ROSE BEADS:

 

Use them to make beautiful jewelry or rosaries for

grandmothers, or lay them about your clothes.

 

1. Gather roses on a dry day, pull the petals off and chop

them very fine in an iron mortar or iron pot.

 

2. Add a bit of water or rose water, just enough to barely

cover the chopped roses.

 

3. Heat very, very gently for about an hour. DO NOT BOIL.

If you want to do a super perfect job, put the mixture away

for the day and repeat this step for three successive days

adding more water or rose water if necessary. The rich deep

black color is only obtained by oxidation from an iron pot.

It is quite important that you do not boil the mixture but

only heat it gently.

 

4. Oil your fingers with a bit of rose oil and roll small

bits of the rose pulp into balls.

 

5. When the beads have dried, thread a heavy needle with

nylon line, heat the needle, and thread the balls onto the

line.

 

6. It may take a couple of days for the beads to dry

entirely. Slide the beads back and forth on the nylon line

often so as not to lose the holes.

 

 

 

My experience with making roses beads is this: It takes a

HUGE amount of rose petals to make even a small amount of

rose mash. If you add a small amount of flour to the

mixture, it helps to expand the mash and it help to minimize

shrinkage. Shrinkage is a major difficulty in this process.

The beads shrink to at least half the size you originally

make them, if not more. So if you want a bead that is 3/8

of an inch in diameter, you will have to start with a wet

bead of about 3/4 to one inch in diameter. Adding the flour

helps to diminish this shrinkage. It also helps in the

cohesiveness of the mash. Only a small amount of flour

should be used. Once the beads are formed, they must be

turned so that they don’t dry with a flat side. Also, if

you use a very strong nylon fishing line to string the

beads, you probably will not need the needle mentioned in

the recipe. Once the beads have dried just a bit, you can

push the fishing line through the bead, leaving the bead on

the line. It is important to move the beads back and forth

on the line so that they don’t dry stuck to the line. If

you place the beads on a cookie sheet, you can put them in

the oven at a VERY LOW HEAT leaving the oven door OPEN.

This will help the beads dry a bit more quickly. It is also

a method you can use to dry your other gathered herbs. But

the oven door must be left propped open, and I would

recommend a heat no higher than 150 - 200 degrees.

 

 

 

SPICE SCENTED BEADS

 

1. Mix together 3 oz. powdered orris root with 3 oz.

powdered or ground cassia bark, 1 oz powdered or ground

lavender, 1 oz powdered or ground cloves.

 

2. In a separate small bowl, mix together 1/2 tsp oil of

vanilla (not vanilla extract), 1 Tbsp oil of rhodium wood

and 1-15 drops oil of verbena.

 

3. Mix together the solid and liquid ingredients.

 

4. Now add enough mucilage of tragacanth to hold it

together, making a paste. (To make mucilage of tragacanth

take a teaspoon of powdered tragacanth and add water, a bit

at a time until it becomes a nice sticky gooey mess about

the consistency of uncooked egg white.)

 

5. Form this paste into beads or medallions, let dry,

pierce with a bodkin needle and string onto thread. (Move

the beads about on the thread several times a day until the

beads are thoroughly dry.) You can also turn the beads on a

lathe when they are dry. But do not coat them with varnish

or lacquer them as that will hold in the smell. Touching

and handling releases the scent.

 

 

 

Tragacanth can be purchased from a pharmacy; it is the

ingredient that druggists use as the cohesive agent in

pills. If you cannot get rhodium wood oil, you can use an

oil of wood aloes or sandlewood. Cassia is Chinese cinnamon

and if you cannot get it, our regular cinnamon is a good

substitute. This is a much more cohesive mixture and after

a few hours, you can use the fishing line in the same manner

as suggested above. This mixture can be dried in the oven

as well, but again, the low heat with the oven door propped

open is very important. Natural drying in the heat of

summer is actually the best. Vanilla oil can probably be

obtained from a store like Michaels in their candle making

supplies, I think. I have purchased vanilla oil there.

 

 

 

These are a lot of fun, especially done in a group. Enjoy

 

 

 

Rita

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