Making beeded rosaries with a needle and twine

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BillTheSlink

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I have a question that maybe someone here knows the answer to. I am getting back into mission rosary making and want to do it the fastest way and also minimize wear and tear on my hands. I always made beaded rosaries that you used knots at the Our Father bead and center piece, but was going to do it the way a guy at my former parish who churned them out in the thousands per month did. He would quickly lay out all beads and spacers on a bead board and run a #16 needle with #7 twine through them to form the five decades and attach them to a centerpiece. Then he would take the needle with a fresh piece of twine and thread up the “tail” and somehow he made a very simple knot at the crucifix that you could even get undone. It was simply something like a slip knot. That knot at the crucifix is what I don’t know how to do. Can anyone explain or point me somewhere where this is explained? The way I was doing it before took a long time compared to him and required no real tying.

I have Google: “Making Rosaries with a Needle”, “Make Rosaries without Knots”, “Make a Rosary with Spacers” to no avail. I really want to pick up this technique. It is really, really fast. Unfortunately, the fellow was elderly when he told me about this years ago. I haven’t seen him in some time, plus I only visit that parish now from time to time.
 
Actually, I remembered he did one and gave it to my grandmother and i found it and figured out how to do it. Very simple really. He strings the part above the “center piece” (which is actually a barrel knot) the way I described with the needle, string, beads, and spacers. At the barrel knot that serves as the center piece he cuts off the tag end of the short string leaving the string tail to put the first decade’s Our Father, the the Hail Mary beads, and the introductory Our Father which would be after the crucifix. What’s unusual is the attachment of the crucifix, which he divides into two steps so he can finish in assembly line manner. After he slides on the introductory Our Father bead he drops down about three inches and forms a loop which he secures at the crucifix side of the Our Father bead with a barrel knot. This leaves an almost complete rosary that has a three inch open loop where the crucifix will attach. At this point it is set aside until the rest of the run is complete.

When he gets ready to attach all the crucifixes, he takes each one and pokes the loop through the hole in the crucifix and pushes the crucifix up to the barrel knot on the Our Father bead. Then he takes the center of the rosary and feeds the rosary through the lope which forms a loop which slip fits on the crucifix. It’s difficult to explain, but if you try it you will understand it. Done correctly the crucifix will hang from the rosary about three-four inches below the first Our Father bead and you can reverse the process and remove the crucifix again. Once I figured it out I was able to whip up a couple in about 4 min each. That sure beats 11 barrel knots and the ever so tricky attachment of the crucifix because you have to tie in reverse the traditional way. I just ordered enough supplies from Our Lady’s Rosary Makers to do two hundred. I just need to wait on my supplies and new bead board. The fellow told me the bead board makes a world of difference, and judging by what I saw tonight I bet it would.

If anyone ever sees this and needs to see one to understand, shoot me a PM and I will mail you one so you can see the attachment of the crucifix. It really cuts down on the work time to use this attachment method and the needle and spacers. Like I said I never tried it this way before and had no board yet I don’t think I spent four minutes on each one.
 
God Bless You, and the patient efforts you are making in a most wonderful project.
 
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