| I was in my local bead shop the other day and | | | | as a counting mechanism where the person says a |
| browsing through all the new pendendants they had | | | | prayer or thinks about certain things for each bead on |
| gotten in when I saw a woman on the other side of | | | | the string. Prayer beads can be made out of just |
| the table who was piling on pieces like there was no | | | | about any material, including cheaper material like glass |
| tomorrow. Most of them were cross pendants of one | | | | and plastics to more expensive materials like crystal, |
| form or another, most were sterling silver but a few | | | | stone and some unique wood. |
| were made of jade or some other colored stone. I | | | | There are lots of bead jewelry artisans making prayer |
| said hello and we started talking. It turns out she was | | | | beads on the Internet, but not very many are going to |
| teaching a class at the local senior center on how to | | | | craft shows or local artist fairs. This means the market |
| make your own prayer beads just in time for Easter. | | | | is wide open if you're going to try to expand your |
| But then she told me that she normally makes her | | | | jewelry business with prayer beads. |
| own Rosaries and regularly sells them at craft shows | | | | If you're going to make prayer beads then I suggest |
| and church bazaars! | | | | you pick you craft shows carefully, do your homework |
| I came home and started looking into this and it turns | | | | and think carefully about packaging. You'll want to |
| out the the Rosary is just one of many different types | | | | make sure you are creating bead pieces that are |
| of prayer beads one can use in a variety of different | | | | faithful to whatever faith the beads are used by, and |
| faiths and religions. | | | | you might want to go to a local house of worship and |
| In fact, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam many different faiths | | | | show your wares to the people in charge there. Some |
| of Christianity and even some Native American and | | | | churches and other places of worship will even bless |
| African faiths and cultures all use different types of | | | | your items for a nominal donation! |
| prayer beads! And since over 75% of all Americans | | | | Prayer beads in particular often come with sample |
| claim to follow some sort of faith, whether it be an | | | | prayers, instructions on use or even a written history |
| organized church or simply a belief system, it would | | | | of the prayer bead tradition for a particular faith. I |
| only make sense that a lot of people would be | | | | suggest you carefull research this and always include |
| interested in beads which could help them celebrate | | | | something written with each set of prayer beads you |
| their spirituality. | | | | sell. You could even put that information on the back |
| Prayer Bead are not really bead jewelry in the typical | | | | of one of your business cards for repeat business! |
| fashion sense, but rather the beads are usually used | | | | |