A chainmaille Holy Rosary.

My rosary beads

Beads - 18-ga 3/16" AA and SS rings, 18ga 7/32" and 5/32" SS rings
Cross - 18 gauge 3/8", 1/4" and 5/32" SS rings

January 2019


I discovered spirituality in late 2016, started worshipping Jesus in mid 2017, and began praying The rosary in late 2018. I wanted to begin praying the rosary for a long time after discovering God, and then in November or December 2018 (lol, I paid cash, I can't even look up when I got it), I bought my first rosaries (two inexpensive plastic ones in case I get the opportunity to give them away as gifts, and a nice bead set). So I prayed with those for my first few rosary prayers, but wanted a wooden set, so it would slide around my neck better when praying (I like to wear them when praying). Goodness, this hit me so hard, I suddenly wanted to accumulate a collection of rosaries, with plans to make multiple different ones of my own. And off the hop, I wanted to make a chainmaille set. Two, really, to start with. One for myself, and one to gift to my church once I pick one (more on that later). I started with love knots connected with essentially linking s-hooks. It was really snaggy though, and liked to not hang smoothly, but I was a bit lost as to other options. Then someone showed me a picture of their chainmaille rosary beads, but made with barrel weave with red rings inside the barrels. It looked so amazing, I ordered 3/16" red rings, once they arrived set to making the rosary beads!

To make the beads a bit more pronounced, I connected the barrels of the barrel weave with 5/32" rings (as well as the spaces). The centerpiece was made with Japanese 12-2 weave using 3/16" and 7/32" rings (the latter used to avoid the inner red rings from looking un-neat due to the aspect ratio), and the cross was made with helm chain in 1/4", doubled 5/32" rings, and 3/8" rings to make the center. It holds the arms of the cross out quite well, with very little sagging (a big problem with chainmaille crosses). The ends of the helm chain were held tight with a small bit of 18ga SS wire coiled into a loop tight enough to tightly bite onto the rings, which helps it keep form.

I'm really happy with how it came out. I wish the beads were a little bit more distinguishable (some mods to come in the future, swapping the 3/16" red rings for 7/32" or 1/4"). I really liked the idea of wearing my rosary beads all the time, but with the purchased beads I was worried they might break. Not worried about that with these ^_^

And yeah, they work. I prayed with them. Also mini Rosary book here ^_^

I would come to later switch to Paganism, but still talk to the J-man regulary, and still wear my Rosary beads to this day. I still preach His goodness and kindness to those who need it, even though I myself and Valhalla-bound. I also preach many others like Zeus, Ganesha, the Feyfolk, and others. See Spiritual wear for more details. 		A chainmaille Rosary with silver chain and red ring beads, laying on a dusky blue surface, spread out and looking elegant.


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