Large Wooden French Rosary

While listening to the much needed rain patter on the rooftop this afternoon,

(after a morning of making a couple dozen pints of dill pickles 

and bread & butter pickles with The Husband)

I played with some beads.

Big beads.

Big wooden beads.

After swooning for many months over the oversize wooden rosaries I've seen on many beautiful blogs,

(I love the natural, rustic, inspiring statement they make in a room)
 

Source:  Simply Me

Source: Rachel Ashwell

and knowing that I would get the hairy eyeball from The Husband 

if I shelled out the $100+ to buy one,

I dove right in and tried my hand at making one.

I thought, 

"Why not?" 

 If it didn't work out, I could just donate the beads to my church's pre-school or something.

After an hour (or two) in Hobby Lobby yesterday,

I filled my basket with these goodies.

Beads with large holes...

beads with small holes...

oblong beads, a little pine plaque, and leather cording.

(Side note: Do you realize that they're putting out Christmas items in stores already?

What in the world....?)

Anyway, I asked The Husband for some help because unbeknown to me,

the beads had a hole on only ONE side.

In my excitement at finding them, I failed to look at both sides in the little bags.

Duh.

But he fixed me up right away with the drill press.

Yes, my friends ~

I used a DRILL PRESS.

Can I get a lady-like grunt here....???

I drilled a hole through each and every bead which took me about an hour.

I'd definitely use that drill press again after getting the hang of it.

It brought back memories of seventh grade shop class.  :)

 The Husband is a retired "shop" (Industrial Arts) instructor, so I had a great mini-refresher course in his work room.

Sheer and utter concentration because I didn't want to drill a hole in my hand!

While I was drilling one little hole after another,

The Husband helped out by cutting out the rustic cross for me.

A little sanding of the edges, and I was ready to rock and roll with this project.

I didn't change the color of the wood.

I liked it's light, natural color.

 

Knot, bead, bead, bead, bead, bead, knot, bead, bead bead, knot...

After a couple hours, my new shabby chic inspired wooden French rosary was completed ~

all for under $25.

~  Blessings ~

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