April is still a little too early for roses but soon these fragrant blooms will abound in gardens. But rose enthusiasts in warmer climates will definitely have access to them now! 

This rose petal making tutorial from @motherearthnewsmag - a great channel on all things rural and naturally sustainable living -  is full of tips on how to collect and crush up real rose petals to make beads. 

Rose petals dried from the previous season can also be reconstituted with a little water before grinding them up.  The instructor, Caitlyn Wilson, shares when it is the best time to collect the roses for maximum fragrance, how you can use a mortar and pestle or even a blender if you have a lot of roses and how to make them into beads. 

The rose petals do oxidize into a dark shade and the beads also shrink when fully dried. She shaped round balls of the petal pulp by hand but you could try weighing the balls to get even beads. Maybe use some bead making tools from the polymer clay world. 

The rose fragrance will fade with time so you can always add some rose essential oils to pep them up.


But the above tutorial does not include a binder. Watch this tutorial from @AstarsPlace which gives you the formula for processing a large batch of rose petals using a blender and the amount of gum arabic to add to the pulp as a stabilizer. Gum arabic is a natural tree gum which has been in use for hundreds of years. She adds a rusty nail to encourage black bead formation but you can always skip this. 


You are also not limited to just rose petals. Watch this quick tutorial by @KarenHuiCrystals which uses rose petals blended up but mixed with other things including other flowers and ground up fragrant wood : , pinyin rose (Chinese rose?), roselle (a kind of hibiscus), Kalimantan agarwood, Australian sandalwood, frankincense, male lilac, white poria, and camphor with fresh rose juice. 

The ingredients in the video description is quite specific and purports to some health claims which I am definitely not endorsing. But the blend of different fragrances to suit personal preferences is interesting as many perfumes today are also blends from different sources. 


Rose petal beads were traditionally used to make rosaries. However, roses are not the only scented organics used in bead making. 

In North Africa, skhab beads are made from "cloves, saffron, nard and patchouli, mixed with some other liquid ingredients like musk, rose water and benzoin. It can also be mixed with dates or egg white (in Mzab, Algeria) or butter (Djebel Armour, Algeria)." These are used in multi-stranded necklaces.

Skhab Beaded Necklace : unknown maker

Skhab necklaces features in wedding ceremonies. Theses are apparently worn only by married women.

The splendid Skhab necklace of the Ouled Nail, Algeria, shown below is composed of silver and gold elements with amber, cloves, flowers, seeds, spices and stone paste shaped into little pyramids.  

Picture source

The woman on the left below, is wearing a skhab necklace in this 1930 picture taken in Constantine, Algeria.

Picture source

Osmanthus is a species of flowering shrubs and trees which grow in the Far East. Its name is from the Greek words "osma" meaning smell or fragrance and "anthos" meaning flower. Indeed its sweet smell is likened to that of apricot or peach. It is used to flavour food and drinks to this day. 

Watch this brief video which demonstrates how osmanthus beads are made in China:


Before You Go:


jewelry making supplies

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM