Handmade Rose Beads from Fresh Rose Petals

Make your own handmade rose beads from fresh rose petals and preserve the sweet fragrance of summer in this unique fashion. Rose clay is fashioned from freshly harvested rose petals. These softly fragrant beads can be used for any bead project, as long as it won’t encounter soaking water. It takes a bit of time, but the soft rose fragrance is well worth the effort to craft these amazing beads.

Roses are one of my all time favorite herbal flowers. The fragrance is delicate and sweet, and you can grow them in zone three! I also have wild roses nearby, as well as growing apothecary roses. You may be able to source rugosa roses, if you wish to grow strongly scented rose bushes. You can learn more about growing roses in zone three here, and more about apothecary roses here. Since rose beads will be making skin contact, you want to use spray-free roses, though if you have a rose bouquet from a wedding, bridal showers, graduation, or other event, you can preserve the blossoms as beads too. Or, you can press some of the petals for artwork too.

Traditionally, the rose petals are simmered for multiple hours in a cast iron pot. This gives the petals a dark black appearance. If you wish to retain the color of the rose petals, use dark red or pink roses and a stainless steel or non-reactive pan for heating the petals. You can grind the petals by hand with a mortar and pestle, or use a blender to create a smooth clay. Either method works, and it depends on how smooth you want the beads.

Making Rose Clay Beads:

Harvest fresh rose petals, if available, for the best scent. Pick roses after the dew dries, but before the heat of the day hits. This keeps as much of the volatile oils with the roses as possible. This is the same time to harvest roses for rose medicine, infused honey, or mead.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rose petals, or roses from 1 full bouquet
• 1.5 cups distilled water (tap water can affect how true the rose scent is)
• 1 stainless steel pot
• a blender
• long pins (like old fashioned hat pins but florist pins or florist wire or thin, long nails)
• a foam block

Directions:

After harvesting your roses, remove the petals from the calyx and stamens. Just keep the clean, plain, rose petals. Measure two cups, semi-packed, rose petals or just use however many rose petals you have.

Add 1 cup to 1.5 cups of distilled water to your stainless steel pan. If you want black rose beads you can use a traditional cast iron pan.

For a quicker process, you can cut or tear your rose petals into smaller pieces. In general, wild roses have very fine petals and tea roses have very thick petals, while rugosa and apothecary roses are in-between. For tea-roses, or your other normal bouquet rose, cutting the petals into strips will speed up the process. For apothecary and wild roses, it won’t make too much difference.

Bring the rose petals and water up to a low simmer. Stirring frequently, keep the pan covered to preserve the aromatic oils and help them remain trapped in the rose petals. When the petals are translucent, remove from heat and let the pan of petals cool.

Once cool enough to handle, transfer the rose slush into your blender and blend to a smooth slurry.

Once the roses are blended to a smooth slurry, transfer the rose petal slurry back to the pan.

Turn the burner on a low heat, and slowly bring the petals back to a simmer. Stir regularly to prevent scorching. You can simmer the petals uncovered to reduce water content which is the traditional method, and the best method for beads made from scent-less roses, or you can catch rose water.

To catch the rosewater and keep the most benefit from your aromatic roses, place a small heat proof container in the center of the pan with the rose slurry around it and invert the lid of the pan so that the handle or highest point points down into the inner container. Place an ice-block on top of the lid, on the outside, to help with condensation. The rose water that evaporates, along with any volatile oils that would evaporate, will be caught by the lid, condensed by the ice, and dropped into the inner container. Still stir the slurry as it cooks, to prevent sticking and burning. Stir about every 15 minutes, and keep in on a lower heat than you’d use for open evaporation.

Once the rose slurry thickens to a paste consistency, or a bit denser, you can reduce the heat to low, to get the clay a bit dryer. Or you can take it off the heat and let cool once no more rose water seems to be collecting. Pour rose water into a small mister or atomizer and store in your fridge for later use. If using tea roses, like our normal rose bouquets, you can add rose essential oil or rose geranium essential oil at this point to add a rose fragrance to the clay. Just keep in mind that real rose essential oil, also known as rose absolute, is expensive.

Once your rose clay seems to be the correct consistency, begin forming beads. Rose beads will reduce by half during the drying process, so make the beads 1/3rd to 1/2 larger than you want them to be once dry. Form the beads by hand, or on a clean, dry, surface, and then stick them on nails, or pins, to dry.

To help with the drying, move the beads on the pins or nails about once every 12 hours to prevent the beads from sticking. Once the beads seem dry to the touch on the outside, remove them from the pins or nails, and let dry another 2-3 days, so that the moisture still trapped in the center of the rose clay can evaporate.

Congratulations! You’ve made rose petal clay beads. You can now use them in any jewelry project you’d like. Just keep in mind that rose beads cannot handle water, so do not wear your rose jewelry to the water park! They can handle a little bit of damp, like getting rained on for a short time-frame, but not soaking. If they soak in water they will disintegrate. if your beads get wet from rain, leave them in a well ventilated area to dry.

Building Jewelry with Rose Beads:

If you’re planning on making jewelry with your rose beads, plan to take a few of the finished beads to the store with you. This helps you compare the color of the beads with the options available for pairing, and will help you make good color choices. Personally, I like glass style faceted beads or pearl style beads with rose beads. There are necklace kits available with glass beads, which can look good when paired with homemade rose beads too.

While you can protect your rose beads from weathering and water, by sealing them, this will also prevent the aroma from releasing from the beads too. If you’re using tea roses, with no scent, and didn’t add scent, then preserving the beads long term for memories, with a coat of modge podge or similar, can make sense. If you’re using apothecary roses, wild roses, or any scented roses and/or added rose essential oil or rose geranium essential oil, then you want the beads to remain open to release their smell as they are worn.

Originally, rose beads were a way to carry rose perfume without having to buy expensive perfumes. It was economical to preserve one’s own roses, from one’s garden, for scent into the next year (or several) by making the rose beads. They were also used as prayer beads, with the belief that the scent of the roses, as it was released, would be like incense.

Back to You:

What’s your favorite use of roses, or other aromatic herbal flowers? Have you tried aromatic flower beads with flowers other than roses? Leave a comment!