Fit to Print Book Review - Bead One, Pray Too

Bead One, Pray Too
A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads
Written by Kimberly Winston

Before I read this book, beads had meaning to me. I make my living from beads, they are all encompassing in my house and daily life. But I had rarely attributed any personal or spiritual meaning to beads and more importantly to my jewelry. When I create jewelry it's often for the visual impact alone. One thing I did take away from this book is looking at beads as symbols to remind me of important lessons I've learned along the way or ones I need daily reminding of! Even with my inspiration from nature, I would design from the physical/visual connection. After reading Bead One, Pray too, that inspiration is a way for me to connect to my faith and creation. Books like this are rare. Bringing meaning to your creativity is a powerful and fulfilling way to approach the bead table.

"Feel free to experiment with the beading techniques described here to create your own unique set of prayer beads on which you pray any prayers in any way you like. Select beads that say something about your own spiritual quest. The choice is yours and the possibilities, like faith, are endless." -Kimberley Wilson

Whether you are of a particular religious belief or not, I think that quote sums up the tone of this book. It's informational, historical, helpful, but never preachy. Something you may be concerned about since rosaries are the main focus of Bead One, Pray Too.

Covered topics include the history of praying with beads, traditional rosaries and how to pray with beads. That includes traditional prayers, praying with songs or poems or doing your own thing, as the quote suggested. I loved the chapter on choosing beads and adding meaning to your jewelry through the thought process of what beads can symbolize. The book covers traditional and non-traditional rosary construction. There is a wonderful chapter on giving rosaries and the book ends with resources for beading and praying to help you further your journey.

The how-to part of the book is basic and meant as a guideline. I would love to see a companion book with more how-to projects and examples of the different types of prayers beads that can be created.

One of the most appealing parts of the book is that prayer beads can be created using your favorite art beads as the start of the rosaries and for the larger beads used in the construction. I have two examples on my blog today.

You can read more about prayer beads on Kimberly's blog.