How To Make Beads?

How do you make ROSE Petal Beads?

• I would like to make the beads made from cooking down rose (flower) petals but would like them to retain a color somewhat close to what they were originally. I have already cooked some petals down over a period of 3 days in an enamel (white inside) pot as I read if you use a cast iron one the pulp will take on a black hue from the iron in the pan. The petals were originally from red roses finely chopped. I have also ran the cooked down petals in the food processor to make them very fine. After cooking them down until a pulp like clay was formed, I strained through a sieve and rolled into tight beads about twice the size of what I want the finished product to look like. My beads are now the color of light chocolate milk. I should add that the rose water was a deep dark red color. I have seen sites advertising their services in bead making and the beads retain the color or something close to the original color. I am sure they will not be willing to reveal their "secret". Does anyone know how to do this correctly to keep the pulp from changing colors so drastically? Thank you so much!!

• Answer:

  This method is one that works for me. Harvest and Simmer: You can use dried petals and even frozen petals but may need to supplement the scent. Frozen petals work extremely well, texture-wise, as the freezing process helps to break down the cell walls. After you've cleaned all the foreign material from you rose petals, it's time to simmer them up. Place rose petals in a pot (enamel, steel or cast iron), cover with water and bring to a simmer until the rose petals are completely wilted. Allow to cool. Blending: When your pulp is cool enough to handle, pour into a blender and blend away on the highest power. This will pulverise the softened rose petals You can simmer and blend, simmer and blend as much as you want until you get a fine-textured pulp. The finer the texture, the smoother your beads will be. The smoother the beads, the more durable they will be and less likely to crumble. Simmering: Simmering will help break down the cellulose of the cell walls, thus making the roses a soft, pulpy mass, ideal for shaping into beads. The method used here is one of the "Wet pot pourri" methods, only we eliminate the fermentation by bacteria and use heat instead of salt to extract liquid. Also, this method only takes a few days instead of a few weeks. Method 1--The Pot: Place your rose pulp in a pot. Use enamel, steel or cast iron. Cast iron is best if you wish a dark, almost black colour to your beads. Do NOT use aluminium, as the acid from the roses will react with the aluminium. Add enough water to cover the pulp and simmer slowly on the stove. Do not boil or you will evaporate the rose oils too much and reduce the lovely scent. Traditional recipes say simmer straight for three days, but this may be impractical. I've simmered my roses for half an hour twice a day for the three days and have had success. If you choose the occasional simmer method, be sure to simmer your roses at least twice a day. Not only will it help age the roses, but prevent mold from growing. Add water whenever the water evaporates too much. You don't want your rose pulp to dry out at this point. I've used a cast-iron frying pan. First Day: The petals are a lovely soft pink colour. This is just after the initial simmer and blend. Second Day: The petals have darkened to a wine colour. Third Day: Practically black, and ready to be made into beads. Method 2--Microwave: Place your rose pulp in small containers. Do your pulp in small batches, or it will heat unevenly. Cover with water and nuke for a two minutes ( adjust time according to your microwave strength ). Nuke three times a day for a week. If you forget to nuke on schedule, nuke the first time you remember. If you let a day go buy without nuking, you risk growing mold. The radiation from the microwave kills any spores that happen to land on your rose pulp. If you find your rose petals growing mold, it won't ruin the batch. Scoop out the mold spot and nuke. Scenting: If you made a mistake and boiled your roses too much or originally chose roses with little scent, you can supplement the scent with rose oil. Rose oil can be added to the pulp now for a longer lasting effect, or can be applied to the dried beads for a finishing touch. Make Beads: On your final simmer, let mass simmer down until it becomes thick and gloopy. Turn off the heat and let this mass sit and cool down, preferably overnight. Once you've achieved a clay-like texture, it's time to roll your beads. Pinch off a bit of the rose mass and roll into round, even-sized beads. Set your beads in a cool, dry place out of the sun and let them dry slowly. If they dry too fast, they won't shrink and compact, and will be more susceptible to crumbling. Slow drying yields a harder bead. Holes: If you have a jeweller's drill you can drill holes after the beads are dry. If you don't, you'll have to poke holes through before the bead finishes drying. Beads accept holes after the surface has had a chance to dry and harden some what. If you try to poke holes through while the bead is still wet you'll find your bead will fall apart. If you wait until the bead is completely dry, it may be too hard. I find that between one and three days' drying, depending on size of bead (3-5mm, one day. 10+, day 2,3) is ideal for poking holes. A large needle with quadruple-thick thread works well. After the beads have had a day or so to dry string the beads on the thread giving each bead room for drying. Allow beads to finish drying on the thread, sliding them up and down the thread to keep them from drying to the thread. If your beads are large enough, you can thread them onto bamboo skewers or large hat pins. If your beads are tiny, you may want to thread them onto dressmakers pins and let them dry there. Roll your beads regularly to keep them from sticking to the skewers. If you wish to use your beads with jeweler's pins, you can thread them on the jeweller's pins to dry.