It's a cold, dark, rainy afternoon , what we call winter in San Diego.
I'm so glad to hear from you that you liked my juzu. Are you an SGI member? There are many active SGI groups in India, I have a friend in Mumbai who is a member.
Here are some recently finished items. 2 more sets of juzu, a necklace with a diachrotic glass disc, 3 beaded Turkish crochet bracelets with button closure. All resting on a grape Alpaca Kiri shawl with burnished gold beads placed in the knitting by the crochet hook method. Size 9 needles.
I made my juzu by making a bead by bead copy of one I have. If you do not have an old one to copy, I will try and explain. There are great pictures at http://www.bodhisattvabeads.com/ I hope I can explain clearly enough. I am not an expert at bead stringing, not an expert of Buddhist juzu bead stringing. I am just a crafty chanter who wanted "self-made" beads and I hope I am getting this right. No one taught me, aI just experimented until I liked the results.
I used the plastic coated metal strand cord so that they will last a long time with vigorous use. I needed 6 crimp beads. Pliers to crimp. I used a tray with channels in it to lay these all out before starting. I recommend that.
The two largest beads at the ends of the loop are the mother and father bead. Pick those out first. It is easiest to make when these are drilled with an extra hole so that there are 3 holes, but it is not essential. You can do it with a bead that is drilled for 2 holes. Pick pretty ones as these show the most. You will also need one medium bead that fits right under the father bead, the wisdom bead.
Tassels: Then you will need 5 large beads to represent the tassels and 4 about the same size to become your benefit jugs. 5 small beads to allow the crimp bead at the end to seat correctly. 10 medium beads to form the counting abacus on the 5th tassel. ( 4 of your tassels have jugs and the fifth one has the counting strand.)
10 medium beads and 1 larger to form the harness for the 2 strand end. The one larger can be replaced by a knot if preferred. 20 very small beads for the string harness at the other end (optional, sometimes omitted).
5 medium beads above each jug (20 total)
32 very small beads to from the strings between the tassels and the jugs ( 4 at 8 each)
Loop: You will need 108 medium beads for the earthly desires and 4 slightly smaller, different ones for the 4 Bodhisattvas. If your beads are too small and your loop is uncomfortably short to hold when chanting you can either switch to a larger bead for the 108 or put 10 very small beads at each end as spacers. (40 total) The ones I showed you on my blog have spacers. You will string 7 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 14 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 33 desires (54 on each side of the loop between the mother and father beads). 108 total classifications of human desire pus the 4 Bodhisattvas form the main loop.
Stringing:
The order of stringing the first side is as follows: start at the end of the tassel, string crimp bead (but do not crimp it now), small bead, through the first tassel bead, 8 very small beads, jug bead, 5 medium beads, 1 larger harness bead (or optionally a knot), 5 medium beads, wisdom bead, father bead, (into the loop now), 10 very small spacers (if you are using spacers) 7 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 14 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 33 desires, 10 very small spacers, mother bead, 10 very small beads (optionally may be done as a space of free string and 2 crimps to hold the place, crimp them later), 5 medium beads, jug bead, 8 very small beads, second tassel bead, small bead, crimp bead. Slip the last crimp bead to the very end of the string and crimp it. Adjust tension along all segments (it needs to be a little loose or you can't hold them comfortably when chanting) and crimp the first crimp bead. Cut the string.
For the other side: start at the end of the tassel, string crimp bead (but do not crimp it now), small bead, through the third tassel bead, 8 very small beads, jug bead, 5 medium beads, through the same larger harness bead on the first side (or optionally a knot), 5 medium beads, the same wisdom bead as on the first side, same father bead, (into the loop now) 10 very small spacers, 7 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 14 desires, 1 smaller Bodhisattva bead, 33 desires, 10 very small spacers, same mother bead, 10 very small beads (optionally may be done as a space of free string and 2 crimps to hold the place, crimp them later), 5 medium beads, 4th jug bead, 8 very small beads, 4th tassel bead, small bead crimp bead. Slip the last crimp bead to the very end of the string and crimp it. Adjust tension along all segments (it needs to be a little loose or you can't hold them comfortably when chanting) and crimp the first crimp bead. Cut the string.
Counting strand: start at the end of the tassel, string crimp bead (but do not crimp it now), small bead, through the fifth tassel bead, 10 medium beads, through a crimp bead, thread around the top of the 4th tassel, under the mother bead. Back through the crimp bead, back through the ten medium counting beads, back through the fifth tassel bead, the small bead and the crimp bead. Adjust tension so that the crimp bead at the base of the mother bead is tight against the main string to hold all in place and the 10 counting beads have enough slack to slide back and forth to count. Crimp both beads when it is right. Cut string.
Make sure all crimps are solid, re-crimping if needed.
Good luck, Preeti. I hope yours some out great.
Julie and Lilo, who is complaining loudly that she hates rain, and will I please make it go away, right now
calm
I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted to make my own beads. Funny that there are not many instructions online for this.
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