Prayer bracelet

Okay, so I am no photographer, but this is my newest crafty project.  The idea has been floating around in my head since a friend at church became ill with cancer.  The church printed up a bunch of those rubber bracelets and handed them out for everyone to wear as a reminder to pray for him.  One side said pray for ______ and the other side had a line from a song.  We wear them with the pray for side out until his cancer is gone and then we turn it over and the line (41 what a beautiful day - a reminder that even though we went through the trial -think 40 days in the desert- we will come out the other side and that it will be wonderful!)  will show reminding us to thank God for what He has done.


That got me thinking about the other people in my life that I want to pray for.  My husband, my kids, friends etc.  I love the idea of a bracelet because I can keep it with me.  Also, when it aggravates me it reminds me of the people and I say a prayer for them.  So this was born.

If you want make one also, here is what you will need:

Polymer Clay in you choice of colors, try to personalize this to the person
AMACO Pasta Machine, this is optional and I didn't use it because I used small amounts of the clay but if your clay is especially hard it will help to soften it for you
AMACO Tri-Bead Roller to roll the beads, or you can roll them in your hands.  The bead roller just makes them uniform
Alphabet Stamps this is optional but if you want to personalize each bead with initials I really recommend using stamps!
jewelry pliers
Eye pins I used a gunmetal color but you can use the color of your choice or make your own eye pins
a clasp for your bracelet
some extra jump rings just in case
piece of cardstock or recycle a cereal box
fine grit sand paper



First condition your clay by either rolling it through the pasta machine 10-15 times or simply squish it in your hand until it softens.  The Tri-bead roller comes with a tool to measure the amount of clay to use so measure your clay or simply eyeball it. Roll out your beads using a single color or mix the colors up.  Then slide your bead onto one of your eye pins being very careful to center the hole on both ends.  Now you can use your alphabet stamp to impress initials into each bead if you want to.

Take your cardstock or the front of a cereal box and fold it accordion style to get two mountain folds and one valley fold.  Place your beads on it like this:

I made a few extra solid black beads in case the bracelet wasn't big enough.  I also made one bead in a rock like color (the grey one looks like granite with the inclusions) and in a different shape than all of the others.  I wanted one to represent God to put in the middle of my bracelet to remind me that He is my rock and that He should be at the center of it all.  Once you have made all of your beads, bake them according to manufacturer's instructions.  I baked mine at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.  Allow them to cool completely.

At this point you can sand off any imperfections.  If desired you can also add a coat of polymer clay glaze to give them a shine.  Slide your bead to the eye side of the pin, trim the pin and create another loop so that there is now a loop on each side of your bead.  Connect the beads using the loops.  Attach your clasp and you are done. 

If you decide to make one I would love to see it!  You can share it on the Sunflowers at Home Flickr group


Until next time,


PS:  The line "41...what a beautiful day" is from this song by the Turn Around, a local band