Flower beads

I have two divergent subjects to talk about so I’ll start with the short subject first and then move on to the one with the most pictures.  My daughter writes as well.  Her blog is titled  Majestically Me where she writes about things that are important to her at that time.  This latest subject, Storms, is a piece of writing worth boasting about.  So I’m boasting.  Go, take a look, it is a neat piece of prose.

Dried bead on a needle next to an US quarter for comparison. The original bead before drying was slightly smaller than the coin. The bead shrunk a bit during drying

My daughter and I share a lot of interests without copying each other.    She is more into beads than I am.  I like weaving more than she does.  Our conversations do meet at points because there are bead looms out there where you can weave using beads. She likes old pattern books and I like old cook books.  She was looking through an old beading pattern book and found a recipe for making beads out of rose petals.  My first thought when hearing this was ‘ooh another recipe from years gone by’.  As it happened my climbing rose-bush had just started to burst into bloom so I started gathering rose petals.  Whereupon we both started experimenting with different rose petal bead recipes.

Peonie petals before chopping. Very similar to the rose petals before chopping

Her recipe said chop and lay flat on an iron surface where the rose petals will interact with the iron and turn black.  Do this one time each day for 4 days.    The recipe that I found online said chop and simmer for an hour. Repeat for the  next 4 days.   Notice how both recipes want you to chop, let rest, and then chop again.  The end result is that in four days or so, there will be a clay that might or might not smell like the flower it comes from.  She didn’t cook her rose petals and at last report she still had the smell.  I cooked mine and there is no smell left.  I have not seen her beads but the one that I made shrunk considerably.  I get to see hers this weekend so will find out more.  The one thing I didn’t do for this experiment was to take pictures of the whole process.

Peonie in front hiding the chopper but not the bag of petals behind it.

Alas, my climbing rose-bush has finished flowering for the year and I still want to make beads.  However, a family member had this peonie bush in full bloom.  The petals on the flowers were about ready to fly away.  I got to thinking that peonie petals might be a good bead material as well.  So another experiment is born.

Chopped up petals before air has hit them. They are a nice light brown 24 hours later. I used a small electric blender.

Upon initial start of the project I learned that there is a smell for green.  That is the only way I can describe the smell of chopped up peonie petals.  So far, peonie petals turn a brown when chopped and exposed to air.    Peonie petals have a lot of water and are very thick and smooth.  I hope, as I continue chopping, that they do become a clay.  Meanwhile, every day, I’ll be mixing them a lot to stave off those moldy spores that like wet things.   I am also not going to cook them but let the heat of the day act as a simmer pot.    I can tell this is going to be a neat experiment.  I’m taking pictures this time!