Making a Mini Mala
Finished Mini Mala
I’m a big believer in mediation although I’m not very good at it. I still have challenges stilling my mind which isn’t surprising because it’s going a million miles a minute thinking about new art projects, refining my business plan and figuring out social media. I continue to try though and every now and then I’m successful at it. The thing I use to help me mediate is a mala and I have them strategically placed in rooms throughout our house. I also have a few malas that I wear both in bracelet and necklace form as you never know when you might need a moment to mediate when you are out in the world.
My ideas for malas come from several sources. One Christmas I bought Andy a mala bracelet that had three wooden beads on it. It also came with a little bottle of Lavender oil which you sprinkled on the wooden beads which absorb the oil. This was a brilliant idea as the smell of lavender helps promote a sense of calm. After studying his bracelet, I bought some wooden beads of my own and reconfigured my aquamarine mala bracelet so that I could add the essential oils aspect to my bracelet.
The latest mala necklace I made is my mini mala. I call it the mini because instead of using the traditional size beads to make it I had the idea of using 6 mm beads which are much tinier and create a shorter mala which is a perfect size for me as I’m only 5’1”. What inspired me for this mala was a necklace I saw worn by the creative director of deVol Kitchens (Helen I think her name is). I was watching the latest episode on kitchen design and noticed it on her. I’ve since come to discover what I was seeing was a rosary and not a mala, but it was the inspiration all the same. In a way, my mini mala kind of looks like a rosary minus the cross and the specific spacing of the beads.
I picked up the beads at the Gem and Rock show here in Denver in September. They are round Pink Opal Matt beads. I purchased several strands as they were 70% off and I wasn’t sure how many were on a strand, but I knew I needed 108 to make a traditional mala so better to have too many beads than not enough! After that I reached out to my mala instructor from Wishflowers (I’ve taken several mala making workshops from her over the years) and she advised me on the thread weight (Lon Cord size 18 twisted nylon) which I bought online from Amazon. Then I headed over to Hobby Lobby to pick up the embroidery thread that you use to make the tassel. I already had a guru bead left over from another mala bracelet I’d made earlier in the spring. I also had the .012in wire you use to make the needle, the wire cutters and needle nose plyers. I had Andy pick me up some super glue. While I was assembling all my supplies, I was also researching you tube videos to refresh my memory on how to make the mala. I’ve included links for the three I found the most useful below:
to make a mala you first need about 10 feet of thread, yes 10 feet trust me, I thought that sounded like a lot but when I questioned it, I ended up running out of thread and had to add more (the second or third link is on how to add thread if you run out!). The reason you need so much thread is that you double it so it is 5 feet and then the knots you make between each bead, remember there are 108 beads, continue to decrease the size of the thread. Once you have your 10 feet of thread you put the two ends together, thus dividing the thread in half. About eight inches from the end(s) you tie a knot, and this knot then become your first knot of the series. Next you take your .012 wire and cut a two inch piece (thereabouts) of which you bend in half and now you have your needle. Next you place your needle at the halfway point of your thread and begin to add your beads, 108 in total. In the videos they add one bead at a time but that seemed insanely tedious, so I decided to add them all on at once. While you are adding your beads you can set an intention for yourself, for example to live a joyful and balanced life. Once all your beads are threaded you can remove your needle. The next step is then to move your first bead down to your first knot and then make a new knot tightly against the bead. To make the knot I wrap the thread around two or three figures and then pull the shortest side through and work the knot loosely down to as close to the bead as I can, then I separate the two threads and pull them in opposite directions which further moves the knot down and makes it tight so now you have a bead that is secure between two knots. You continue this process until you’ve knotted all 108 of your beads.
The next step is to add the Guru bead. For this you use your needle to thread the Guru bead onto the strand of knotted beads, then you thread the two loose ends (where your first knot was made) through the Guru bead as well. Then you cut the thread that still had the loop in it so now you should have four pieces of the Lon Cord thread coming out of your Guru bead. You then divide those into two and double knot them, so your Guru bead is now secure.
The next and final step is to add the tassel. For this you take your embroidery thread and take the wrappers off it. Pull one end of the embroidery thread out so it is a little longer than the rest. Separate the Lon Cord thread that you just used to knot your Guru bead in place and lay the embroidery thread bundle (for lack of a better word) across the divided thread so that double thread is located in the middle of the embroidery thread bundle. Take the two sets of Lon Cord and again double knot them around the center of the embroidery thread. For extra security put a small dab of super glue on this knot. Next fold the embroidery thread over the knot so that it is hidden (you can clip any extra Lon Cord at this point). The next step in completing your tassel is to take the longer end of the embroidery thread and loop it around the bundle about a quarter inch from the top. The videos say to loop it around six times but for some reason I was remembering something like 11- 13 times from my workshops so do what is most comfortable for you. Once you’ve finished looping it around you again want to wrap the end around two of your figures and then under the last loop so that you can secure the tassel with a soft unobtrusive knot. The last thing you need to do is clip the ends of your tassel (better to make a longer tassel than a short one so clip near the very ends of the thread bundle, and Voila you have yourself a mini mala! The process of making a mala is very mediative and a wonderful way to spend a relaxing afternoon. Enjoy!
Mini Mala in Progress
