Saturday, May 29, 2010

Chotki - Jesus Beads

Laude Arts and Gifts
I would like to share a Chotki that I recently listed in my Etsy shop Laude Arts and Gifts.

Chotki is the Greek term given to Jesus beads. Chotki can have as many as 150 beads and as few as 10 beads or almost any number in between. I personally like Chotki that have 33 beads. It is easy to pray the Jesus prayer 100 times, which is the most common form of the prayer, by going around the Chotki 3 times and then adding one more prayer. I also like it because the 33 beads symbolize the 33 years that Jesus was on this earth.

Traditionally, Chotki are strung and I have stayed with tradition by stringing this Chotki. However, I was unhappy with the way my Chotki looked when I constructed it in the usual manner, so I decided to break with tradition and insert a center similar to the centers found in a rosary. I am pleased with this design. I hope you will be too.

This particular Chotki is made from the most amazing beads from Czechoslovakia. They have the image of a crucifix pressed into both sides, then gold enamel is applied to the image to give it definition and presence. The larger decorative beads are handmade bronze Bali beads. The crucifix and center are hand cast bronze.

1 comment:

Spirited Earth said...

this is really beautiful