Job's Tears

I used to make rosaries from these, but my supplier no longer supplies. I think that there is someone on my rosary group who has a supplier...I'll ask her.

She suggested trying here...because her rosaries are comprised mainly of Job's Tears, she now cultivates her own.

I have a couple of small clumps of Job's Tears outside-- the seeds are NOT easy to poke through-- it's the outside "shell" that is difficult, don't know about the center.

It's sold via some Japanese markets-- health food type ones that have "macrobiotic" products. "Dai mugi" is the Japanese name (giant barley). Kaytee "Simplexities" on

There was an article on Job's Tears in the April issue of Wire Artist Jeweler by a lady who uses them to make rosaries. There is actually a hole in the center naturally because the seeds grow with a stalk running through them. Apparently the seeds are difficult to find for sale and it may take a couple of seasons to be able to harvest a sufficient amount of seeds from the plants if you grow them yourself. I know that's not really any help but I thought you might be interested in the info.

Tanya

OOPS! Hit Send and then found this for you:

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 21:51:41 -0500, Magik wrote (in message ):

Sadly, I cannot grow them myself, as they are not native to New England. At least, I can't find anyone here who has ever heard of them. (I would never, ever introduce a non-native plant or animal to someplace new. Think Kudzu. or Rats.)

Kathy N-V

HAW HAW HAW HAW I found the strange auction of which you speak. "Hello thank you for calling Spiritual Shack this is Debi speaking may I take your order please?"

Also, I have a Little Bit 'O Everything (tm) in my heritage, and though they may well be Wiccan, the ritual they refer to using these for is good old-fashioned mojo. Wicca is Euro; Vodoun is afro-New world.

-Kalera

These are pretty popular for making rosaries; they supposedly take on a nice glowing finish from the oils of your hands. And Mother Teresa of Calcutta used this type of rosary, I recall.

One of the suppliers I use for my rosaries carries them by the strand. I think they go out of stock pretty fast.

Send me an email and I will put you in touch with my wife who uses these all of the time. They are also called "Corn beads" by the Cherokee Indians. The ones the she grows have a center that is easy to pull out leaving a clean hole for bead cord. She will be more than happy to send you some to plant. It doesn't take very many plants to make a ton of beeds. She started with 6 seeds the first year and we had over a gallon of beads.

Dave

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 10:44:07 -0400, annsatic wrote (in message ):

Thank you very much for the offer, but I bought a whole bunch of seeds, all ready to string. I've researched, and Job's Tears won't grow in my climate - I'm less than a mile from the ocean, and the plant is intolerant of salt breezes.

No wonder I'd never seen or heard of them around here. I suspect it's that our microclimate is too cold. All the references to the plants say that they grow well near corn. Corn is an iffy plant at best in our area: our springs come very late, and fall can come quite early. I suspect that corn is Right Out this year - it's April, and I brushed snow off my car this morning!

I'm soooo sick of winter!

Kathy N-V

Kathy, I'm glad you found a source. Coincidentally (sort of), I recently borrowed a book from the library, "Jewelry from nature: 45 great projects using sticks & stones, seeds & bones." Author is Cathy Yow, and call number is 745.5942 Y89j. (Lark Books, (c)1998)

A very informative book (what's poisonous; how to drill objects of different hardnesses) with beautiful projects. She does list sources in the back of the book, but since I didn't think I'd be doing anything creative very soon, I never made note of them. I *do* remember a project utilizing Job's Tears.

I recommend the book for inspirational purposes. 8^D

All the best, Turtlelover