How to Make a Rope Rosary (with Pictures)
- Logan Fude
- Apr 6, 2023
- 5 min read
I love a good metal and bead rosary – they are beautiful, and I honestly love the jingling sound that they make. However, there are times when they aren’t the best option. For instance, if you plan on keeping a rosary in your pocket at all times or throwing one in the bottom of your hiking backpack, a bead rosary can get snagged and pulled apart. A rope rosary on the other hand is basically indestructible, especially if they are made of paracord or micro-cord. Flexible and tough, if they get a little “life” on them, you can through them in the wash, and they don’t tangle easily in your pocket or bag.
Tying rope rosaries makes an excellent activity for a rainy day, and I first encountered them as a girl’s club project when I was eight or nine years old. If your younger sibling is old enough to mimic your knot tying, they can definitely partake in this activity!
DISCLAIMER: the rosaries in this tutorial do not feature a break-a-way strap or other kind of safety device. Strangulation is possible, so please supervise young children and never place the rosary around your neck.
1) Pick a Type of Cord
Depending on whether you want a small pocket rosary, prefer something with larger knots, or are planning on making a wall rosary, you will need a different kind of cord. Braided (not twisted) type cords work best. The smaller the cord, the smaller the knots, the shorter the rosary (unless you leave large spaces between the “beads”). For reference, standard paracord makes a “normal” sized rosary.
2) Cut a 20 Foot Piece
This is a general guideline for standard paracord. Smaller cord will need slightly less, or you can increase the space between the knots, depending on your preference. Note: a wall rosary made from 3/8-inch rope requires significantly more length (approximately 50 feet).
My brother has made dozens of cord rosaries over the years and says that in all likelihood, you will not need all 20 feet of cord. For micro-cord, he uses an approximately 18-foot piece and usually has around six feet left over as scrap. I asked him if he considered cutting down on length, and his response was that he probably could; however, it would really stink to put in the work of tying all those knots and come up six inches short. Better to have some left over!
A Quick Overview
A quick overview: the tying process starts with the first decade (not the cross). When all the decades and Our Father knots are tied, the center is tied, then the starting prayers, and lastly the cross.
3) Start Tying Knots!
I encourage you to play around a bit with the first few knots (or a piece of scrap). You want to get an idea of how far apart you want your Hail Mary knots spaced from each other and from the Our Father knot.
A quick tip—I often pray the rosary at night in low light, while I am driving, hiking, reading a meditation aid, or praying with my eyes closed. The thing that all of these have in common is that I am not looking at my rosary. Therefore, I highly recommend keeping the Hail Mary knots fairly close together, then leaving a large space before the Our Father (big enough that you don’t have to guess which prayer is next!). In addition, I recommend adding an additional wrap to your Our Father barrel knot (called a triple barrel) to make a longer “bead” (see the rosary image below).
With the exception of the center knot, all of the Hail Mary and Our Father knots are barrel knots tied like this (add the extra wrap to step 3 for a triple barrel):
You will need to tie 54 knots—5 sets of 10 knots with a Our Father knot in between each decade. When you are done, it should look something like this:
4) Tie the Center Knot
This knot can be a little tricky. If you are doing this as a project with young children, you may need to do this portion for them. The center is called a “lanyard” or “diamond” knot. It is done this way:
When you are done, trim one of your cord tails off and melt the end. SAVE THE TRIMMED PIECE! You will need it for the cross if you choose to tie one. Tip: right after melting (while it is still hot), use the flat side of a butter knife to press the melted end flat against the knot for a cleaner look. After trimming, it should look a little like this:
5) Tie the Introduction Knots
For the introduction prayers to the rosary, you will need to tie an Our Father, the three Hail Marys, and another Our Father (wait on this last knot if you are adding a metal cross: see the following step). It should look like this (without the cross):
6) Add a Cross or Crucifix
Now that you have finished the introduction knots you can either:
a) Purchase a metal crucifix and tie it on
OR
b) Tie a cross out of cord
If you choose to purchase a metal crucifix, added it when tying your final Our Father knot. (Add the crucifix to the bottom of the loop in Step 1 of the barrel knot diagram.)
If you choose to make the cross out of cord, begin by tying a triple barrel knot. Then, using the drop piece cut from the diamond knot, tie a friendship knot leaving the two “arms” untrimmed (we will need those in a second). Tie the friendship knot snuggly up against the previous barrel knot so that it looks continuous:
Then tie two triple barrel knots on the bottom, vertical strand of the friendship knot. There shouldn’t be any gaps between the friendship and either of the barrel knots.
The vertical part of the cross is complete! To finish, tie one triple barrel knot on each “arm” of the friendship knot (no gaps). Like this:
To finish the cross, trim and melt the ends of the cord forming the cross members.
7) Have your Rosary Blessed by a Priest
Congratulations! You just made your own rosary! The rosary is an amazing spiritual weapon, and I HIGHLY encourage taking it to your local pastor and asking them to bless it. Making it as a gift? No problem! You can still have it blessed. Please note that if you intend to make and sell rosaries for a profit in a gift shop or as a fundraising item, you should not have them blessed. Rather, encourage the purchaser to have them blessed by a priest. For more information, please see the following links.
Catholic Answers:
Sisters of Carmel:
*A rosary is a “blessed object of devotion” which is a kind of sacramental.
How did your rosary turn out? I would love to see it! Email me your pictures at youngcatholicapostle@gmail.com.
There are lots of amazing ways to use our hands to dive deeper into our catholic faith. Leave a comment below: what kind of tutorial would you like to see next?
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