Handmade with Intention
Custom Handmade Rosaries & Crucifixes
Custom handmade rosaries & crucifixes built from reclaimed piano parts — commissioned with care for the people and moments that matter most. Shipped from Lake Charles, Louisiana straight to your door!
What I Make
Four rosary styles, each made for prayer
Each rosary I make is a little different, shaped by the personality and devotions of the person it's destined for. While I'm working on building an inventory of store-front offerings, custom commissioned pieces are my favorite projects!
Knot & Bead
The style that my encounter with a Franciscan in Rome back in 2013 inspired (see story below). Worked entirely in waxed string or nylon cord with simple wooden or stone beads and medals. These are prayerful to make and durable to use — suited for a pocket or a purse.
Traditional Linked
Classic linked rosaries using chain, jump rings, and beads. These range from simple and restrained to more elaborate pieces incorporating unusual beads, medals, and crucifixes. Here's a recent piece I completed as a Mother's Day commission for an old college friend.
Wire-Wrapped "Unbreakable"
The most labor-intensive style — each bead is individually wire-wrapped and linked to the next, making the rosary uniquely durable. These are heirloom pieces, built to outlast their maker and to be passed on as a gift for a sacramental milestones or a parting gift. This style is what made the "Picking up the Pieces" rosaries possible, encasing shattered glass scattered by Hurricane Laura (story below).
Single Decade Infinity Rosary
A robust, single-decade style that is great for praying one, five, or even fifteen to twenty decades if you're really on a roll. Perfect for pockets and car rides! This is made in the wire-wrapping style and involves the five intro prayer beads as well as eleven beads that you can pray decades one after another by passing through a brass spacer ring. This can be customized with engraving for initials as well as other religious symbols.
Commissioned Pieces
For milestones worth marking.
I don't typically maintain an inventory. Every rosary or crucifix I make is either for personal use or for someone specific — and that's how I prefer it. The commissions I find most meaningful are pieces made for someone in the middle of a significant moment: a confirmation, a reception into the Church, a wedding, a silver or golden anniversary of faith, or a loss that calls for something beautiful and lasting to hold onto.
If you have someone in your life approaching one of those moments, I'd love to chat. We work together to pick the beads, the tone of metal, the center & crucifix, and any other medals you'd like to add.
Because these are made to order, lead time varies. Reach out as far ahead of a deadline as possible if you have one, and we can almost always make something work. I can work in a pinch if needed!
Start a Conversation FAQs about the processIdeal occasions for a commissioned piece
- Confirmation
- OCIA
- First Communion
- Ordination or religious profession
- Wedding anniversary milestones
- A loved one facing illness or loss
- A pilgrimage or significant retreat
Crucifixes fashioned from salvaged piano keys and hardware are also available — each one unique, and each one a little reminder that beauty can be reclaimed from what was broken. An example crucifix is shown at the top of this page.
“To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and His mother.” - St. Pope John Paul the Great
The Stories Behind the Craft
Two moments shaped how I make these — a gift in Rome, and a storm at home.
Rome, 2013 — the friar's rosary (which I unfortunately lost) alongside one of my own rope rosaries
Where It Began
A Wednesday Audience, a Florentine Family, and a Friar's Gift
In 2013, I was in Rome waiting for a Wednesday General Audience with Pope Francis just a few months into his pontificate. I had been making rope rosaries to pass the time waiting and baking away in St. Peter's Square. While waiting in the crowd, I fell into conversation with an Italian family from Florence sitting nearby, and over the course of that morning I ended up giving several of these rosaries away.
We all enjoyed the audience together, I had a very moving conversion moment, it was a wonderful day by that point. As we all went our way, the Franciscan friar traveling with the family reached into his pocket and gave me one of his own pocket rosaries in return. It was a small, simple one, made of olive wood beads and barrel-knotted cord.
That rosary stayed with me for years, through a faith journey that eventually led me into full communion with the Catholic Church. When I was received, it was already part of the story. It became the model I kept returning to when I made rope rosaries: the proportions, the simplicity, the feel of something worn and prayed with. That friar's gift was the seed of me later learning how to make more intricate, beautiful rosaries. I still pray with my simple one usually.
A rosary made by hand carries something that a manufactured one cannot — the prayers that were said during its making, and the person in mind while the knots were tied.
Picking Up the Pieces
Hurricane Laura & the Capital One Building
When Hurricane Laura devastated Lake Charles in August 2020, it left the skyline visibly wounded — and none more so than the Capital One Tower, whose glass facade was shattered across blocks of downtown. Out of that wreckage, a community of artists in Lake Charles came together for a project called Picking Up the Pieces.
The idea was simple and profound: local artists and craftspeople would use fragments of that shattered glass — glass that was instantly recognizable to everyone in Lake Charles as part of their own skyline — to create handmade gifts. Those gifts were sold to raise funds for residents who were less fortunate, particularly the elderly, to put toward their own rebuilding and repairs.
I joined the project making rosaries that incorporated the glass into the design. Each piece carried a piece of the city's suffering and its resilience in the same object. It deepened what I understood about why handmade devotional objects matter: they can hold a story in them, not just a prayer intention.
A Picking up the Pieces rosary incorporating glass from the Capital One Tower
Gallery
Rosaries & Crucifixes
Ready to commission a rosary or crucifix? Let's talk.
Get in TouchFAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a rosary commission take?
A rosary takes at least one week, up to a month in rare cases. I have a large variety of beads available locally and some crucifixes and centers if you want something that I don't have on hand. More unique pieces will need to include the time I need to order and ship beads or other parts from Etsy or another supplier. Reach out as early as possible if you have a deadline — I can almost always make something work, even in a pinch.
How long does a crucifix commission take?
A custom crucifix involves multiple steps of cutting, joining, sanding, and assembling various piano components and the corpus. This usually takes at least two weeks. My Etsy has any pieces that are currently unclaimed and ready for purchase if you want something quicker! The quality is the same but customization is limited.
What does a custom rosary or crucifix cost?
Cord and bead rosaries start at $60. Wire-wrapped heirloom rosaries start at $150. Crucifixes made from salvaged piano keys start at $100. Final pricing depends on materials and complexity.
Do you ship?
Yes! Anywhere in the USA for sure. If you are abroad please still reach out so I can look into setting up a sale on Etsy to facilitate shipping.
What occasions are rosaries or crucifixes typically commissioned for?
Anything you want! That said, these are great occasions for one: Confirmation, First Communion, OCIA, ordinations, religious professions, wedding anniversaries, pilgrimages, significant retreats, and for loved ones facing illness or loss.
How do I get started?
Use the form on this page to start a conversation. I'll follow up within 2–3 business days to discuss the details and give you a firm quote before anything is finalized.
Rosaries are cheaper than this on Etsy! Why?
My pricing includes the time I spend designing your piece, acquiring the components, and equipment overhead, as well as the time to create it. Wire-wrapped rosaries take about 3 hours just for the production phase, and crucifixes are a multi-step intricate process, which is why the prices may look higher than some others you find online or in stores. Those options can also be beautiful - but mine are customized. The proceeds from this work also fuel my ability to "waste money for the Lord" in the form of producing and releasing my music, if that helps!