Not long ago, I posted photos of the paternoster I created for my friend Andreas, which had many people commissioning paternosters from me, including a Coronation paternoster for (now) Queen Elena of Calontir.
Nothing is more exciting than creating a piece of art for someone – but then hearing that it will be a big part of their day? That makes my day.
Queen Elena’s paternoster, while not based on a particular piece in history, does clue into a piece from a manuscript: the Hours of Mary of Burgundy. Looking at the paternoster here, we see what looks to be pearl ave beads with gold gaud beads with a green tassel.
Instead of using gold beads and pearls, I used glass beads with foil encased in the bead. The Norse certainly used foiled glass, however, I’ve found no evidence (yet!) that within the Tudor era foiled glass was en vogue. That being, said, gold and quartz was certainly a luxurious and opulent in period, given the number of paintings with gold and clear beads in them.
Congratulations, Your Majesty! May Your reign be full of joy!
konstantia kaloethina 
I wish I had a close-up of her Majesty’s headpiece in that first picture. Looks amazing!
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It was incredibly beaded with both her arms and kingdom arms. (see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vilhelm_lich_photostream/23998390040/in/album-72157663214640482/) It’s gorgeous.
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How do you make your lovely tassels?
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I really need to do a tutorial on that! Basically, I take a plastic card (like an old gift card or something like that), and I reel the silk around it. After I think I’ve got enough silk on it, I tie it on with extra silk that is still on the strand of beads by going through the loops of the silk on the card and I tie it really tight. I then take the silk off the card, and then wrap more silk around the tassel, using a sewing needle to sink the threads. And then after that, I cut the loops to make it a tassel.
The tassels here are a bit different, as I’ve used a bead cone instead of loops around the tassel. There is glue involved with this one. 🙂
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