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Sweet Smell of Success: Nice, Clean Beads
This is the latest installment in the continuing saga of the smelly bone beads. The beads arrived on Wednesday, destined for a few of my new, beautifully affordable Anglican and Catholic rosaries. In fact, they were to be the focal companions of some new red jasper with dark, swirling inclusions. The beads arrived in a condition where they couldn't be used--reeking so strongly of smoke that no one in his right mind would want to use them for prayer. A plea for help was sent to the large supplier who furnished the beads. Their stated recommendation had been to wrap the beads in a dryer sheet. When I did that, I got cloying dryer-sheet perfume masking the nasty, pervasive burned smell. A search of the Interwebs was somewhat fruitless. I did learn from several sites that the smell is common in this sort of carved, incised beads. There were assorted recommendations: Hang them outside; nuke them in the microwave; soak in lacquer thinner or acetone; wrap in newspaper and seal in a bag with baking powder; try activated charcoal; lock in a plastic bag with ground coffee; lock in a plastic bag with tea leaves; or cinnamon; or whatever else you... »
