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 have that smells good. I dispatched an email to the supplier (who has very fine customer service) and set to work.
The first attempt was white vinegar. What was I thinking? I poured the vinegar over them, left them on the kitchen counter, and sat down with coffee, only to begin recalling some basic chemistry. Bone is calcium. Vinegar is acid, and vinegar will dissolve bone.  I covered the distance to the sink in record time, rinsed the beads thoroughly, dried them off, and sat back down to ponder.
Next was baking soda. Not wanting to do anything by half measures, I buried them in a pile of baking soda and left them out for several hours. It didn’t work, and I had quite a job of scrubbing ahead of me. Meantime, I heard back from Customer Service recommending baking soda–but they recommended simply zipping the beads up in a plastic bag with a bowl of the soda in there. I decided to try one last aromatic wrap. This time I used some nearly-dry sheets of Pledge with Orange that I had been meaning to throw away, since they’d lost their oiliness but had retained their orange scent.
Eureka. Next morning I had fresh, good-smelling beads. They retained their hint of orange for a while, but another overnight sitting in the fresh air removed even that. That’s the first rosary made with the beads, and it’s a beauty.
I’m feeling confident enough to order a big supply of the bone beads. But I would like to point out that I have two sets of five bone beads, carved and incised, that were purchased at Beadazzled, and while they were more expensive, they’ve never smelled at all…
So, what do you recommend? Will you get these beads from the same supplier again? If you do, and if they have the same strong smell, will you just wrap them in sheets of Pledge with Orange? Do you think it is important that the sheets had lost their oiliness?
Well, the first lesson I learned from this was not to be in such a big hurry. I wanted my new group of rosaries to be ready around mid-July, when Atelier-Beads will sort of “officially” re-launch. I was also trying to keep the costs down for this grouping. I wanted to demonstrate that I could apply some of the same techniques and styles I love to Anglican and Catholic rosaries that were within the bounds of financial reason for almost everyone. And finally, I love the look of off-white bone with red or brecchiated jasper. It’s a great color combination that appeals to men as well as women. So whatever I do, I need a reliable supply of inexpensive carved bone beads. Here is what I’ve learned:
1. Yes, I’ll use the same supplier. I’ll just plan to order well in advance. They are reliable, established, and well known. I don’t use them for my very best stuff, but for affordable beads, they’re virtually unbeatable. And their customer service is excellent.
2. The first thing that should happen with these beads is that they should be unwrapped and allowed to air out for at least 24 hours. They shipped for a week in a non-air-conditioned truck, sealed tightly in ziplock bags. That can’t have helped.
3. Keep them out of the kitchen and away from the dog!! Maybe a shady spot outdoors would have done it. I’m using my kitchen colander for them, and it’s going to need to be disinfected or re-purposed.
4. Once they’ve aired out, evaluate. I think I could have achieved the same results with any porous sheet of soft paper that had been permeated with something scented–baby towelette, dryer sheet, dust cloth, whatever. I do think it’s important that the sheet not be damp, oily, or greasy. I find dryer sheets objectionable and don’t use them. I think I am mildly allergic to the scent. I also don’t like the idea of sending anything scented out to clients who may have allergies. I’m a smoker, but I don’t smoke around my beads. The orange scent on the Pledge sheets is much more appealing. It also does not last as long.
5. Once the beads have been wrapped in the scented paper and sealed in a ziplock at least overnight, they should be removed and allowed to air out again. This seemed to get the job done for me.
So, patience is always a virtue. I need some, right now. If I had aired the beads out and then wrapped them in the dryer sheet, I’d have achieved better results the first time around.