Photo by Sam Yu This small crucifix will be part of a rosary made by Melissa Meman of Frederick. Purchase this photo

A longtime jewelry maker, she stumbled upon rosary-making by chance, and now her hobby has turned to business, as well as a pleasure that she said brings her some spiritual uplift.

"We were definitely not rich," Meman said of her upbringing. "My dad was a house painter. My mother made all of our clothes, curtains, quilts ... We always had a garden. I don't think I had store-bought clothes until junior high."

Meman never liked sewing, but she got crafty through jewelry, which she's been making and selling for the past 15 years.

She studied music and vocal performance up to the master's level. It wasn't until she attended the University of Maryland for a doctorate in voice that she decided she had no future in music, other than performing in the church choir at St. Catherine of Siena in Great Falls, Va., which she did for seven years before switching to St. John the Beloved's in McLean, Va. It was at St. Catherine's that Meman started venturing into creating rosaries, first as repairs for her friends.

Now, about seven years later, she creates traditional rosaries with five decades, as well as condensed versions -- pocket rosaries and rosary bracelets, the only difference being a clasp.

The smaller rosaries feature one complete decade, so prayers can be repeated, using the same 10 beads until the whole rosary is done.

For Protestants, she uses the cross, not the crucifix, and while she usually uses the Virgin Mary in addition to the cross, she sometimes replaces her with a saint, to give the rosary a different meaning.

She made one with St. Cecilia, for instance, the Patron Saint of Music.

"Other faiths are using prayer beads now," she said. "The possibilities are kind of endless."

She does stay with the Christian faith, however; no Hindu or Sufi prayer beads.

She uses gemstones, such as amethyst, peridot and serpentine, as well as artisan-made glass beads, freshwater pearls, coral and other organics and Austrian crystals.

For the wire, she uses either sterling silver or bronze, sometimes oxidized silver.

"Bronze emits this really warm feel," she said.

For the pieces to be considered heirloom, she figures she should use precious metals.

"If you're Catholic and you pray every day, it doesn't matter if it's stones or precious metals," she said. "But if you want something special that you're going to keep, I think there is much more meaning to it."

Because Meman triple wraps her rosaries, they are much more durable than traditional single-loop rosaries and won't come unclasped. She uses needle-nosed rosary pliers to make them.

"Usually rosaries are handled a lot," she said. "I pretty much guarantee all of my jewelry."

She works in her kitchen in Frederick , where she's lived since 2004 with her husband and son, sometimes while simultaneously cooking dinner.

She works full time as an administrative assistant at an environmental engineering firm and creates rosaries, as well as her jewelry, in her spare time.

She's done the Artist Market at the Cultural Arts Center in downtown Frederick a few times and sometimes sells at craft fairs or church bazaars. She sells the bulk of her inventory through the Internet, at her Etsy shop, (melissamemandesigns.etsy.com) and her website for Melissa Meman Designs (www.melissameman.com).

She doesn't get carpal tunnel, but she tells her husband she has what she calls rosary hands.

"Most of my jewelry is one-of-a-kind," she said. "I don't do a line. I just can't work that way. I'll make this pair (of earrings) and think, 'now what am I gonna make?'"

She also does custom work for both her rosaries and jewelry.

Next, she wants to get into metalsmithing.

She's been experimenting recently with creating crosses entirely of wire, which she might incorporate into her rosaries.

"I think it still has a place in that spiritual realm," she said.

"I'm not Catholic," she said. "I might not sit and pray the rosary, but I really understand the coolness behind them. ... I get things spiritually from them."