Description
The material
Horn at 8mm, translucent enough that the whole string glows when it is held up. The colour runs from pale honey through to near-black, and the beads were arranged along that gradient by hand rather than mixed — you can see the transition clearly in the third photograph.
What it is for
A 108 is used for counting recitations; the head bead marks the start and is not counted. Worn, it wraps four times on most wrists or hangs long over a shirt. In lore the tassel represents the loose ends of a practice that is never quite finished.
Craftsman’s note
Grading 108 beads into a smooth gradient is a full afternoon of laying them out on a cloth and swapping neighbours. Get it wrong and there is a visible jump somewhere in the loop that you cannot unsee afterwards.
Wearing and care
Keep it dry; horn and long soaks do not agree. The tassel will flatten with wear — steam over a kettle for ten seconds and it comes back. Restringing at cost, always.
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