Every mala in this collection is sandalwood — but not the same sandalwood. The wood arrives in several colors and several cuts, and those two things change more about the strand than the bead size does.
The cuts
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Plain — the wood is left smooth with the grain running straight. The quietest of the three.
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Straight-grain — cut so the grain lines run parallel down the length. This is the cut that shows the wood's structure most clearly.
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Figured-grain — cut across the grain, so the lines curve and close into shapes. The most visible of the three, and the one that looks different in every batch.
The colors
Golden silk is the pale, warm end. Blood sandalwood runs a deep red-brown. Green sandalwood is the coolest reading, and in this collection it is the one most often strung with agate, cinnabar, or turquoise. Violet sandalwood is the rarest shade here, and the one that reads darkest indoors.
Why the wood matters
Sandalwood is light, and it keeps a faint scent that comes back when the beads warm in the hand. It also darkens with handling, so a strand bought pale will look different after a year — for most people that is the point rather than a problem.
If you want the full 108 rather than a wrist strand, the long malas use the same woods at greater length.
