14mm Mílos Begleri - Mixed Media Editions

14mm Mílos Begleri - Mixed Media Editions

The Animal Horn Edition (recommended for short game play)

Animal horn is one of the classic materials used in traditional Greek komboloi, and other worry beads. It’s known for its durability and crisp feel.. harder and less porous than wood or bone, and with a beautiful translucency and lustre that give it a distinct appearance. We are pleased to finally be able to add this timeless natural material to our range of beaded products, with both sheep horn and ox horn options.

Both materials are warm to the touch, crisp sounding, and durable. The sheep horn is relatively even in colouration, with just slight differences in tone. The beads are relatively translucent and catch the light beautifully, but as with their colour, there is some variation in opacity between individual beads. The ox horn beads, by comparison, are much more opaque, but vary dramatically in colour from very light off-white, to dark brown. You'll find that each individual bead really has its own character, with unique coloured patches, stripes and striations, or even fade patterns.

Being a natural material, the horn does require a bit of care to ensure its longevity.. avoid chemicals and even water to the extent possible.. if you need to clean them, wipe with water and rub in a little bit of oil to keep the material conditioned and prevent it from drying out.

For the 14mm Animal Milos begleri, we have done something extreme. We've opted to forgo the weight conventions and offer these in a straight Ultem setup, with 3x 14mm beads at either end of the cord. The total weight of the Ox Horn set is around 12g, Sheep Horn set is around 11.3g, making it extremely light by most standards, but the size and shape of the three stacks throws some of the balance out towards the ends, allowing them to sling with reasonable momentum despite their light weight. This set is not designed for highly technical play requiring nimble manipulations. Rather, this is a casual, bouncy, knuckle-friendly set that works particularly well for the short game style of play. 

With all of our other bead options, it's hard to imagine anything minimalist carving out a new space for itself between our Sigma begleri, our Hydras, our many spherical Boss beads, and the rest of our range. But the Mílos have done just that, offering a distinctive look and feel that works in a variety of setups. These apple-shaped beads are a traditional shape, and were originally modelled after our jade bodhis. 

• 14mm Three Stack (6x 14mm Mílos)
• Material:
  • Ox Horn (~11.3g)
  • Sheep Horn (~12g)

The Titanium w/ Ebony Edition

It doesn't get much more elegant than this, but let's start at the beginning. With all of our other bead options, it's hard to imagine anything minimalist carving out a new space for itself between our Sigma begleri, our Hydras, our many spherical Boss beads, and the rest of our range. But the Mílos have done just that, offering a distinctive look and feel that works in a variety of setups. These apple-shaped beads are a traditional shape, and were originally modelled after our jade bodhis. In terms of weight and feel, the Mílos have a lot in common with our similarly sized spherical beads, but to the tactile and auditory connoisseurs out there, the differences will be immediately clear. 

The Mílos beads make for a great begleri setup, for this version, we've hit a very comfortable weight, at around 17g for the full set, including cord. The pairing of the lighter ebony wood beads with the heavier (and grippier) polished titanium beads creates a great feeling set that can be reconfigured to play top heavy or bottom heavy. The feel is comfortable in the hand, and their lovely rounding and reasonable weight, combined with the stacked bead arrangement help to reduce impact on the knuckles, for a quick, and enjoyable slinging experience. These beads excel on our custom 2mm kevlar cord. 

• 2x Ebony + 2x Titanium 14mm Mílos 
• Weight: ~17.2g all in

The Ultem Edition

With all of our other bead options, it's hard to imagine anything minimalist carving out a new space for itself between our Sigma begleri, our Hydras, our many spherical Boss beads, and the rest of our range. But the Mílos have done just that, offering a distinctive look and feel that works in a variety of setups. These apple-shaped beads are a traditional shape, and were originally modelled after our jade bodhis. 

For the 14mm Ultem Milos begleri, we have done something extreme. We've opted to forgo the weight conventions and offer these in a straight Ultem setup, with 3x 14mm beads at either end of the cord. The total weight of the set is around 12.5g, making it extremely light by most standards, but the size and shape of the three stacks throws some of the balance out towards the ends, allowing them to sling with reasonable momentum despite their light weight. This set is not designed for highly technical play requiring nimble manipulations. Rather, this is a casual, bouncy, knuckle-friendly set that works great for short game or long game style play. 

The Mílos are precision machined with your choice of polished or machine finish, and feature a 3mm bore. They work well with our 2mm Kevlar cord, our 2.5mm cotton cord, or 275 paracord. 

• 14mm Three Stack (6x 14mm Mílos), weight: ~12.5g
• Finish:
  • Polished
  • Machined

Note: The Mílos have a 3mm bore, and are designed to run on thinner cords like our 2mm kevlar cord or standard 275 paracord. This is different from most of our other begleri, which have either a 3.5mm or 4mm bore. It is fairly easy to work a cleanly cut and singed piece of soft 550 paracord into the Mílos, but thicker 550 will be a challenge to insert (and if this is your preference, we would recommend choosing another model).

New to begleri? Check out Aroundsquare's AO2 Crew demonstrating what this toy's all about, via the talented guys at Kuma Films (below). You may also want to visit our general information page on begleri, or do a deep dive on the history, configurations, or manipulation of this remarkable little toy.